Food Banks

“Food banks pre-date the Conservative government and crucially, the change that took place was that the Conservative government allowed Jobcentre Plus to tell people that food banks existed,” the Conservative backbencher said. “And the former Labour government would not tell them, and that was a policy decision to stop people knowing that there was help available.”
www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/14/jacob-rees-mogg-increased-use-food-banks-rather-uplifting

How has that been misinterpreted?
Were there thousands of people starving because they didn't know about food banks?

Sorry, how has it been misinterpreted?
For him to actually take praise for his party for having over 2000 food banks makes me feel quite sick.
The reason Labour didn't was because there was not the same need.

How many of us could live without money coming in for a minimum of six weeks?
Universal credit is being rolled out in the North East in November and December. The DWP has been asked to delay it until after Christmas, and has refused.
That's not uplifting. That's heartless.

I don't think JRM is 'clever' - there are many kinds of intelligence and his is certainly limited.

In related news, there is a good article in yesterday's Times on how the universal credit system is pushing people into needing food banks (and other problems like rent arrears) and what needs to be done to improve the system.

Quite so, grannyactivist. While I deplore the need for any food banks, what JRM actually said has been misinterpreted.

Unchristian, as well, according to charities.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/14/jacob-rees-mogg-increased-use-food-banks-rather-uplifting

Food bank recipients need to be referred to the Food Bank by a GP/Social Services/CAB. They do not need to know about Food Banks as long as the people referring them do.

For such a clever man, JRM does himself no favours by not researching an issue like this properly before pontificating. That or he needs a better researcher.

What he also ignores is the number of food banks.
There were
2 in 2004
22 in 2007-8
100 by 2011
1000 by 2014
2000+ now.

What JRM says is partly correct: under Labour job centres had no mechanism to refer benefit claimants to food banks, and as a primary need for food banks is caused by a delay in processing benefit claims this is now being alleviated by the job centres being able to issue food bank vouchers. However, what JRM ignores or is ignorant of is the rise in people using food banks who are in food poverty and are not referred by job centres; people who are in work/debt/ill health/homeless/disabled....

For a fact based study on why people are really using food banks see:
Short summary of an Oxford University Report into the use of Food Banks

Wisdom and JRM in the same sentence ( yes I know you were being ironic)

Wisdom from Jacob Rees Mogg:

"The real reason for the rise in numbers is because people know they are there and Labour refused to tell them."

uk.businessinsider.com/jacob-rees-mogg-food-banks-rather-uplifting-2017-9

Seriously!

Local firms can be good; one came up with a couple of hundred Easter eggs for the food bank in a large town not far away so that each child could have some chocolate at Easter.

I donate to the Foodbank fortnightly. I pick up good, nourishing food along with my own shopping, which I do at Aldi. Our local Foodbank put a list on their Facebook page when they're running out of certain things, such as breakfast cereals, bread etc. I buy bread and freeze it then take to the Foodbank where they put it straight into their freezer. I also take a dozen eggs each time. Clients are allowed 4 eggs per visit. Packs of loo rolls are split so that a client can receive 2. It's important not to donate soap powder, because this cannot be divided, so soap powder tablets are asked for. Morrisons donate fresh veg at the end of each day, and clients can take as much of that as they need. If the Foodbank van can get to Greggs by 5pm, the shop gives them bread and rolls, etc.
Toiletries are always needed, as are baby foods and nappies, sanitary products, etc. I also often pop in some shaving foam and razors for the men.
None of this costs me much - maybe a fiver or so extra each time I shop. Another thing to think about is when the school holidays come along. Children are always in and out of the house asking for something to eat, so putting a few snacks in the bag as well, doesn't break the bank.

the link was interesting MOnica .I check our local food bank website periodically and then get what is needed. Sometimes it is not always food, if you are watching every penny, things like soap powder, shampoo, sanitary products can be the crucial. At Christmas I dropped off a load of selection boxes ( bought from the Cash n Carry). Not one of life's necessities, unless you are a small child of course.

