To ask why there is such food poverty.

[Helendee]

Please no flaming as I genuinely am seeking answers as to why so many children are going to school hungry these days.
This is not a critical or inflammatory post, I just want to know what’s gone wrong.
Obviously many of us are struggling financially because of Covid but food poverty was a huge problem before that.
Is it that benefit levels are too low to adequately feed our children?
What can we do to ameliorate the situation?

Oh i see the 'cooking skills' shite is still being churned out past 1930.

@grenlei nope some houses are really cold and the heat or eat choice is real, especially with illness and health conditions and poor housing which is expensive.

Minimum wage doesn't keep up with the cost of living.

Companies pay a penny or two more than minimum wage to make themselves look more attractive.

2 adults in this house with a mortgage to pay, a car to run, no drinking/smoking/drug taking. No holidays.

I can cook, but I neither feel like shopping or cooking after 9 hours at work and 1 hour with my child. Stick something in the oven or microwave and cuddle/do homework, load the washing machine, hang up the wet clothes, take care of the dishes, worry about lunches, have a shower, a cup of tea and start again.

Paying between £600-£1000 a month for childcare wipes us out. We're marginally better off both working.

It is sustainable at present because the child is cared for, fed, clean, going to school etc so I'm satisfied.

If the apple cart takes a knock, I don't know where we'll be. Food banks for a start. I don't eat enough, I've enjoyed one meal a day, usually a sandwich since I came back from furlough in July. There is no more stretch or give.

I'm selling stuff on eBay and saving for a front door, so that when it gets really cold, and we put the heat on, it stays in the house instead of warming up the street.

Not eligible for benefits or and warm home/energy help as we work, and live in NI.

I think access to gardens & allotments is so restricted. I grew up poor but never felt poor because my mum (and dad) grew up extremely poor and can grow & or kill everything. We lived like kings despite no holidays / nice clothes / Christmas presents.

Also I find it interesting these threads always end up with “your kids your issue” in terms of funding childcare/ food etc but we as a society are up in arms and supposed to pay more tax to stop someone in their 70s having to sell their home for care....

there’s consequences for deadbeat non contributing fathers

Yes this. Please. My ex doesn't pay any maintenance. He and his wife have fixed their income in such a way that he got a nil assessment from the CMS. Yet he's been telling the dc about his brand new PS5 he's pre-ordered. Oh and told me (and them) that he bought them a 2nd hand PS4 for Christmas. But he cant afford a second controller or any games so I have to get them apparently.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss just noticed my typo in your quote. I don’t think it’s up to other people in all honesty to pay for other people’s children. But the point is that we need to protect the children and ensure they get at least one meal a day.

Blah, blah it’s Tory propaganda etc but I do know people who waste their money on drink and fags, don’t put their children first and we need to look after them.

@Helendee

Please no flaming as I genuinely am seeking answers as to why so many children are going to school hungry these days. This is not a critical or inflammatory post, I just want to know what’s gone wrong. Obviously many of us are struggling financially because of Covid but food poverty was a huge problem before that. Is it that benefit levels are too low to adequately feed our children? What can we do to ameliorate the situation?

Imagine you lose your job tomorrow and have to go on New Jobseekers of £74 a week.

Are your unavoidable outgoings more than £74 a week?

And will they still go out of your bank even if your children are hungry?

That's why.

And millions of us are about to learn about this the hard way.

As Jacinda Adern said, its a failure of capitalism. Huge costs of living and housing costs, piss poor wages for those at the bottom (around 50% of benefit claiments are in work) and a blind eye turned to wealth inequality whilst conservative governments shovel public money out of services and to DomCums mates.

The same reason Homelessness has shot up 250% since 2010. And it isnt because they dont hold poxy half hour lessons about housing at schools.

i had a severely disabled child (I have a high IQ though, whoop me) I have had to fight for every single thing, got FA respite and have shit all as a result. I should have just worked harder? here here PatriciaPerch my boss and his wife are millionaires, the wife is a local authority CEO and I see how much they fight to get the right help etc for their disabled child. they have money and connections ffs.
If life deals you a struggling hand this country seems to let you sink.

*Ardern

@Supersimkin2, tell us more about your theory on the 90% of children who go into care dure to low IQ. of parents.

Its quite fascinating. Does that mean foster carers, foster homes and so on are practically full of unintelligent children? Perhaps it would be best not to bother trying to educate them then really?

Agree with lots of the reasons above. I've worked with women experiencing domestic abuse and lots of them were in poverty, some of the reasons being:

• economic abuse from partners. UC is likely to exacerbate this as all money goes to one account whereas before a lot of women would get the child benefit or tax credits in their account even if not the rest

• women with no recourse to public funds. Often coming on a spousal visa then partner not applying for their leave to remain so they'd end up as overstayers

• being put in B&Bs when they leave with limited access to cooking facilities

• multiple moves by the council or for safety often meaning long expensive commutes to school or work.

• waiting times for benefits often resulting in taking out loans they struggled to pay back. Also tax credit overpayments reducing income. Loans also for unexpected expenses like broken washing machine etc

• generally the stress of trying to manage on a low income having experienced multiple traumas is hard

This is never a popular view but people need to be less London centric too, and consider the benefits of living elsewhere.

If you work in or around London, of course you have to live in commuting distance. But for those who aren't working, with no real family support (or those who are and whose jobs are transferable), moving away from the south east can offer significant financial benefits. There's more and better quality rented housing, less of a waiting list for social housing, even the possibility of buying your own home which for a large chunk of the population in London is becoming increasingly impossible.

I do know people who waste their money on drink and fags, don’t put their children first and we need to look after them yep my father was one- guess the difference was he was very well off so less judgement/ equally no one gave a damn because he wasn’t draining resources

Just going by the SPaG on this thread, I think most posters are concerned and want to help but are not, personally, living the nightmare of enduring it. And no, I'm not either. I can't decide whether that makes me part of the problem or an element of a solution. I hope it's the latter. I would be very happy to contribute help, one to one, if it were practical and I could really make a difference.

[quote AldiAisleofCrap]@SheepandCow everyone on UC or wtc gets the extra £20 currently only fir a year though. I think it will continue as they hopefully will be an uproar if they try and remove it.[/quote]
Of course it should be kept permanently.

My point was that not everyone on UC got the extra £20.

Only those who can't work because of Covid. It's actually indicative of the problem. It suggests that all those who needed benefits pre Covid are the 'undeserving' poor, when in actual fact the vast majority are just the same as Covid related job loss - redundancy or illness.

These poor people who had to claim pre Covid have been completely overlooked. I was sent a petition to sign last week. Asking to keep the extra £20 for those already receiving it. Instead of asking for all benefit recipients, including pre-Covid, to get it.

agree this thread has turned a bit judgy in places. but that's just ignorance.

My dh lost his job recently (redundancy after 10+ years at same company) and even though i work as a staff nurse im concerned we may need to rely on food banks when money runs out. Jobseekers is not enough to live off especially with young children.

@randomer there's loads, try reports on adoption etc from councils - it's one of those sad facts that does the rounds.

NB low IQ is never the only reason people lose DC, obv, but it's a big factor underlying problems that get noticed faster.

People don't manage their money or misspend it on other things. The government gives a lot of money.

It’s not, currently, a society that actually cares about people. If it did there would be a far more efficient benefit system, more social housing, better work contracts, better public transport and a respected vocational tertiary education system. It’s missing a whole lot of scaffolding and is starting to crumble.