To wonder what will happen to food banks when

[dottypotter]

Nobody has anything left to donate because they are all feeling the squeeze themselves.

It's tight for everyone and as they only rely on donations what would happen?

since the National Insurance increase earlier this year my net monthly pay has fallen by £40.

The easiest way for me to balance my household budget would be to stop donating to foodbanks.

Thanks for the dilemma, Rishi Sunak.

I bet they were even talking on the phone about what they were going to watch next on their massive plasma screen ultra HD TV with full sky subscription

Perhaps in the past people budgeted and prioritised better I park near to a local foodbank and it's rare that you see anyone coming out without being glued to a mobile phone, many of them smoke and they are then waiting for taxis to take them home!

Sorry to anyone offended by above comment but it is often true. You do prioritise what means a lot to you. I don’t don’t go out as I’m saving to buy a small home. Neither do I smoke or drink. My only treats are Netflix, crisps and second hand books, plays and CDs. That’s it.

Many people using food banks do smoke, drink and buy crap. I wouldn’t judge unless their kids are suffering, and many are, because their parents are having to then beg for food from food banks which is not ideal.

While there are, of course, laudable exceptions (several on this thread, for example) the problem is that the sector of society which isn't feeling the pinch is largely made up of people who didn't get rich by giving away their money to what they see as the undeserving poor, and aren't likely to start now. Many wealthier people truly believe that a) benefits are more than sufficient, b) nobody is unemployed or poor without making an active choice not to work, and c) nobody in full-time work is poor enough to experience food poverty.

The food banks in many areas are already running out of food. It's going to get worse, and people will die of malnutrition and associated illnesses. And the rump of our privately-educated, milk-fed ruling class believes that's either fiction or natural selection, and the rest of us are posturing wimps for raising the alarm.

Oh and by the way, benefits for many were relatively more generous in the 1970s because they covered full housing costs. Housing Benefit would actually pay 100% of rent. The 'rates' element, if it was included in rent (which was common), was also paid, which equates to today's Council Tax and water bills being covered.

The DHSS would pay, on production of a signed tenancy agreement, the entirety of a deposit for a rented peoperty as a grant, and not ask for it back at the end, enabling greater mobility.

Unemployment Benefit also included medical elements for things like extra laundry, on production of a doctor's note or prescription (e.g. for topical treatment for eczema), that the staff at the DHSS would process pretty quickly on the basic evidence. There was none of this year-long expensive-for-the-state PIP crap. The system at the end of the 1970s was much slicker than it is now.

Part-time postgraduate students were entitled to claim Housing Benefit so that they complete their advanced studies and become useful contributers to British society.

And then we got ideological Thatcherism, which was expensive on so many levels.

That's when first I helped out at the first food bank I'd ever seen spring up, because families were becoming destitute by the early 1980s.

@linelgreen In the recent past people got the dole. In the less recent past- though only about 100 years ago - they would have to go to the workhouse, where families were split up and treated like prisoners for the crime of being poor. I realise this would make you deliriously happy but most people here in 2022 consider that inhumane.

To address the detail of your comments: it is now very normal amongst people without much money and especially those in temporary living situations to have a pay as you go mobile with a data allowance rather than a landline. It's cheaper and doesn't tie you into a contract. You're going to very predictably reply that in the good old days people didn't have phones or internet so I will remind you that it's 2022 and now extremely difficult to access basic services without internet access, and that for example if your disabled child has a medical emergency the school need to be able to contact you.

The reason I use the example of someone with a disabled child is that this is one of the actual real life situations that cause the kind of poverty that means people have to use food banks. People go within a few years from a stable relationship and a solid job to being a single parent unable to find an employer who will accommodate complex childcare arrangements. They couldn't plan for that, unless you're proposing that only people with a million quid in the bank should be allowed to attempt a pregnancy. No one chooses to have fuck all, except perhaps monks.

If there's no bus route are you expecting them to carry a week's worth of food 10 miles home on foot? That's how far the rural communities around me are from the food bank.

