Food Banks

No it's not a rumour, what I was saying was you will always get someone who abuses the system & then unfortunately society decides to wrongly tar everyone with the same brush

That's how it was in the foodbank I know Ana. I don't think things have changed.

No need for sarcasm, whitewave. It doesn't become you.

Blimey ana a positive contribution. You have made my day.

I used to volunteer in a foodbank (in one of the richest districts in the country ). The only people who came to us had been referred by a GP, the CAB, a social worker, etc.

Usually, they were people living on the breadline, but some crisis or other had tipped them over. Foodbanks provide a sticking plaster for a gaping wound. The council no longer gives crisis loans.

Well, you are only given three days worth of food at a time, and I was under the impression that you could only claim so many times a year but that may have changed now.

I find it hard to believe the couple you refer to norose4 are somehow fiddling the system, as they will have to have been referred and have vouchers.

norose in order to get food from a food bank you need a voucher obtained from a professional. If it is indeed the case that this elderly couple are getting food from a bank then they need it.

But to my mind it sounds like a nasty gossipy rumour.

I think maybe some areas in the country have & need more food banks than others i.e. Larger population. Less jobs etc etc. I believe you have to show proof of income etc & have ID this is certainly the case where I live, & there are always people who take advantage, a retired couple well known in our area who have bus passes, live in a rural area but have a taxi to the local food bank stock up & taxi home not a cheap fare, but they are quids in , it is these people who give the genuine a bad name .

Sorry that was a bit of a distraction although I suppose the cost of rent is relevant.

Did you see the programme last night about the landlords? Very interesting !

The majority did not vote for this government. The majority voted for other parties.

annie deflection.

I'd rather talk about how the wealth is divided in this country.

Those on poverty wages are contributing just as much to this country as those higher up the income scale with their labour. It is utterly disgusting that they are being exploited as they are, in order to ensure greater and greater wealth is being accumulated by the wealthy.

My government? You are mistaken - our government, or the government, no matter if we didn't vote for them the majority did .

The people at the lower end of the pay scale in these public sector jobs are not on big money at all - same as many of them in other jobs - this is the disgrace that anyone working in a full time job cannot in many instances earn enough to support a family without help. Prices going up and no pay rise at all for 7 years must make life very difficult. Most people tend need to utilise most of their income on rent and food etc and live to their salary level - no rise makes it hard.
This fact that working people need to resort to benefits in large numbers is a disgrace in a 'rich' country. Something is terribly wrong when it has got to this state.

Sorry daphnedill - so rather than overstating my case I was understating it.

No, but we need nurses 'round here' Anniebach too. So they have to live 'round here' and even 'round there'

I see you don't believe that nurses can be caught in the poverty trap too. And do you know that your government plans to take away their grant so we can now add in repayment if student loans to the budget above.

That's not an untypical rent.

You've forgotten NMC registration - £120pa.
What about council tax? £100+(?)pm.

Not everyone lives 'around here' where ever 'around here ' is

Annie FYI

Nurses basic wage. £21,692.00
Tax Free Allowance. £11,500
Total Taxable£10,192.00
Income Tax Paid£2,038.40
National Insurance£1,623.36
Total Deductions£3,661.76
Net Wage £18,030.25
Pension contributions 1081.80

Annual home pay £16948.20
Monthly take home pay £1412.36

Average rents round here £900 a month. Gas, electricity, food, travel to and from work, telephone and broadband. And what if the nurse is the wage earner, a one-parent family? School meals, children's clothes.

But most people "on benefits" (ie in receipt of tax credits) are employed.

No argument , just anger that the food banks and those who need them are being used by people in employment,not on benefits or mentally ill or unemployed , but in employment to get pay rises .

annie your arguments are hollow and indeed your attempt at deflection is simply playing the Tory game.

They will no longer wash

Why on earth are we re-running the dispute about whether or not some nurses had been referred to food banks? It ran and ran last time...

It rather deflects from the main thrust of today's report. Which is about desperate poverty in the 6th largest economy in the world.

I have never read or heard anyone deny there are people in much need. To claim nurses and police officers are in the same need is using the poorest people to get a pay rise