Tag: ESA

Food shopping on £1.42 a day

Stephen, who came into our London food bank last week, is a single  man of 55, but has the vulnerable air of a child. He shared a house with his mum until her death four years ago. He obviously misses her greatly. Although he lives in the next borough, his housing association sent him here  – presumably because ours is the only food bank that was open “nearby” that day. The need for emergency food is so great in our borough that we have 6/7 food banks – each open on a different day of the week. Our food bank is one of nearly 400 that make up the Trussell Trust‘s UK food bank network.

He told me he had a visit from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) the previous day. They were, he said, “trying to get me on Employment Support Allowance (ESA)”, because of his health problems. Stephen is a diabetic, and was diagnosed four years ago. He said  he’s currently surviving on £84 a month disability living allowance, and doesn’t receive jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), because he’s not deemed fit for work.

The process of getting ESA is likely to take some time. Delays to assessment and disputes are common, and seem to lie behind most of the visits to this food bank.

How does he cope on £84 a month? According to Stephen the money goes on rent, electricity (£4) and £40 for food. What does he buy with the £10 a week he has to spend on food? He told me he heads down to the local shop, where he buys five microwavable dinners for £1 each. He spends £3 a week feeding his beloved cat. Stephen has a bowl of cornflakes with some milk for breakfast and saves his microwavable meal for the evening. He said he “doesn’t need two main meals a day”. I’m left speechless.

Disability campaigner Sue Marsh said in a recent letter to the Evening Standard that “just 10 per cent of the sick and disabled people referred to the Government’s work programme are ‘helped’ into work”. She argues that the hardest to help are “parked”, while “huge corporations” cherry pick the easiest cases to ensure they get paid. I’m not confident about Stephen’s prospects in this new world as he struggles towards the bus stop with his bags of food.

Feeding a baby on benefits

What would you do if you and your partner were young, jobless, struggling to buy enough food and had a baby with allergies? You could end up shouting at each other – a lot. That’s what happened to John and Marie (not their real names), a couple in their early 20s who came to the Trussell Trust centre last week for a supply of emergency food. They brought their subdued little girl of 15 months, who sat in her pram and was unsettled until given some baby rice.

Their baby is tiny – she  looks no more than nine or 10 months. She’s come to the attention of  local authority child protection staff, who are concerned that she’s already being emotionally damaged by her parents’ constant arguments.

Marie is from the Philippines and is trying to sort out her UK immigration papers. The fee for preparing her papers was £578. She doesn’t receive any public funds, so John is trying to pay the immigration fee, while attempting to spread the £113 Employment Support Allowance (ESA) he receives once a fortnight between the three of them.  John says he had to survive for 16 months without any benefits before he started getting ESA. Marie is still awaiting the immigration decision.

They’re used to making a little money go a long way when it comes to food: John says: ‘We were shopping at Morrison’s, and we can make a meal for under £5. We mostly buy things like tins of spaghetti and ravioli. But the real shock was finding out that she (the baby) had allergies. So we had to change our food. But social services is saying that a family of three could survive on £51 a week.’ Although their rent is paid by a neighbouring local authority, the benefit money has to stretch to cover council tax, electricity and travel, as well as food. John is bitter about the way they have to live. ‘They are making all these cuts, but does Mr Cameron see the other side of it? It’s very difficult for people who are applying for immigration.’

They want to know if they can access a centre closer to their flat next time, as affording travel is a big problem. Alan, who manages the foodbanks in the borough, says: ‘We’ve had people come here who’ve had to walk huge distances to collect the food, and walk huge distances back.’

He gently explains to the couple that the supply of food they’re being given is meant to be an emergency response to an immediate crisis rather than an ongoing solution. You can tell he hates having to say this to people who are clearly going to find it almost impossible to improve their circumstances in the near future. But he remains as positive as he can, saying: ‘We are a charity run by churches in the borough. A lot of people are being put in difficult positions, and our job is to do what we can to help.’

Note: The first post published on 22 September says Tim the ex-scaffolder cycles about 16 miles to the hospital and back for blood and eyesight tests. The round trip is 10/11 miles.