Food Banks: No ID, No Checks, As Much Food As They Want So They Can Spend Benefits On Fags, Booze & Scratch Cards

20th April 2014

So BigAndy9 was right all along. But you all knew that anyway.

Volunteers for a charity that blames welfare cuts for the soaring use of its food banks have admitted that fraudsters routinely ‘take advantage’ of the handouts.


The Trussell Trust, the UK’s biggest provider of food banks – which highlighted a ‘shocking’ rise in demand for emergency food packages last week – last night pledged to investigate after volunteers were filmed admitting that people could take free food without checks, and that many visitors were asylum-seekers.


One worker at a bank run by the trust said that people regularly ‘bounce around’ locations to receive more vouchers than they are entitled to.


A Mail on Sunday investigation has also found inadequate checks on who claims the vouchers, after a reporter obtained three days’ worth of food simply by telling staff at a Citizen’s Advice Bureau – without any proof – that he was unemployed.


Undercover reporters posing as volunteers at food banks in London and Nottinghamshire also found:

Staff at one centre gave food parcels to a woman who had visited nine times in just four months, despite that particular centre’s own rules stipulating that individuals should claim no more than three parcels a year.
Volunteers revealed that increased awareness of food banks is driving a rise in their use.
Staff at a supermarket, where shoppers are encouraged to buy extra food and donate it to a local food bank, were alleged to be later turning up to claim the food themselves.

According to the Trussell Trust’s statistics, more than 913,000 people received three days’ emergency food from its banks in 2013-14 compared with 347,000 in 2012-13.

The charity, which runs more than 400 of Britain’s 1,000 food banks, acknowledged that a third of the food was given to repeat visitors, but insisted the rise was based on genuine need for emergency food.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2608606/No-ID-no-checks-vouchers-sob-stories-The-truth-shock-food-bank-claims.html#ixzz2zSgWLyaC

HOW MOS REPORTER GOT 3 DAYS OF GROCERIES... NO QUESTIONS ASKED





Staff at Nottingham’s Citizens’ Advice Bureau handed out a food bank voucher to an undercover Mail on Sunday reporter entitling him to a generous three days’ worth of shopping –without even asking for any identification.


Our reporter Ross Slater, pictured, arrived at the CAB office near the city’s railway station to enquire about food vouchers. After filling out a form giving his name, address, date of birth, phone number and the reason for the visit, the reporter was told to wait for an assessor to interview him.


The woman, called Katherine, who was in her 60s, asked our reporter a series of questions about why the food bank vouchers were needed.


He explained he had been unemployed for a few months and had been caught out by higher than expected winter fuel bills and was strapped for cash and food. He added that his wife had left her job and was not earning and that they had two children to care for. After asking for details of how much Jobseekers’ Allowance was received, the assessor’s questions turned to the dietary requirements of the reporter and his family.


Katherine asked our man to wait while she found out which food bank would be able to help him and then returned with an official voucher signed by the centre’s manager Sarah Webber.


From there the reporter was sent to the Trussell Trust-run food bank at St Philip’s Church in Bulwell, Nottingham, where he presented the voucher to one of several helpers.


Within minutes he was given with four shopping bags bursting with essentials – about £40 worth of groceries.


These included basics such as bread, sugar and pasta, as well as less essential items such chocolate pudding.


After inviting the reporter to help himself to the soap, toothpaste and hot dog rolls they had spare, the volunteers wished him a Happy Easter and he staggered out of the church with his bags. He later returned the goods.


Last night the Trussell Trust said any distributor found to be providing vouchers to people not in genuine need would receive extra training.

WHAT OUR REPORTER WAS GIVEN

Our basket included: Warburton’s bread £1.45; apple juice £1; Fray Bentos steak & ale pie £2.49; Heinz tomato soup 89p; Loyd Grossman pasta sauce £1; Dolmio sauce £1.80; instant mashed potato 28p; creamed rice pudding 15p; long-life milk 56p; Irish stew £1.49; spaghetti rings 34p; sliced peaches in juice 35p; custard 17p; new potatoes in water 15p; plum tomatoes 34p; Silver Spoon sugar £1; tea bags £2; processed peas 21p; kidney beans 25p; tuna steaks £1.39; sardines 60p; spaghetti 16p; meatballs 45p; chocolate pudding 65p; strawberry jam 29p; bran flakes 88p; bread sauce 70p; risotto rice 99p; granola £3.75; baked beans 35p; sticky toffee pudding 65p. TOTAL: £38.35



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2608606/No-ID-no-checks-vouchers-sob-stories-The-truth-shock-food-bank-claims.html#ixzz2zSil6eHs

So I guess you don't need a voucher from the dole office or a doctor then?

