An alternative to food banks?

Oh. I thought she lived in Australia. My mistake. Sorry.

Absent

I apologise I thought you were in Australia too.

The supermarket law now has over half a million signatures.

www.change.org/StopFoodWasteEurope

feedbackglobal.org/

Some frightening statistics on here.

theconversation.com/from-the-temple-to-the-street-how-sikh-kitchens-are-becoming-the-new-food-banks-44611

Perhaps we should encourage more Sikhs to migrate to the UK.

durhamjen Wed 22-Jul-15 11:36:41

Are you for real.

The Gurdwaras in London have long been a source of hot food for those in need, of whatever faith or none - from what I understand they never turn anyone away and are extremely busy.

DJ can answer for herself but I expect she's being tongue-in-cheek.

Whether we like to admit it or not, and for whatever reason, there are many people in need of foodbanks/soup kitchens.

A friend lives near a mosque in north London that serves hot food to all-comers.

Sorry DJ meant tongue-in-cheek regarding Sikh immigration.

A little comment about the employer's NIC: Yes, the threshold for not paying this has been raised, but it is not a rebate or actual amount of money, it is the threshold under which an employer does not have to pay employers NIC to HMRC. For a small employer like me, with 8 part time staff, this saves me a welcome £500-600 per year, but at the same time as it was announced last year, there was also an 'under the radar' change to SSP regulations. Previously, as an employer, I paid an employee SSP and then claimed 80% of it back against my next HMRC payment. This no longer happens so if like me, you have two members of staff off for 6 weeks and 9 weeks respectively after planned surgery, then I pick up the whole bill for the SSP, far in excess of the amount of NIC that I dont have to pay. I know this is off topic a bit, but not all employers are fat cats being subsidised by working tax credits, we too are being hit and expected to pick up more and more of benefits which (pensions, SSP) were once paid by the state.

GillT, is an actual ammount if money though, it isn't a cheque in the post but it leaves you with £500 - £600 a year in your bank account , this is real money

It was tongue in cheek when I wrote it, River. However, thinking about it ..........

It isn't real money, it is a reduction in what I have to pay, but the point am trying to make is that this soon gets swallowed up by SSP which is not re-reimbursed and can easily exceed the amount of NIC reduction. Last year I paid out close on £1300 in SSP, so was left with £700 less if you want to put it that way. I would rather pay employers NIC and be reimbursed for SSP.

So, Gill, what help has this government given to small businesses?

In the 50s our local homeless building was called ' The rest centre' never did understand that.

Since supermarkets are the ones chucking out good food and most already have eateries (hate that word but not sure what to call them), wouldn't it be an idea if they served up sell by date food? They could do it at cost and everyone would win (except the anaerobic digesters). I expect they would need a government subsidy of course and there mightened be much choice - lots of casseroles and banana fritters for example - but it would produce cheap meals with no stigma.

Please forgive me if this has already been mentioned.

The 5 minute programme at 12.00 on Radio 4 (I believe it was called "Home Front") that was on daily (recently stopped until September) was set in WW1 and covered "actual" events on the same date but 100 years ago, covered this topic.

In a recent episode the Town Hall opened as a "restaurant" and attracted so many people from all classes that people were having to wait for a table. I think a significant difference between now and then, was that in those days more people were more or less in the same boat, so were less likely to feel that there was a stigma attached to their situation.

For information:

www.foodbank.org.au/hunger-in-australia/the-facts/

There is also a large number of obese people in Australia.

Hi rosequartz welcome back!

Thank you rosesarered
Virtually back if not actually!!

Glad you're (virtually) back rosequartz, it hasn't been the same without you!

I'm sure it has, but thank you anyway!

Well, certain things haven't changed, of course...

NFK, is this what you are thinking about?

www.fareshare.org.uk/

Not quite DJ, it's a good scheme, but still essentially a food bank. I was thinking more along the lines of the OP in that the government scheme would be open to all - not just the 'Disadvantaged'. The major supermarket chains are nation wide and already have restaurants. The government idea is to start a national restaurant scheme using cheap food, producing very cheap meals for anyone and everyone to avoid stigma. Supermarkets have a lot of sell-by-date food. Put the two together. The meals produced would be plain and nourishing but served somewhere where you could still get the usual supermarket restaurant menu as well. Thus OAPs or families on a tight budget (or even just people who are tight!) but not in the 'Deserving Poor' bracket could eat there without feeling stigmatised.

Probably wouldn't work. No profit in it.

Full circle. That is what I put in the OP and was blasted for by some people.

Having something in place to ease things a bit before people are reduced to handouts from food banks. Handouts still possible for those who need them - alternative did not mean replacement.