Welcome to Britain’s Victorian Christmas……..

I hear what you're saying but there also seems to be a lot of 'ordinary'people with fancy cars and shopping trolleys filled to the brim. Just look at what is parked in the car parks! Stores and shopping centres are manic just now........

If you lose your job and are in need, you're not going to sell all your clothes for a pittance, let's face it, people use eBay and vinted to get bargains as cheaply as they can, and buy rags to wear to show their status. It's also possible to buy quality clothing at charity shops, all my warm winter coats are good makes from charity shops.
You need phones for so much nowadays, and as many have said you need to be contactable if you're signing on. Back in the old days job clubs would help with stamps for job applications, have you seen the cost of stamps recently? I pay £15 for 60gb data and more or less unlimited calls. I got that when I was working as I needed Internet access when out and about, it's still useful at home and when I'm away. Many don't need so much and can get a cheaper Sim for the cost of a few stamps. Not all who are in need are unemployed, there are a fair few that are on low incomes and work alongside bringing up young children and an unexpected crisis can plunge them into real difficulty, it could be an unexpected car repair that needs paying for so the person can get to a job that starts before buses are running, or to do school pick ups and drop offs and get to work on time, a washing machine breaking down, remember that the few laundrettes around nowadays are expensive ( I would have to drive 12 miles to my nearest laundrette) or a bereavement or suchlike

That 14 year old doesn't know he's born, he doesn't need to pay rent, utilities. I hope he doesn't find himself in a difficult situation one day where he is in need of help
Locally we have a food bank, support from churches and a food hub with a community fridge . The fridge is both for those in need in the community, and to avoid food waste, sometimes supermarkets coming up to sell by food would be skipped if no one took it, surely most of us, as the day goes in would rather it was taken and used by people, even if they can afford not to use it, people can and do make donations to keep it going.
Who would choose to live off random stuff, and not know if there would be enough short dates stuff to make a balanced nutritious meal
As for homeless people charging their phones, nowadays there are more and more places where people can go and keep warm and have a cuppa and charge their phone, libraries included

Mojack26

I hear what you're saying but there also seems to be a lot of 'ordinary'people with fancy cars and shopping trolleys filled to the brim. Just look at what is parked in the car parks! Stores and shopping centres are manic just now........

And on the spin of a coin, everything could change for them.
Or me (it did)
Or you.

My adopted mother b1908 said money goes to money. I suppose she was Edwardian than Victorian but I felt the way we were brought up is was the former than the latter. The companies get rich on the hard work of the people who need a true paying job.
These days, the rich are global, they always find loopholes to avoid tax and /or then again pay it in other low rate counties or not at all. These companies are now installing machines which make more unemployed thus breaking up the social fabric of towns. Causing hopelessness.
To combat this I feel that if …
All tax loopholes should be closed
Taxes should be paid where the money is spent, eg Costa ? and others.
If on line it is cheaper than bricks and mortar extra tax should be imposed eg Amazone?
Machines that are replacing people should contribute to unemployment and NHS as if two or three people would be working. It would still be cheaper as there would be no holiday/sickness and payslips.
More taxes being paid into the coffers would go towards better education, health and council housing which would help everyone and as the money trickles down, the closing down of food banks.
Sorry if this is off subject.

You are right MissA. Loss of job, illness, accident, disability, caring for someone, break up of relationship causing homelessness, to name just a few unexpected life changes. Not everyone is able to save for a rainy day.
There but for the grace of God and all that.

We don't have a landline anymore as it's cheaper to have mobile phones
You can pick up second hand flatcreen tv pretty cheaply too

it's terrible really that people go hungry. Schools and colleges giving out free breakfasts is also pretty nprmal now in the uk

No you are right mokryna and unfortunately the government does not seem willing to address a fairer tax system where those who can afford to pay more.
It appears that the real power lies with major corporations, not the government at all.

In reply to "keeping quiet", I'm really shocked that volunteers in charity shops are really "stealing" from the charity if they take things to sell on ebay. Perhaps they are selling them that way and donating the money to the shop. I used to run a charity shop and anything which one of the helpers would like was purchased in the usual way, at the asking price.

I used to help in at trussel trust food bank. There were no perishable items except when we were donated some eggs.
No one helping ever took anything home.
We knew that some of the people coming were not really entitled to the food but if they had a voucher they got it anyway.

I have experienced poverty. Without the help of my health visitor I would have gone under. Two children under two, a husband who found child rearing just too stressful and left, my family hundreds of miles away. I was at my wits end and not well. Jean, my health visitor, brought nappies, food and lots of support. I even had Harvest Festival parcels.
Onto Covid times and I worked as a volunteer on a phone line. People asked to be rung and calls were graded by severity of need. I was horrified how some people were living .
Yes there are folk out there who take advantage of food banks, but most people using them are in genuine need.
This present government makes me despair about what will happen to young families, ordinary working folk and the elderly will fare under a government headed by a man who is really out of touch with the rest of humanity.