  

Aw, yer so cute when your angry Andy! :askissas:

Joy Division wrote:Aw, yer so cute when your angry Andy! :askissas:

Is that thread related, or about me, again?   

He missed the bit that said the Tressell Trust would be retraining the people that gave out the vouchers erroneously. They are given out by CABs, Doctors and the dole office. I wonder how many times they tried before they got one, they don't mention that.

I could have used that when I was in college. I was employed but there were sometimes I was really short on cash and could have used something other than stale bread and condiment packs I snitched from the fastfood place for lunch. Yes it would have been fraud but I was paying for school not booze. I couldn't afford booze

BigAndy9 wrote:

Joy Division wrote:Aw, yer so cute when your angry Andy! :askissas:

Is that thread related, or about me, again?     

Ah come on Andy, you ken I luv ya...even though your Eton minded   

BigAndy9 wrote:So I guess you don't need a voucher from the dole office or a doctor then?

  

Hey Andy!

I'm on benefits, and i can stream history stuff now, for a very cheap amount of money!   

My brother is a banker, and he knows of a site...It's illegal, but you can get all the latest movies for free!

....He was telling me, that his mates use the same site as well, all for free, when they have loads of money.

  GOOD to see that L'ilAndy is once again staying on top of the 'things that matter' ~ kicking the poor, the crippled and disadvantaged as usual...

Compiling his DM_fed rightist rants in such a way that he loves to makes it look like all welfare/benefits/charity recipients are "scroungers, cheats, thieves, (insert your favourite denigrating insult here..)"..

NOW I await those kindred brain-dead halfwits "Tommy M." and "nicko" to join him, in denying that there is any poverty in the Ol' Blighty, but plenty of scroungers and wastrels - especially those with "foreign sounding names", even if they are 5th generation locals !

IF ONLY any of those three senile old whiners paid their fair share of taxes, then I reckon they might have something substantial to complain about..  

why do you keep bringing me into your shit posts? did I hit a nerve ? or was I near to the truth when I said you live in a slum.you seem to be mighty upset with me.can't get me out of your head can you. stupid aussie wanker.get a life and a job.you need to join the army ,it might knock some sense into ya'

Crap rw tory rag that is racist, sexist, has shades of paedophilia ( how many bikini clad young teens does it show?) and has supported the Nazis in the past.

"No questions asked? "

The Fail on Sunday hack was interviewed and LIED throughout.

Lying and corruption in Fleet street cost Murdoch , the NotW and a host of journo's imprisonment.
Food donations have doubled since that article.
The Fail failed!

handy andy,a man with a tiny little winkle,who lives in a tent on the edge of Dartmoor and buys the DailyMail every day.  lmao]

Of course the people running these food banks are going to get a bit lax re who they give food to, as are the people who decide who should get food and who shouldn't. It's like retail staff who sell alcohol to young people - they don't do it because they can be prosecuted, but if that wasn't the case, they might be pretty lax about it.

Gosh that was witty Nicko. Still supporting Breivik, the KKK, BNP and the Paedophilia Society are you?

Catman wrote:

BigAndy9 wrote:So I guess you don't need a voucher from the dole office or a doctor then?

  

Hey Andy!

I'm on benefits, and i can stream history stuff now, for a very cheap amount of money!   

My brother is a banker, and he knows of a site...It's illegal, but you can get all the latest movies for free!

Says a lot about family values nowadays then - if your brother's a banker and he lets you live on the dole. That's one thing I admire about immigrant families from poor countries, at least they help each other out. Then again maybe you've been helped out more times than enough - some people are just beyond redemption.

