Foodbank Users Reveal The Sheer Desperation That Left Them With No Other Option

The first lady, Donna, said she saw the food bank advertised and drove there. Was she not referred there then?

The other lady, Maria, might want to think about moving someone a bit more accessible if she can. She sounds depressed to me.

Benefits do take a while to come through, so I would say to anyone - save money while you can in case things get rough.

Raggamuffin wrote:The first lady, Donna, said she saw the food bank advertised and drove there. Was she not referred there then?

The other lady, Maria, might want to think about moving someone a bit more accessible if she can. She sounds depressed to me.

Benefits do take a while to come through, so I would say to anyone - save money while you can in case things get rough.

Which is my point Rags. Why did neither apply to have a loan from benefits, of which they can of up to 50% on their monthly calculated allowance?

I think the real reason there has been a rise is that more and more people are incompetent with their money, in that they live beyond their means.

At our local Church I saw two people turn up to collect food parcels, they came in a TAXI !!

Thorin wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:The first lady, Donna, said she saw the food bank advertised and drove there. Was she not referred there then?

The other lady, Maria, might want to think about moving someone a bit more accessible if she can. She sounds depressed to me.

Benefits do take a while to come through, so I would say to anyone - save money while you can in case things get rough.

Which is my point Rags. Why did neither apply to have a loan from benefits, of which they can of up to 50% on their monthly calculated allowance?

I think the real reason there has been a rise is that more and more people are incompetent with their money, in that they live beyond their means.

Perhaps they don't know they can have a loan from benefits.

I agree with you generally. If people put away a little each month, they could have enough to see them through if things get tough. The first lady said she had worked since she was 16, so why didn't she save a bit all those years? I can't understand how people live from pay packet to pay packet. For those who would say - they can't afford to save - of course they can. If you save even a tenner a month, that's £120 a year.

nicko wrote:At our local Church I saw two people turn up to collect food parcels,   they came in a TAXI !!

Raggamuffin wrote:

Thorin wrote:


Which is my point Rags. Why did neither apply to have a loan from benefits, of which they can of up to 50% on their monthly calculated allowance?

I think the real reason there has been a rise is that more and more people are incompetent with their money, in that they live beyond their means.

Perhaps they don't know they can have a loan from benefits.

I agree with you generally. If people put away a little each month, they could have enough to see them through if things get tough. The first lady said she had worked since she was 16, so why didn't she save a bit all those years? I can't understand how people live from pay packet to pay packet. For those who would say - they can't afford to save - of course they can. If you save even a tenner a month, that's £120 a year.

I doubt they did not know. I have a friend who recently lost his job and was very clueless with money. He was told at his interview, it was 6 weeks before he would have any money and told his adviser that he had no money to get by. They told him that he could call the next day when all his paperwork had been put onto the system, that he should call the universal credit line for a loan. So I would be very surprised if they were not told or even said the same when told it takes 6 weeks to pay them. Of course its possible they were not, but I doubt it. 

I completely agree on your points and how many people live from pay packet to pay packet.

The other point is - don't people have friends who can help them out a bit? Maria has a daughter who could perhaps help her out, at least with her depression.

Raggamuffin wrote:The other point is - don't people have friends who can help them out a bit? Maria has a daughter who could perhaps help her out, at least with her depression.

A very good point.

I basically could have come in off the street as anyone but it was genuine, I just needed this bit of help until the benefits kicked in and things became better for me.

So she wasn't referred. She was genuine, but can others walk in off the street who aren't genuine?

But as Trussell Trust chief executive David McAuley wrote soon after, “you can’t just turn up at a foodbank’s doors because you spent all your money on Sky TV.” Most people are referred through job centre advisors or GPs.

Even if you have to be referred, the GP or the Job Centre Advisor isn't going to ask if you spent all your money on Sky TV.

Maybe there should be classes at school on how to budget and save, and be responsible for yourself, or maybe there already are?

Raggamuffin wrote:

I basically could have come in off the street as anyone but it was genuine, I just needed this bit of help until the benefits kicked in and things became better for me.

So she wasn't referred. She was genuine, but can others walk in off the street who aren't genuine?

But as Trussell Trust chief executive David McAuley wrote soon after, “you can’t just turn up at a foodbank’s doors because you spent all your money on Sky TV.” Most people are referred through job centre advisors or GPs.

Even if you have to be referred, the GP or the Job Centre Advisor isn't going to ask if you spent all your money on Sky TV.

Maybe there should be classes at school on how to budget and save, and be responsible for yourself, or maybe there already are?

Agree 100%

Thorin wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:The other point is - don't people have friends who can help them out a bit? Maria has a daughter who could perhaps help her out, at least with her depression.

A very good point.

It's possible that she didn't tell her daughter how bad she felt, but she's on her own and her daughter should make sure she's OK. I hear this kind of thing over and over again. If someone is having a bad time, they should tell their friends and family. If they're worth anything, they'll help out. If they don't, they're not worth having.

This puzzles me too:

I had been working at Chester Zoo after being told I had to take the job. It was only seasonal work and then they finished me because it was the end of the summer. I had to go and sign on the dole. But it took them over five weeks to pay me.

Was it the benefits people who told she had to take the job? If so, was she on JSA before she took that job? If so, then they would know it was just a temporary job, so why would she have to sign on again?

Raggamuffin wrote:This puzzles me too:

I had been working at Chester Zoo after being told I had to take the job. It was only seasonal work and then they finished me because it was the end of the summer. I had to go and sign on the dole. But it took them over five weeks to pay me.

Was it the benefits people who told she had to take the job? If so, was she on JSA before she took that job? If so, then they would know it was just a temporary job, so why would she have to sign on again?

That is strange and goes back to my point about if some are being honest here. As just rang my friend who said the Universal claim stays open on the system when people get back into employment, for 6 months. As many people get some temp work but that its hit and miss. Where they could do a few months work and then nothing. Thay you could work one full week of hours, then nothing the next week and Universal credit know the hours you have worked through the Tax office and just recalculate what they will be paid. They just deduct from their monthly pay, what the person has earned after tax. 

Where it also allows for people to still be paid when back into full time employment, when its going to be a month before their first pay day. So its very doubtful she would have needed to apply again. Her claim should have still been open, unless it was longer than 6 months when she got back into employment.

So that is an interesting point raised Rags