Trussell Trust research on foodbank usage over school holidays

[AliceDMumsnet]

Hello,

The Trussell Trust have been in touch about their recent research which shows a rise in the number of children being fed by foodbanks over the summer holidays, with 4,412 more three day emergency food supplies being given to children in July and August 2016 than in the previous two months.

Between July and August 2016, of all 67,506 three day emergency food supplies from The Trussell Trust foodbank network that went to children,

27% went to 0-4 year olds

47% went to 5-11 year olds

21% went to 12-16 year olds

5% went to children of an unknown age.

The new figures come as The Trussell Trust launches its national Summer Appeal and encourages people to donate to their local foodbank as the school holidays start.

We at Mumsnet HQ sometimes get asked what Mumsnet users think about families using foodbanks, and about our users' experiences of using them themselves, so do please let us know what you think. Do you have experience of using foodbanks to feed yourself and/or your family?

Thanks,
MNHQ

don't all these children get child benefit? That is surely enough to feed a child

Copper child benefit does not increase during the holidays. That money is already allocated to pay bills usually.

Can people please remember that The Trussell Trust are not the only organisation doing this work?

I volunteer in a deprived area and our local foodbanks are independent and often struggle as donations go to bigger groups

I get that child benefit might be used for other things whilst children are getting free school meals, but surely you need to budget to be able to use it to feed children during the holidays, that IS what it is for.

Copperbeech, you really haven't a clue, do you? £82 every four weeks is not just for food - its clothes, toiletries, electricity, gas, water, rent, and anything else a child needs.

Of course I have a clue, Spunbodgge. I am a single parent on a very low income. I use child benefit to feed the children, which is what it is given to me for. I don't use it for clothes, toiletries, etc in the holidays.

we went to a summer club a few times during the holidays with my daughter and before it they gave out free lunches to all schoolkids but i noticed the age that used it most were parents with 2-5yr age group then they dissapeared before the activities started this was run local community centre who raise money throught the year and from community grants available

i live in an area with 5 towns and 4 of them had primaries open for schoolkids to come in to get their free school meals ours for the 4th year running had no provisions for a child to travel to the next town it would cost £1-90 or £2-10 to get their free meal No Meals provided at all for 12-16 yr olds

Thanks to this thread Ive just downloaded a form to donate to my local food bank via standing order.

Namechanged here so as not to out myself.

We've really struggled this summer. DH earns what's considered an average salary, but I was made redundant, and have since developed health problems so was only working part-time but that contract was ended in July as the funding for my post was cut.

We've spent the holidays doing free activities and cooking insanely thriftily, but still yesterday I used up the last of the lentils (the pasta was finished last week) and have £14 till payday. My job today is to go to the health visitor & swallow my pride to ask for s voucher for the foodbank.

And yet 4 years ago I donated regularly to ours and would have nodded sagely at this thread. Been outraged at the judgement of anyone trotting out the 'but Sky and cigarettes!' line, but ultimately entirely unaware of how easy it was to slip from just managing to not.

And I'm sure that's where lots of families across the country are coming from, a combination of 0 hours contracts, pay freezes, lack of flexibility from employers, no local family to help out, and you end up being months away from using a food bank. And 6 weeks of extra lunches, and snacks take their toll. I don't think it's about profligacy and mismanaging your money in the most part, it's about being a member of a society where there are few safety nets if you become vulnerable.

Also, I suspect people don't necessarily notice those of us who are struggling quietly. I've said no thank you to play dates involving soft play, trampoline parks or swimming & tried to redirect everyone to the park or our house. We've breezily talked about staycations. And eaten a lot of pulses.

And I'm so grateful that it's there. Grateful whilst simultaneously embarrassed & ashamed. I wish I'd been profligate as then I'd be able to think of ways I could stop us being in this position again, but looking over our budget again last night, I cannot find anywhere we could have spent less.

I refer people to foodbanks and the voucher we have to fill out asks why the foodbank is needed.
Most of the time it is because the family is already living on the minimum amount they can and something happens such as delay in wages/benifit unexpected bill or cost and I see an increase during the summer holidays.
Copper I issued a voucher yesterday to a women with 3 DC. Her partner takes every single penny they have coming in. She is not able to use CB for food or budget for that. Not everyone can budget like you and it is shocking that you cannot see the bigger picture.

I think I can see a much bigger picture than some of the posters on here. The people in real need in this community are NOT the people with CB coming in.

Her partner takes every single penny they have coming in

so I assume he has been reported to the police for theft then, and is being made to repay it all.

If money is stolen from somebody, we have systems for retreiving it and punishing the person and preventing them doing it again.

What we do NOT do is make up the shortfall from public funds.

Those 3 DC have been paid for once already, and now other people are paying for them again.

Disgusting. both that he does it, and that you are colluding in allowing it.

so I assume he has been reported to the police for theft then, and is being made to repay it all.

The benefits are in his name and paid in to his/joint account. No theft in the eyes of the law.

Disgusting. both that he does it, and that you are colluding in allowing it.

She is in a financially abusive relationship Copper what is it I am allowing exactly?
We are giving her all the support we can to leave him but sadly she believes that keeping the family together is better for DC and the fear he has instilled in her that she will lose her children as she is useless and pennyess is very real.

You really don't have a clue.

I think copper has a point.
in thise cases a referral (womansaid/ss/police) might be appropriate.

Bubbles, I'm guessing that cost of living is less outside big cities and therefore there is less demand on their money.

Making a referral to womens aid is pointless unless the women wants to engage.
The benefits are in his name so no crime has been committed as far as the police are concerned.
This women is badly abused and like a lot of women who suffer from DV getting out and seeking help seems impossible.

SS are not intetested as the home/children are clean they attend school and mum says everything is fine.

If you have never suffered DV or worked with women who have I suppose it does seem easy to get out by simply making a phone call

not saying it's easy.
but if that woman is being abused, i.e. a crime is comitted, then the police should be interested.

The police are not interested.
He is not beating her or the children.
She will not make a complaint due to fear.
There is zero evidence against him.

Reading this was a rather depressing start to my day.

It wasn't something I'd thought about but I'll be sure to put extra in the donation trolley these next few weeks.

Denying food to your kids is accepted then?

I dont want to derail the thread and turn it in to a DV debate.

The point I was making was that those who access the FB do not have such simple cut and dried situations and Coppers view that CB should be saved to buy food is not always an option.

It's not just dv. I have a few drug addicts in my extended family with kids and tbh my empathy is all dried up for these adults. But yes a derailment..

Denying food to your kids is accepted then?

Who said it was?
Accessing a food bank does not automatically mean the police should be involved.
There has to be proof that he is denying the children food. Mum will not make a complaint so what evidence do the police actually have?

I wish situations like this were as simple as a few of you seem to believe. They rarely are and a call to the police or SS does not help/can make things worse.

I donate every week to our food bank, I can't imagine how awful it must be as a parent to be unable to feed your child. I do think that provision should be made during school holidays for children who receive free school meals to receive the equivalent outside of school.
I saw our local food bank deliver to a neighbour recently and was really upset for them. I hope I didn't offend but I made an online grocery order and had it delivered to them anonymously a couple of days later and would do again tbh.

I agree that there should be some provision made for children who have free school meals to have the equivalent outside school, but I can't think of a way of doing that that guarantees they'll get the food (rather than their dad getting the money, in the example above) in a way that doesn't embarrass them. I can't see many secondary school pupils wanting to go into school for lunch in the holidays.