Lone Wolf wrote:
   GOOD to see that L'ilAndy is once again staying on top of the 'things that matter' ~ kicking the poor, the crippled and disadvantaged as usual...

Compiling his DM_fed rightist rants in such a way that he loves to makes it look like all welfare/benefits/charity recipients are "scroungers, cheats, thieves, (insert your favourite denigrating insult here..)"..

NOW I await those kindred brain-dead halfwits "Tommy M." and "nicko" to join him, in denying that there is any poverty in the Ol' Blighty, but plenty of scroungers and wastrels - especially those with "foreign sounding names", even if they are 5th generation locals !

IF ONLY any of those three senile old whiners paid their fair share of taxes, then I reckon they might have something substantial to complain about..    

I don't know Andy but I don't understand the fixation on doubting or making negative statements about people in poverty.Of course some people without scruples will take advantage and attempt to con the system,that is true of every system that is in place.It is no reflection upon those who have a genuine need for food banks and use them fairly.

The mentality to tar everyone with the same stereotypical brush,in this case all poor people are thieves,I find rather unsavoury.

FluffyBunny wrote:

Lone Wolf wrote:
   GOOD to see that L'ilAndy is once again staying on top of the 'things that matter' ~ kicking the poor, the crippled and disadvantaged as usual...

Compiling his DM_fed rightist rants in such a way that he loves to makes it look like all welfare/benefits/charity recipients are "scroungers, cheats, thieves, (insert your favourite denigrating insult here..)"..

NOW I await those kindred brain-dead halfwits "Tommy M." and "nicko" to join him, in denying that there is any poverty in the Ol' Blighty, but plenty of scroungers and wastrels - especially those with "foreign sounding names", even if they are 5th generation locals !

IF ONLY any of those three senile old whiners paid their fair share of taxes, then I reckon they might have something substantial to complain about..    

I don't know Andy but I don't understand the fixation on doubting or making negative statements about people in poverty.Of course some people without scruples will take advantage and attempt to con the system,that is true of every system that is in place.It is no reflection upon those who have a genuine need for food banks and use them fairly.



The mentality to tar everyone with the same stereotypical brush,in this case all poor people are thieves,I find rather unsavoury.

You will get used to him Fluffy, our Andy gets aroused by this sort of thing and whinges sand condemns poor and disabled people , as well as immigrants, black people amd Muslims etc on a daily basis!

Not to mention he supports the cover up of the murder of Stephen Lawrence by the racist thugs and racis police.


Indeed Andy is the sort to tip a disabled person out of their wheelchair if he thought nobody was looking.


One can often tell when it's a wank holiday with our Andy, he does bet rather excited  being in full support of the Royal scrounger family.
He's an affy laddie!

dear handy,i have never supported any of them,perhaps you can find a post where I have. or are you just another lying left wing scum bag. Please show me a post or we will all know your just trying for the sympathy vote.  

Tesstacious wrote:

Catman wrote:

Hey Andy!

I'm on benefits, and i can stream history stuff now, for a very cheap amount of money!   

My brother is a banker, and he knows of a site...It's illegal, but you can get all the latest movies for free!

Says a lot about family values nowadays then - if your brother's a banker and he lets you live on the dole.  That's one thing I admire about immigrant families from poor countries, at least they help each other out.  Then again maybe you've been helped out more times than enough - some people are just beyond redemption.

I see you've started your pitiful yapping and RWhinging again Tess the dog.
Yap! Yap! Yap!

  

Out of the whole story this part was my concern:

WHAT OUR REPORTER WAS GIVEN

Our basket included: Warburton’s bread £1.45; apple juice £1; Fray Bentos steak & ale pie £2.49; Heinz tomato soup 89p; Loyd Grossman pasta sauce £1; Dolmio sauce £1.80; instant mashed potato 28p; creamed rice pudding 15p; long-life milk 56p; Irish stew £1.49; spaghetti rings 34p; sliced peaches in juice 35p; custard 17p; new potatoes in water 15p; plum tomatoes 34p; Silver Spoon sugar £1; tea bags £2; processed peas 21p; kidney beans 25p; tuna steaks £1.39; sardines 60p; spaghetti 16p; meatballs 45p; chocolate pudding 65p; strawberry jam 29p; bran flakes 88p; bread sauce 70p; risotto rice 99p; granola £3.75; baked beans 35p; sticky toffee pudding 65p. TOTAL: £38.35


Who did the shopping for these people????
What a load of shit and wasted money.