Smoking...well, you're technically not wrong there. I'm inclined to suggest that being that poor is pretty stressful and that as human beings we should all be allowed some things that we want and not just nutritionally and morally beneficial cabbage soup, but perhaps you're right to suggest that a basic level of empathy is irrelevant.

For anyone worried about this and wants to help but gets their shopping delivered or like me just forgets when they're in the supermarket, many food banks also accept cash donations and you can often set up regular direct debits. My local one uses the cash to top up when they're short and to supplement the tins etc with fresh fruit and veg.

Excellent post. Very well said.

There weren't so many claiming back then.

I would like to see the online supermarkets set up a food donation option. I tweeted it to the Tesco twitter account who said that's a great idea - please give us your email address and phone number. Why couldn't they just pass on the feedback and get something actioned? Hasn't happened yet 🙄

It isn't at all tight for me and I have a huge amount of leeway. There are many many people who donate in the same position. There are many in the same position who don't, but then that's a different issue.

Ours is already short of donations. When I was there there was no milk, no tinned meat, very little tinned veg. Lots of biscuits though.

P. S. Typing this on my phone, I should probably sell it for the £5 it's worth secondhand no? Who needs a lifeline to the outside world after all 🙄

Thanks for this x

I doubled my donation. I'm in a fortunate position that increasing prices will only mean perhaps one less meal out a month - I am aware that even this has a knock on effect for those in hospitality. We are deliberately supporting our local independent restaurants and bars who treat their staff well

You do know that they need mobile phones @linelgreen? And when I grew up in the 70s everyone smoked.

So please fuck off with your poverty bashing.

It is not Rishi Sunak’s fault that you don’t earn very much money.

People need to stop blaming other people for their own situation, and start taking some responsibility.

The one I volunteer at is seeing donations dwindle, but we are still keeping up with need. We have a couple of legacies that pay a monthly stipend and quiet a few standing orders. We live in a relatively affluent area. Our neighbouring food banks are not so lucky. When we hear of shortages at one of them we send a delivery over. They would do the same for us in the same situation

@NellesVilla

I completely agree. I spent 10 years working with homeless and vulnerably housed adults- they would turn up for free food and clothes already drunk, many had expensive phones too, I'm sure drugs but they kept them hidden as we had a zero tolerance policy for illegal drugs. We would have employers offering work at first but none would ever sign up

How many unemployed were there in the 70s and 80s, how many are there now @girlfriend44?

We’ve gone the other way, and upped our monthly donation from £20 to £30 + gifts aid, because we figure everything is getting more costly and people will find it harder to donate. We will probably up it again in the autumn, when we know if my dh got his promotion or not.

hopefully the better-off will be feeling just like we are - desperately concerned about how people are going to cope this winter, and ready to dig a bit deeper to help.

The vast majority of homeless drug users suffered significant horrendous childhood trauma. They have massive mental health issues. No one would be in that situation otherwise.

A random job offer will not help in that situation. Mental health and drug support is what is needed before people can think about getting into work.

Due to the Tory policy of Austerity, public sector workers had pay freezes and lower than inflation pay rises. This has meant that many of our essential workers have had a pay cut in real terms.

Low and mid income people had to bail out the banks. Public sector, essential workers are told that they must suffer to solve inflation.

It's a fucking disgrace that working families have to use food banks. Just like it's a fucking disgrace that they had to bail out the mega rich and now have to fix the shambolic state of the economy, caused by 12 years of Tory corruption, sleaze and incompetence.

Having benefits stopped if you dont turn up to sign on is nothing new. It's always been the case. I wonder why this poor man's sister didn't help him get on track while he was still alive instead of starting a campaign after his tragic death?

I would say the Trussell Trust ones will be fine as they are well known and often supported by corporate sponsors and/or local supermarkets etc. Smaller ones will struggle. The one that helped my husband enormously when he was homeless and struggling just before we met has just closed which is gutting (we donated regularly but obviously that's not enough!).

Not entirely sure why someone with so little empathy and understanding of homelessness was working with the homeless to be honest`