Nurses don't all work full-time. They could be part-time or agency workers (effectively zero hours contracts).
It's easy to see how they could get into difficulties because of illness, or shortage of shifts.

They do have food banks in France but do not collect continually as they do here. I have only seen them once or twice a year. They offer you a carrier bag as you enter the shop and a list of needed items. I get a selection but also add a couple of treat type things such as sweets for children and chocolate biscuits.
I am just so dreadfully sad that people actually are in need of this sort of thing - it must be hard to need to ask.

People with children who are on benefits here do sometimes get holiday vouchers which I think work by certain places - such as camp sites - accepting the vouchers off the price. They seem to have so many of these places each year.

We always had enough cereals and baked beans.

My local collection point issues a list of things required/not required occasionally. Often tinned tuna is on the 'not required' list!

Foodbanks usually have a website with current requirements. Tampons/sanitary towels are usually welcome too.

yum, haven't had a Fray Bentos steak pie for years, we used to love them.
Low carb diet at the moment so I can't go out and buy some tomorrow

Tinned fruit is a good idea too as you can't donate fresh fruit.

Toiletries, children's toothbrushes and toothpaste etc are also a good idea to put in with a donation.

Full Fact Organisation reported:

"The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has reported “growing numbers of nursing staff using food banks, taking on additional jobs and accruing personal debt”. It told us that:

“We have a network of reps and RCN officers that stretches across the UK. They are in constant contact with members and this is what they report. This is not just one or two cases.”

"According to a press release the RCN Foundation awarded over 500 financial hardship grants ....... one in four grants went to a full-time nurse. They largely cover cost of living expenses, but from the press release it’s hard to say whether many were given to put food in people’s mouths."

I think it is quite conceivable that a lone parent with one or more children might find it extremely difficult to manage on a nurses' pay, which has declined substantially in real terms over the last 7 years while rents, the cost of food, energy, rent, council tax, travelling, child care, etc. etc. has continued to increase.

Leaving aside the dispute as to who is using food banks, the Guardian reported in November 2016:

"Huge rise in hospital beds in England taken up by people with malnutrition

"Department of Health figures showed that the number of bed days accounted for by someone with a primary or secondary diagnosis of malnutrition rose from 128,361 in 2010-11, the year the coalition came to power, to 184,528 last year – a 44% rise over five years."

This Is Money (Mail on Line) reported in March this year:

"The average amount owed per adult in loans, bank overdrafts or credit cards has increased by almost £300 to £6,372 this year, with almost three quarters admitting to having some form of unsecured borrowing.

"The main reason given for the increase is the rising cost of living, with more than a third of adults saying their debt had increased because of higher transport costs, bills and groceries...

"The main driver of the economy is consumer spending, but with inflation rising and salaries remaining flat, many people are seeing their spending power reduced."

Two or three days ago Mark Carney expressed grave concerns about the ever increasing personal debt figure in this country. Some economic commentators have warned of the possibility of another financial crash if this figure continues to rise. What a crazy system we have where, as the Mail on Line states, "Consumer spending is the main driver of the UK economy" and yet that consumer spending is achieved by means of what is increasingly becoming insupportable and perhaps ultimately unretrievable personal debt. So, in the end, denying people a realistic salary on which they can live, may ultimately lead to another financial disaster - for which, no doubt, further QE will be required - and so it goes on.

GillT57, follow the link in my OP and discover just who claimants really are. They are, metaphorically, standing on those crumbling chalk cliffs in Sussex. It just takes a passing shower to drop some rain for the cliff to crumble beneath their feet and plunge them into the abyss of homelessness and malnutrition.

I give to a food bank in a supermarket once a month. Choose half a dozen items. Soup, tinned veg, dried pasta,tinned fish and tinned fruit. Figure that would a meal for someone. Not exciting but fairly nutritious.