For nearly forty quid you could supply a much better list of ingredients to make dinners that would last longer.
Potatoes
Minced meat
Bag frozen mixed veg
Tins mixed beans
Pasta
Tinned tomatoes x4
Onions
Tins fish
Rice


From that list alone you can make shepherds pie, which you can make stretch into two nights worth of food, fish pasta, chilli and rice, spag Bol,

They need to look into that part of their service and then they'll be doing the poor a better service!!!!

The food at food banks is often donated not bought - and they work from the assumption that people do not have access to a freezer and possibly even a fridge - not to mention the food banks themselves do not have the means to store chilled/frozen

Dried, tinned, suitable for long term storage is the name of the game. Bread is often the only "fresh" item.

sphinx wrote:The food at food banks is often donated not bought - and they work from the assumption that people do not have access to a freezer and possibly even a fridge - not to mention the food banks themselves do not have the means to store chilled/frozen

Dried, tinned, suitable for long term storage is the name of the game.  Bread is often the only "fresh" item.

Exactly right.

I have never met anyone who doesn't have a fridge or freezer!
Not even the poorest of people.

In any case there were only two items on my list that require refrigeration and/or freezing.

My point still stands about the crap they are putting in people's food parcels.

eddie wrote:I have never met anyone who doesn't have a fridge or freezer!
Not even the poorest of people.

Oh I have, many. Its not considered a necessity so if yours breaks you wont get help with a replacement.
Plus the govt have closed all the Create places where recons were sold cheap.

Nems wrote:

eddie wrote:I have never met anyone who doesn't have a fridge or freezer!
Not even the poorest of people.

Oh I have, many. Its not considered a necessity so if yours breaks you wont get help with a replacement.
Plus the govt have closed all the Create places where recons were sold cheap.

Christ ! that is so sad and worrying  at the same time, for f**k's sake.  

Stephenmarra wrote:

Nems wrote:

Oh I have, many. Its not considered a necessity so if yours breaks you wont get help with a replacement.
Plus the govt have closed all the Create places where recons were sold cheap.

Christ ! that is so sad and worrying  at the same time, for f**k's sake.  

I know. they say a fridge isnt necessary because you can shop daily, how expensive would that be?!

Nems wrote:

Stephenmarra wrote:
Christ ! that is so sad and worrying  at the same time, for f**k's sake.  

I know. they say a fridge isnt necessary because you can shop daily, how expensive would that be?!

Well I've never ever come across a family (and I've lived among the poor in my time!) who didn't own a fridge! I'll have to take your word for it!

By the by, it has been said that shopping daily is less expensive as you don't buy crap you don't need - but of course, this is only workable if you don't have to get buses to the shop....

eddie wrote:

Nems wrote:

I know. they say a fridge isnt necessary because you can shop daily, how expensive would that be?!

Well I've never ever come across a family (and I've lived among the poor in my time!) who didn't own a fridge! I'll have to take your word for it!

By the by, it has been said that shopping daily is less expensive as you don't buy crap you don't need - but of course, this is only workable if you don't have to get buses to the shop....

I don't see how that is possible Eds, it means you have to buy everything at the price it is that day, instead of buying it when it is cheap. For example, my weekly shop is never the same, because I have built up a stock cupboard, so I still spend the same amount I allow myself, but will buy a lot of one thing if it is cheap. The other week coffee was going at a greatly reduced price, so I bought six. Used up a lot of my allowance by had enough of stuff in the freezer and cupboards. I think buying every day is the most expensive way.

Couldn't afford a freezer when we started out Eddie but we still managed to shop weekly.  I would imagine that it would be very difficult for food banks to manage perishable goods although of course I agree it would be preferable to offer fresh foods.  They do a fantastic job and in very difficult circumstances  

Nems wrote:

eddie wrote:I have never met anyone who doesn't have a fridge or freezer!
Not even the poorest of people.

