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?

I did GCSEs in 2000, one of my subjects was food technology. We spent 2 years designing, branding, labelling and packaging a sandwich of our creation based on Moroccan cuisine. Completely useless in terms of teaching me to cook.

@FatGirlShrinking that sounds like such a waste...here in Ireland they do home economics for 3 years. We learnt how to cook,bake etc
I came out of my first year of secondary school knowing how a kitchen works, basic utensils needed etc etc and how to cook
Shepherds pie
Lasagne
Bolognese
Fish parcels
Risotto
Roast chicken
Scones
Sponge cake
Meringue
Biscuits
Brown bread
Scrambled egg
And loads more...
We were taught How to fry, toast, boil, broil, steam etc etc

@roarfeckingroarr

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

£74 a week?!

@murmurgam I don’t think the issue is so much that people don’t have access to ANY food shops, but the fact that the bigger, cheaper supermarkets are often further away than they can afford to or able to travel. Those distances are not an issue for people with a bit more money - a bus fare, maybe, or 10 minutes in the car. But if you have no car and/or a tiny budget, it’s just out of reach (London, for the record, actually has much cheaper buses than anywhere else I’ve been). That is true in cities, and even more so in the countryside and that doesn’t mean remote countryside; there are plenty of villages which have council estates, for example. A small coop is, over time, going to cost a lot more.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers
Did you go without food, heating and clothing though due to his selfishness? If you was well off I'd assume not. It's not the drain on resources that bother me, it's that children suffer due to their waste of space parents who can't go a day without a cigarette or a pint

@grassisjeweled

Start by making childcare free, subsided from birth, which includes home cooked, free meals.

Like progressive societies do I. E. Norway.

This would make a massive difference to so many people.

So what’s the role of parents in all this? Giving birth and that’s it?

Years ago I was on benefits as a single mother
The amount you get now is not much more than it was 25 years ago
But everything else has gone up in price

@grenlei
Social cleansing??
The role of mental health - how it's interlinked with poverty - has already been mentioned on this thread.

Forcing people away from everything that's familiar, their families, their support networks, childcare - and therefore jobs. Children lose the stability of their school, friends, extended family. You think that's acceptable? When you're already struggling, leaving behind your support network is extremely traumatic.

SilenceOf The Prams

"Being poor is really really expensive"

Damn right

I have been desperately poor but I always managed to feed my children adequately. I genuinely think it's a case of priorities, how many of these people are spending their benefits on things for themselves ie cigs, alcohol, etc. Cut down ALL your bills, expensive phones, big tv package , unnecessary treats, subscriptions to things. Rent/mortgage - food - utilities - essential bills. Simple. Not fun but has to be done sometimes

There’s nothing wrong with having a society where taxes are high, but the payback is free childcare, better social housing etc. Some countries are more community centred than ours.

Any tabloid readers want to comment on this?

'A report, entitled “Which Countries in Europe Offer Fairest Paid Leave and Unemployment Benefits?” and ranking the benefits systems of 14 European countries, found that Britain came third last on the list due to factors such as unemployment benefits, maternity and paternity entitlements, annual leave and sick pay.'

realbusiness.co.uk/uk-offers-some-of-the-least-generous-benefits-in-europe/

So tonight the tories have just passed a bill to stop poorer kids in England getting free school meals in the holidays...

@IronLawOfGeometricProgression bill relief, housing benefit etc all adds ups. £74 is single people right, without any additions for disability etc? So someone who should be working,

As apparently work is the best way out of poverty....

But where are the jobs now?!?!

It’s been a while since I was penny-pinching, but one extra thing I remember in private rentals was that electricity was often from pay meters and they were scammed by the landlords. I remember ours turning up once to empty the meter, and him gleefully laughing at us about how our meter paid the bill for the whole house and the rest was profit for him. Landlords have no shame or decency. The place was damp too, with mould. Most private rentals I’ve been in are damp. You have to have the heating on longer to compensate or freeze. I had clothes and coats ruined by damp. Add on that housing benefit doesn’t come close to paying rent and you can see there’s not always much left over.

labourlist.org/2020/10/conservatives-vote-down-motion-to-extend-free-school-meals-over-holidays/

@PatriciaPerch as the expert, you'll know far more than I possibly could. baillii's a good start for individual cases.

@Supersimkin2, so I look up adoptions and it will tell me the IQ of the parents?
Amazing. Off to try now.

[quote ssd]labourlist.org/2020/10/conservatives-vote-down-motion-to-extend-free-school-meals-over-holidays/[/quote]
If food prices rise as expected with Brexit, a lot of families will be royally fucked.

Like others have said on here when I was younger (mid 80’s) my parents didn’t have much money at all my Mum was a cleaner in the evenings and my Dad worked. I remember going to bed hungry (boiled egg) at 6 so that we didn’t complain and it was warmer in the bed. We lived in a council house and I remember me parents scared of the costs of heating (50ps) I’m guessing (i dont know) but there wasn’t a benefit system to help low income. It was hard growing up knowing I didn’t wear the right clothing (don’t care about branded but jeans to short) I wander if I smelt as well as I only had one school uniform that got washed once a week - we had to share bath water, greasy hair.
It made me very determined to not put my own children ever in that situation, I’ve got a paper round so I could save money just to buy a nice jumper, I worked 2 jobs while at sixth form to be able to travel to and from school I could see that education was the only way to get me out of poverty trap. My parents couldn’t afforded it so I couldn’t go to uni as my Mum said I was 18 and had to work and move out. I’ve always worked. It was frustrating when I had my first child as my whole salary was eaten by childcare costs but I could see the long term of being in work.

BUT we should have a good benefit system and it should be there to help. We need to work with people to help get them to work. Fund a decent mental health system to help people - in my job i see a lot of people without confidence held back due to mental health issues.
It’s just sad we live in a country where minimum wage isn’t enough to survive without the top up.
Hearing & eating shouldn’t be a choice.