The Trussell Trust, the charity which runs the majority of the UK's food banks, gives these statistics:
"Between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2017, The Trussell Trust’s Foodbank Network provided 1,182,954 three day emergency food supplies to people in crisis compared to 1,109,309 in 2015-16. Of this number, 436,938 went to children."And it's not just people going along to get something for free because they can. You can't just walk in and ask or help yourself, you have to be referred to a food bank by one of a number of authorised organisations. Need is proven, and support is given, by way of sufficient food to provide meals for three days at a time.
But you can't just go back every fourth day and ask for more... you have to be referred. For instance, the Milton Keynes food bank, which is independent of the Trussell Trust, limits its help (although adds a rider that they can be flexible if clients need extra help),
"Clients can receive a food parcel x5 times within a rolling 12 month period."So why are so many families being forced to ask for help? The Trussell Trust states that delays to benefits payments were the most common reason for the rising number of referrals to foodbanks. Labour's Richard Burden (Parliamentary Candidate for Birmingham Northfield) said in an article in the Huff Post in Dec 2016 that,
"There is a wide spectrum of people who are running out of the money they need to buy food, toilet rolls and other family essentials these days. Quite a few different reasons too. However, a common factor in so many cases is the way the tax benefits and tax credits systems operate. People facing sanctions; people moving from one benefit to another with delays in the meantime; people falling between one part of the benefit or tax credit system and another. And please don’t think I am simply talking about people without jobs. A lot of people who turn for help to B30 and other foodbanks across the country are in work. It’s just that they are on poverty pay."Low pay is a big factor: public sector has been subject to a pay freeze for several years, which means that in real terms most workers are now earning less than they were in 2010, with no prospect of a change, unless we see a change of government on 8th June.
The Mirror reported in March 2017 that,
"Public sector workers, including midwives, teaching assistants and refuse collectors, face a real terms pay cut of £4,000 on average by 2020 because of the government’s wages’ freeze,"If people earn less, but costs of housing, heating, travel, food all continue to rise it is common sense that people will struggle to make ends meet and will need help with basics, especially as thresholds for in-work benefits are lowered, an impact that The Trussell Trust warned about in November 2015.
In another Huff Post article, Chris Mould the Chairman of the Trussell Trust, mentioned the publication of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s latest Destitution Report. It reports that in 2015 1.25 million people were unable to afford the absolute essentials needed to eat, stay warm and dry, and keep clean. This is 1.25 million people living in the UK; four in five of them born here. In the sixth richest country in the world, 1.25 million people are living in poverty and cannot afford food, heating or even toilet rolls! I bet that is never a problem for those at 10 Downing Street!
So, having pointed out the problem, what is the solution to it? How do we reduce the demand, and remove the need, for food banks? It's all down to the austerity economy which governments in power since 2010 have pursued. Austerity is not a financial requirement, it is a political choice. It is a measure by which governments control the population without the population realising it is being controlled. It is gradual, it is insidious, it is destructive, and it is unnecessary.
On 8th June we have the chance to make a change for the better, by not voting for more of the same. We can vote for a real alternative, for an economy that invests to make it grow, for a government that will bring in a real living wage of £10 an hour for all adults. A government that will protect human rights and workers' rights, that will restore dignity to those whose lives have been blighted by benefit cuts, sanctions, food banks and homelessness. A government that will protect and invest in our NHS and social care systems. A government that will build homes that people can afford to buy or rent, and ensure proper rent controls and decent homes standards. A government that will invest in our schools and make good education available to everyone. A government that will help create quality jobs. A government that will take good care of its people and the environment in which we all live.
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The choice is simple, use your vote on 8th June.