Oh I have, many. Its not considered a necessity so if yours breaks you wont get help with a replacement.
Plus the govt have closed all the Create places where recons were sold cheap.

I have a relative who doesn't have either.

As for Create places - never heard of them but I can guess what they are.

You can always get second hand fridges and freezers though.

We left ours on the drive the other week - with a washing machine - all working fine - taken that same day by somebody.

BigAndy9 wrote:

Nems wrote:

Oh I have, many. Its not considered a necessity so if yours breaks you wont get help with a replacement.
Plus the govt have closed all the Create places where recons were sold cheap.

I have a relative who doesn't have either.

As for Create places - never heard of them but I can guess what they are.

You can always get second hand fridges and freezers though.

We left ours on the drive the other week - with a washing machine - all working fine - taken that same day by somebody.

Isn't it amazing what will be taken away if you stick it outside your house with a "FREE" sign on it??  Hubby has people come into his work weekly to collect scrap.  A washing machine is a real prize Andy

feelthelove wrote:

BigAndy9 wrote:

I have a relative who doesn't have either.

As for Create places - never heard of them but I can guess what they are.

You can always get second hand fridges and freezers though.

We left ours on the drive the other week - with a washing machine - all working fine - taken that same day by somebody.

Isn't it amazing what will be taken away if you stick it outside your house with a "FREE" sign on it??  Hubby has people come into his work weekly to collect scrap.  A washing machine is a real prize Andy

We live in a throwaway society - I'd say you can easily furnish a house for nothing - anybody can, and that includes white goods, electronics etc.

Those 2 lads I have been collecting stuff for on facebook don't have a fridge, freezer or cooker Edds. Straight out of a homeless shelter (because it was closing down) into a house with no money, no jobs and nothing except a single mattress each. I got a microwave from a friend for them, and I know they use a foodbank sometimes. They were promised a cooker would be provided, but 5 months down the line there is no sign as yet, and as Nems said the local place where they used to distribute second hand furniture for people like them has closed down.

And frankly if you gave them fresh food to cook they wouldn't be able to afford the gas to do it anyway.... you don't actually realise what poverty is unless you have met people like them tbh. One has now got a job so all his benefits have stopped but he wont get any money for a month, I really don't know how people are meant to survive.

Tell "those 2 lads" to go and get a free one.

In fact - go and get one for them - you have access to the internet - look on www.preloved.co.uk

You're welcome.

harvesmom wrote:Those 2 lads I have been collecting stuff for on facebook don't have a fridge, freezer or cooker Edds. Straight out of a homeless shelter (because it was closing down)  into a house with no money, no jobs and nothing except a single mattress each. I got a microwave from a friend for them, and I know they use a foodbank sometimes. They were promised a cooker would be provided, but 5 months down the line there is no sign as yet, and as Nems said the local place where they used to distribute second hand furniture for people like them has closed down.

And frankly if you gave them fresh food to cook they wouldn't be able to afford the gas to do it anyway.... you don't actually realise what poverty is unless you have met people like them tbh. One has now got a job so all his benefits have stopped but he wont get any money for a month, I really don't know how people are meant to survive.

Agreed, how are people expected to eat while they wait for that first paycheck?  It's not like they would have any savings

BigAndy9 wrote:

feelthelove wrote:

Isn't it amazing what will be taken away if you stick it outside your house with a "FREE" sign on it??  Hubby has people come into his work weekly to collect scrap.  A washing machine is a real prize Andy

We live in a throwaway society - I'd say you can easily furnish a house for nothing - anybody can, and that includes white goods, electronics etc.

We often do Andy, much better to give it away than throw it away

BigAndy9 wrote:Tell "those 2 lads" to go and get a free one.

In fact - go and get one for them - you have access to the internet - look on www.preloved.co.uk

You're welcome.

