Gove thinks those who turn to food banks are there because of their "own decisions"

[MurderOfGoths]

Link

"I had the opportunity to visit a food bank in my constituency only on Friday and I appreciate that there are families who do face considerable pressures. It's often as a result of some decisions that have been taken by those families which mean that they are not best able to manage their finances"

I hate that this govt pulls the rug from under people and then blames them for it.

[nocoolusernameY0]

Gove was sent straight from hell. The guy's fucking crackers, no doubt about that. The BBC have been dodgy gets about it for months as well. At one point even I was slagging off food bank recipients. DH looked at me like he'd never met me before. Then it dawned on me that it might not be a coincidence that the only families on the news happened to have Brighthouse telly's bigger than my back garden in direct view of the camera

[garlicbaguette]

Mr Gove claimed £7k off the taxpayers for pointless fake antiques at his taxpayer-funded flat, plus £13k removal costs. I guess he thinks you must be stupid if the State has that sort of money to throw around, but you can't even feed the kids.

Wasn't he in one of those MPs' double-claiming accommodation cartels, too? What happened with those, is it still going on?

[NotDead]

Gove is a twat. The decisions of the poor are far more economically sensible than those of the wealthy

[MadameDefarge]

My food bank is much classier. we have foie gras, caviar, champagne, Belgian chocolate, truffles. They all keep so very well.

[OhDearNigel]

You do realise, some of you, that you cant just turn up at the food bank and get given £50 of shopping because you pull a sad face ! You can't self-refer, you have to be given a voucher by an HCP/social worker type person which you exchange for a box of very boring essentials. And you can only get a few vouchers, you can't get them indefinitely.
I dont think there are many people out there thinking "sod it, lets buy 1000 fags, we can just eat beans from the foodbank"

[Wallison]

Tsk, they obviously decided to be poor so that they could go and hang out at food banks for kicks. It's all voluntary, you know.

[OhDearNigel]

Maybe they made the erroneous decision to vote conservative. Then they lost their public sector job in all the wonderful cuts. And now they have to choose between heat or eat.

Yes, i expect that is a decision that haunts them

[MadameDefarge]

I just wonder eine at your obvious glee and thrill at the idea of people being reduced to abject poverty, unable to feed their children, possibly living on the streets...fancy a shanty town down your way?

Does anyone remember the ITnet debacle? UC is that, but on a national scale.

[Wallison]

eineschlampa, have you ever felt the touch of a loved one's caress that you didn't pay for?

[MadameDefarge]

gosh eine, I never thought about it that way. maybe I should have worked harder at school then I would have got a good degree, great career, maybe had a business, employed lots of people...oh, hang on, I did all that.

And I happen to know many clever, very important people who do not think as Michael Gove or the government do.

[expatinscotland]

Entirely unsurprising for this government.

[eineschlampa]

Actually wallison i'm assuming that Gove worked hard at school, left with many qualifications, worked hard and has ended up where he is now with a very important job while you are sat behind a laptop with nothing else to do but hope he was bullied and whinge. Anyone can be a keyboard warrior you know.

[MadameDefarge]

Not the lefties, just anyone who is not property owning and earning over 60K a year. The rest must just be do darn stupid if all they can do is be ooh, teachers, nurses, nannies, streetcleaners, doctors...

[Wallison]

Ooh, I dunno, s/he's certainly changed my mind. No point in being a leftie after all, if some twat on a talkboard tells me not to.

[MadameDefarge]

eine...your charm is seductive, but not convincing.

[ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged]

Eineschlampa have you actually looked at the new national curriculum? Or heard about gcse courses pupils are already taking being changed part way through the course? How is that change for the better?

[Wallison]

Gove is a massive massive cock of monumental proportions.

I bet that he got his dickhead face flushed down the toilet on many occasions at school.

[HattyJack]

Shit,have they taken the vote off 'lefties' now too?

[eineschlampa]

I see the the hysterical lefties are out in force again howling at the sky. Howl all you like things are changing for the better and there aint a thing you can do about it!

[MadameDefarge]

my poor decision was trusting the benefit system to honour its obligations after 30 years of paying national insurance and providing the money I had paid insurance to recieve if I lost my job.

I suggest the govt returns all NI contributions to people they deem not worthy of benefits.

[MadameDefarge]

the govt. motto should be never let the truth get in the way of a popular prejudice. Or, failing a popular prejudice, create one pdq.

[pointythings]

People, Gove is just staying 'on message' here. Some inconvenient truths about food banks came out, this is the counteroffensive. With the emphasis on offensive, of course.

This is a monstrous government. Expect them to behave monstrously.

[garlicbaguette]

When you're too unwell to work, but the DWP/Atos says you are well enough - because you can push a button - your benefit is usually stopped before you receive the decision letter. In this letter, you're told to apply for JSA. (Please note, the letter does not tell you that you can receive a reduced amount of ESA while appealing, if you send a medical certificate.)

When you go to sign for JSA, as instructed, the JCP asks you whether you're fit for work, as this is a condition of claiming. Your fitness according to the DWP itself does not count. If you're unfit to work in the real world (as differentiated from Atos world), you cannot legally claim JSA.

Thus, you are left without income by the DWP's own system. As soon as ESA or JSA are stopped, housing benefit stops too.

In another scenario, it's now been evidenced that JCPs are told to sanction a certain proportion of jobseekers' benefits. Consequently, claimants are having their benefits stopped for trumped-up reasons: a popular one is failing to attend an appointment you were not told about. Again, loss of JSA means instant stoppage of all other benefits.

Sick claimants, too, are being sanctioned for failure to comply with therapeutic or back-to-work programmes inflicted on them by so-called providers. ESA claimants have had their benefits stopped for not being able to get to an upstairs appointment in a wheelchair, failing to go to appointments they weren't told about, collapsing in meetings, being in hospital, and many other Orwellian 'crimes'. Loss of ESA means instant stoppage of all other benefits.

Social fund grants have been discontinued, leaving budgeting loans in their place. Budgeting loans are repaid directly from your benefits, in instalments. You cannot have a budgeting loan if you can't prove your ability to pay it back. If you're not getting any benefits and have an income of £0, obviously you're not able to provide this. You won't get a loan.

If poor decisions lead to destitution in this country, the unwise choice was probably "trusting the government"!

[MurderOfGoths]

Someone up thread said CAB are collating info too, but no idea if they've published it.

[MinesAPintOfTea]

Thanks Murder will read that when my dissertation is printing.