Just like to point out that people on benefits such as Universal Tax Credit (which also includes people in work as well as sick and disabled on top of those unlucky enough not to find a decent job) need to have a decent mobile phone because Universal Tax Credit does everything on line and also contacts on phone. A mobile phone that covers emails etc etc works out far cheaper and more practical than a separate computer and house telephone. As someone else has pointed out, friends and family will pass on their phones when they get an upgrade. Also lots of people with good jobs and cars etc can end up rapidly jobless through no fault of their own and most people are a paycheck away from poverty.

🖕👏👏👏👏

I’m glad you received help when you needed it albertina (as a retired HV 🙂)
Of course there will always be some who take advantage of charities such as food banks, but you are right, most do not. I wonder what motivates posters who are so quick to relate anecdotes about abuse of the system. Why the perceived resentment I wonder?

“most people are a paycheck away from from poverty” indeed plucky lucky

There but for the grace of God……….

I worked for 15 years as a volunteer in an Acorns Children’s Hospice charity shop; we all paid for everything we took home. And we worked hard - often dealing with filthy things people donated. Let’s have a little charity for charity workers please.

Well the first fact that stood out as not a fact is "a rich country like ours". I don't think so. I think that's a line we're fed to stop us panicking.

Oreo

The more food banks are set up the more people will use them until it’s a sort of circle.If they’re there they will be used.

Well, the more so-called workers rights go up, wages etc, the less hours I actually get. This month, i got paid early, as its Dec, I've enuff for the rent and council tax but literally nothing else at all left. Last month i managed a bit of food and electricity. this month nothing. So worked my arse off for a Xmas Day, unpaid, and nothing. Hmm

Mibsy

Oreo

The more food banks are set up the more people will use them until it’s a sort of circle.If they’re there they will be used.

Well, the more so-called workers rights go up, wages etc, the less hours I actually get. This month, i got paid early, as its Dec, I've enuff for the rent and council tax but literally nothing else at all left. Last month i managed a bit of food and electricity. this month nothing. So worked my arse off for a Xmas Day, unpaid, and nothing. Hmm

and i forgot to add, there are no food banks near to me an I wouldn't qualify anyway, as not claiming any benefits ( I cannot as live in a not spot phone signal wise and dont get their reply immediately notifications!)

You can ask your gp for a referral to a food bank, or the citizens advice bureau, as well as other means, and you don't need to be on benefits.

Also, if you need benefits, please claim them.
Speak to your nearest job centre, or the phone the national member for advice.

They can't discriminate against someone for not getting notifications- an online journal is set up to communicate with them, but I spoke on the phone to them, as my sight was too poor at the time I claimed.

keepingquiet

I agree. I used to put items in the food bank collection when shopping but I stopped a few years ago.

We have a new community store opened locally but hardly anyone uses it because it doesn't really sell stuff people need, just excess items the supermarkets can't sell.

I have become as cynical about them as I have about charity shops- the volunteers taking items home and selling them on e-bay.

I do wonder if food banks are like this too- how much of the produce actually gets to the invisible needy?

I know someone who worked full time but whose neighbour brought him sausages and bacon every week from the local food-bank where he was a volunteer.

It is about time we got to the bottom of what is really going on.

Sausage and bacon have a limited time in which to be consumed. I’m thinking that they were near their use by date so would have otherwise been binned.
Surely it’s better to give them to someone rather than them being wasted.

That sounds like a community fridge scheme, rather than a food bank.

There are plenty of people who have kindly given their time voluntary to food banks, so you know what's really going on.

They are telling us - some people just don't want to hear.

Too worried someone might be getting something for nothing.

MissAdventure

Also, if you need benefits, please claim them.
Speak to your nearest job centre, or the phone the national member for advice.

They can't discriminate against someone for not getting notifications- an online journal is set up to communicate with them, but I spoke on the phone to them, as my sight was too poor at the time I claimed.

I know someone who was been penalised for not logging on to the online journal (serious mental health issues) They had to go back to the beginning of claiming.

Fortunately they had a family member who could buy food and help them.

Universal credit is not a walk in the park more an exercise in jumping through hoops …

I do know that, because I went through it myself, alongside comments about scratch cooking, "so called parents" latest iPhone, and all the rest of it.

Oh, also some very kind support from people on here, I hasten to add.
I logged it in the hopes that people would take on board that it's not a matter of having money handed over.

I am an odd Conservative!

I believe that a civilised rich country has a moral duty to support those who find themselves in circumstances whereby they cannot support themselves.

This is not charity it is simply the right thing to do.