Tag: food bank

Penny (not her real name), the mother of five who was so appreciative on Friday when she received help from our London food bank, tells us that she had escaped from an abusive relationship. As a result she has had to move house 11 times, with her older children attending three different secondary schools so far. She has mental health issues – made worse by the stress of trying to feed her girls, who range in age from 14 to four months. Penny was referred to us by her community psychiatric nurse.

She receives £120 every two weeks in Employment Support Allowance (ESA), and £240 in child tax credit a week. But by the time she pays her private landlord £200 a week (which also includes rent arrears) by standing order, she only had £40 left this week to cover gas, electricity and food.

Penny, whose says her ex-husband “hasn’t given me anything”,  believes single parents with larger families are being particularly affected by policies towards claimants: “I’ve been trying to get the council to help for the last six months. I know another mum with five children who can’t afford to feed them.”

Despite all the setbacks, Penny is obviously a loving mother, who does her best for the children. She’s someone who puts her youngsters’ welfare first. “I’m doing a brilliant job. My children are being brought up well. They say please and thank you. All they (the government) want to do is to bring us down. There’s no help when you have babies.” The facts back up her view. Back in 2011, the £500 per child Sure Start maternity grant was restricted to the first child in a family, and crisis loans are no longer available to those on Jobseeker’s Allowance or other low income benefits.

The food bank  – set up by local churches in this borough in partnership with the Trussell Trust – may have been able to ensure that this is a better week for Penny and her children. But her new baby and her older sisters will not thrive unless the family’s future prospects improve quickly.

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.