As we reflect
on the last year, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has
supported the work of West Cheshire Foodbank
over the last year, generously giving time, food and funds to support people in
crisis. Thank you!
As Dave Walker illustrates, the number of people visiting Foodbanks,
both in West Cheshire and across the UK
Since then there have been important developments in the debate on Food Poverty and rising Foodbank use with the Commons debate on the 18th December showing that hidden amidst the tribalism of our party political system, an evidence-based consensus could be possible.
So why are more people turning to
Foodbanks?
Gillian Guy, the Chief Executive of the Citizens Advice Bureau attributes the “extremely worrying” and “fast-rising need for emergency food
vouchers” to the “combined impact of
welfare upheaval, low wages and the high cost of living”.
She
is concerned by a number of the changes to benefits and says that the “tough and often poorly applied new
sanctions regime has had a damaging impact on our clients and is forcing many
to turn to emergency food vouchers. Withholding people’s support to get into
work, often for spurious reasons, can move people even further away from the
jobs market. Over the last year Citizens Advice has seen a 46% increase in the
number of advice queries received about JSA sanctions alone… One client, having
been sanctioned, was unable to claim hardship payments and was left without
anything to eat. Another client had been refused Employment Support Allowance
and was appealing the decision. In the meantime he had no money coming in and
faced five days without food. A pregnant woman out of work turned to a payday
lender. The debt was collected in one lump sum, and a further sum then taken
for the already paid loan two weeks later. She then had no money on which to
survive. It is vital that with so much upheaval going on in the welfare system
that ministers put in place strong protection for people affected."
The message from Church Action on Poverty is the same.
The charity’s recent campaign action, which parodies Saatchi and Saatchi’s 1979 Conservative
election poster, argues that benefit changes are the primary reason ‘Thousands
are going hungry’. This is supported by what we see at West Cheshire Foodbank:
almost 60% of people who visit us do so because of changes to or delays in
benefits.
A recent example of delay occurred on Christmas Eve as a Department
for Work and Pensions “administrative
error” left 32,200 people without any support just before Christmas. The evidence we have at present shows, as Oxfam UK UK
Hope for 2014
It is encouraging therefore, to see that key figures in the church do recognise this and have also used their Christmas messages to speak out against the injustices of hunger. It is crucial that 2014 is a year in which we see a greater recognition of the severity and injustice of food poverty from government ministers and witness an appropriate policy response. Initially, we would like to see the government:
- Meet with representatives from the Trussell Trust and other Foodbank Networks
- Publish the long delayed DEFRA report
- Hold
a public inquiry into food poverty
We hope that this New Year, we can continue to rely on your support and prayers,
and that you will join the growing movement speaking out against the injustices
of hunger.
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