Food banks are simply one indication that the government is presiding over a shocking increase in poverty and deprivation. There are many more.
Food banks are a good example of David Cameron’s Big Society in action: do it yourself, because we no longer care.
If that sounds like a rather harsh assessement it is because it is increasingly hard to reach any other conclusion. As Chris Mould, executive chairman of the Trussell Trust, a charity which provides food banks, puts it:
“We’re talking about mums not eating for days because they’ve been sanctioned for seemingly illogical reasons.”
By sanctioned he means had their benefits stopped.
The awareness of what is going on is out there, but the government is either in denial or is genuinely unconcerned with the plight of those who are having to seek out food banks in order to fill their stomachs.
A case in point is the fact that the coalition has today blamed the increase in the number of people using food banks on a greater number of foodbanks. “The Trussell Trust itself says it is opening three new food banks every week, so it’s not surprising more people are using them,” a government spokesperson said.
It is perhaps unsurprising that the government should feel this way. It would, after all, be unusual for a Conservative-led coalition to be devoid of the pessimism about human nature that conservatism is known for – i.e. people with full stomachs are obviously just visiting food banks for free food, right?
Were we only seeing a rise in the number of food banks there might be an argument to be had. But we aren’t. Food banks are simply one indication that the government is presiding over a shocking increase in poverty and deprivation. Here are a few others:
1. Rough sleeping in London has increased by 13 per cent in the past year, with 6,437 people sleeping rough in the capital in 2012.
2. 50,000 council tenants are facing eviction because of the Bedroom Tax, with potentially tens of thousands more also affected.
3. The number of people working on zero hour contracts has surged since the coalition came to power in 2010, with some estimating that around 1 million people – 4 per cent of the workforce – are now on precarious zero-hour contracts.
4. Britain has suffered a substantial fall in real wages – the second biggest out of all the G20 countries – since the coalition government took office.
5. The number of people using food banks to feed themselves and their families has gone from 40,000 a year under Labour to over 350,000 in the last six months alone.
During his time in opposition, David Cameron liked to refer to “broken Britain”. Judging be some of the dreadful statistics now coming out on a regular basis, he has a funny way of fixing it.
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25 Responses to “Food banks and five statistics that shame the Coalition”
Alison Piearcey
The words ‘no reason’ are the benefit of the doubt. What they are actually referring to is ‘your promotion is more important than my subsistence’ since all you get for not sanctioning enough people is a disciplinary mark – the clients get to starve.
As for ‘didn’t get the letter’ have you actually lived in shared digs? The kind where you have to be on the doorstep waiting for the postie, otherwise your post goes into whoever got there first’s fireplace?
When you know your dole cheque is due, you stop the postie before he gets to the door. Should you have to do that every day, in case the dole office decide to send you a letter saying you should have been at an appointment yesterday? So that’s a good two hours less per day you can look for a job.
“The benefit officer doesn’t know” Unless the client tells them. Like ‘you know that specialist I’ve been waiting six months to see, since you decided I’m ‘fit for work’? Well, the appointment’s on Wednesday morning, same as my signing time. Could I sign later in the day?’ Yes, you can, but you’ll get a four week sanction. Ditto for job interview, ditto for housing interview. No, I don’t have a sicknote for me, because it was my two-year-old who was sick, and the doctor only issues sicknotes for adults.
Most sanctions (according to sources within the industry who have access to the ‘big picture’) are issued to people who have a damn good reason why they didn’t do whatever the Hoop was. Like ‘apply for 5 jobs from the paper’ One week, there are three the person has a hope in hell of getting; one that’s a CEO and blatantly already filled by the person who exactly fits the spec; and one that’s asking you to pay to apply. So the sensible person only applies for three. Beep. No money.
Alison Piearcey
No, the opinion of ‘heartless’ is based on the evidence you presented. Your implication is that none of your ‘clients’ (like that’s not a loaded word) deserve any of the money they’ve paid in, and you seem to think your job is to deny them as much as you think you can get away with. When they shout at you for not doing the job the rest of society thinks you were hired for (I know your bosses think different) that’s just proof to you that they’re scum; the rest of us see yet another failure by bureaucracy to be humane. When stray dogs get better treatment than humans, we’ve got something seriously screwed up.
I’d say heartless is pretty accurate.
Alison Piearcey
No, the opinion of ‘heartless’ is based on the evidence you presented. Your implication is that none of your ‘clients’ (like that’s not a loaded word) deserve any of the money they’ve paid in, and you seem to think your job is to deny them as much as you think you can get away with. When they shout at you for not doing the job the rest of society thinks you were hired for (I know your bosses think different) that’s just proof to you that they’re scum; the rest of us see yet another failure by bureaucracy to be humane. When stray dogs get better treatment than humans, we’ve got something seriously screwed up.
I’d say heartless is pretty accurate.
Alison Piearcey
Slavery you can prosecute. This is apparently legal.
Joe Bloggs
I know of a bloke with a zero hours contact who has not been given any work for weeks. He lives on a boat and most of the time he stays in bed because when he is in bed he’s not spending any money! No dole money because technically speaking he IS employed! AFAIK there is no food-bank within walking distance but in any case doesn’t one need a letter from the Jobcentre in order to visit a food-bank?
This new system invented by the bean counters must cost far less than running a workhouse.