They have had loads of stuff off free sites thank you Andy   

But then they have to rely on me driving them to get it, so it has to be able to go into the back of my car.... they don't have any family to help you see. And its not the sort of thing you can get back on a bus   

feelthelove wrote:

harvesmom wrote:Those 2 lads I have been collecting stuff for on facebook don't have a fridge, freezer or cooker Edds. Straight out of a homeless shelter (because it was closing down)  into a house with no money, no jobs and nothing except a single mattress each. I got a microwave from a friend for them, and I know they use a foodbank sometimes. They were promised a cooker would be provided, but 5 months down the line there is no sign as yet, and as Nems said the local place where they used to distribute second hand furniture for people like them has closed down.

And frankly if you gave them fresh food to cook they wouldn't be able to afford the gas to do it anyway.... you don't actually realise what poverty is unless you have met people like them tbh. One has now got a job so all his benefits have stopped but he wont get any money for a month, I really don't know how people are meant to survive.

Agreed, how are people expected to eat while they wait for that first paycheck?  It's not like they would have any savings

Foodbanks I'm afraid FTL

harvesmom wrote:

BigAndy9 wrote:Tell "those 2 lads" to go and get a free one.

In fact - go and get one for them - you have access to the internet - look on www.preloved.co.uk

You're welcome.

They have had loads of stuff off free sites thank you Andy   

But then they have to rely on me driving them to get it, so it has to be able to go into the back of my car.... they don't have any family to help you see. And its not the sort of thing you can get back on a bus   

the social not given them any thing?

You can get emergency loans off the social and decorating allowances (used for whatever you like)
I don't understand why people have no necessities?

There are crisis loans too available from the social.

Is it a case of people not asking?

@andy, why didn't you give your stuff to your relatives then!

eddie wrote:You can get emergency loans off the social and decorating allowances (used for whatever you like)
I don't understand why people have no necessities?

There are crisis loans too available from the social.

Is it a case of people not asking?

no edds crisis loans are gone as is the community care grant

Nems wrote:

eddie wrote:You can get emergency loans off the social and decorating allowances (used for whatever you like)
I don't understand why people have no necessities?

There are crisis loans too available from the social.

Is it a case of people not asking?

no edds crisis loans are gone as is the community care grant

How come my friends mum got one then?
She had mental health problems and moved out of my friends house, where she stayed for a year after her husband (my friends dad) died and they gave her a grant for moving and setting up,home??
I'll have to ask my mate what it was called but I know she got some kind of grant but didn't need it for essentials just decorating.

Nems wrote:

harvesmom wrote:

They have had loads of stuff off free sites thank you Andy   

But then they have to rely on me driving them to get it, so it has to be able to go into the back of my car.... they don't have any family to help you see. And its not the sort of thing you can get back on a bus   

the social not given them any thing?

2 single mattresses (no bed base or duvet etc) and the promise of a fridge which hasn't materialised as yet. That's it.

eddie wrote:

Nems wrote:

no edds crisis loans are gone as is the community care grant

How come my friends mum got one then?
She had mental health problems and moved out of my friends house, where she stayed for a year after her husband (my friends dad) died and they gave her a grant for moving and setting up,home??
I'll have to ask my mate what it was called but I know she got some kind of grant but didn't need it for essentials just decorating.

I have heard if you move into a council house you can get help with decorating it, I think they give you vouchers or something. But you cant get council houses for love nor money round here, theirs is privately rented and you get nothing. Maybe that's what she got?

harvesmom wrote:

eddie wrote:

How come my friends mum got one then?
She had mental health problems and moved out of my friends house, where she stayed for a year after her husband (my friends dad) died and they gave her a grant for moving and setting up,home??
I'll have to ask my mate what it was called but I know she got some kind of grant but didn't need it for essentials just decorating.

I have heard if you move into a council house you can get help with decorating it, I think they give you vouchers or something. But you cant get council houses for love nor money round here, theirs is privately rented and you get nothing. Maybe that's what she got?

Yes it must've been harves. She gave up a property as her husband died in it and lived with her daughter then got given warden controlled council.

harvesmom wrote:

Nems wrote:

the social not given them any thing?

2 single mattresses (no bed base or duvet etc) and the promise of a fridge which hasn't materialised as yet. That's it.

Its worth phoning because some councils do have a pot of money that they keep very quiet about up here its the Liverpool Citizens support service. Do we know why they were homeless? also the one that is going into work its work asking if he can get a grant for clothing bus bass etc to get to work.