Daniel's story

"I was brain damaged in an accident and I cannot work. I am receiving disability living allowance. I lived in Skegness for five years but two weeks ago I moved to Chester to be near my family. The expenses of the move have left me without enough money for food."

Thank you to Daniel for sharing his story.

Luke's Story

"Luke was on Disability Living Allowance. This changed to Personal Independence Payment and the lady that assessed Luke said that it would only take a week to 10 days for the change. 10 months later he was still waiting.  

Luke only receives £72 a fortnight from Employment and Support Allowance.  He has depression and cancer and has been in and out of hospital.  Both SA and DIAL house has been involved to try and chase this situation up but Luke keeps being told it is being dealt with."

Thanks Luke for sharing your story with West Cheshire Foodbank.

Daniel's Story

"I was laid off in November 2012 from a council contract.  I have been looking for work until I had an accident to my right lower leg in June 2013 and I received ESA.  I had to go into hospital for an operation and this was postponed by 3 weeks, meanwhile my benefits were stopped.  I have now had the operation but I have been told I cannot have any Jobseekers Allowance until later in the month.  I am currently on crutches and not really fit for work as I am a driver.  I plan to appeal against the refusal of ESA.  I have applied for Disability Living Allowance and was told I would be interviewed at home, however nobody came and I was not contacted"

We thank Daniel for sharing his story with the West Cheshire Foodbank.

Pete's Story

"I was laid off in November 2012 from a council contract. I had been looking for work until I had an accident to my right lower leg on 27th June 2013. I received ESA. I had to go into hospital for an operation and this was postponed from the 3rd to the 17th February. Meanwhile my benefit was stopped. I have had the operation but have been told I cannot have any benefit (JSA) until 25th February. In fact I am still needing another operation and am not really fit for work. I have been a driver. I plan to appeal against the refusal of ESA.  I have applied for DLA and was told I would be interviewed at home between 10-15th February. I waited at home but no one came and I was not contacted".

Thanks to Pete for taking the time to share his story with us. We really appreciate it.

Jane's Story

"Due to problems with my depression, I wasn't able to attend the work related group for ESA. My money then stopped to be what they were and is now £28.00 (more or less). It is of course causing me problems paying bills, even though I am receiving DLA. I went to [Name of Voucher Holding Organisation] to ask for help to reinstate the money and they offered me the voucher." 

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us Jane.

Adrian & Ruth's Story

"My wife has been on DLA¹ (first level, both elements) for a few years. We were claiming JSA³  - a joint claim. But when I was diagnosed with colorectal² cancer my doctor gave me a sick note for three months, which meant switching to ESA⁴. Because I didn't go for conventional treatment I couldn't be fast-tracked to the higher rate.

JSA included a payment of £42/week because of my wife's DLA claim. However, because there isn't an equivalent payment within ESA there is now a shortage of £42 per week.

 

There are natural 'food' elements that are good for fighting cancer, but we are struggling to pay bills and afford even basic foods."

Our thanks to Adrian for sharing this whilst visiting one of our Food Distribution Centres.

Notes:

 

¹ DLA stands for Disability Living Allowance
 ² Colorectal Cancer is also called cancer of the bowel or bowel cancer.

 ³ JSA stands for Jobseekers Allowance

 ⁴ ESA stands for Employment and Support Allowance
 

Regarding Jenny's Story

Over the last couple of days, Jenny's story has received considerable attention from the public as well as from local and national media. People have been shocked by the idea that someone might be given the wrong advice and have also asked whose role it was to advocate for Jenny in this situation.

 

Our purpose as a Foodbank is to provide people in crisis with emergency food and to signpost our visitors to agencies that can best deal with the underlying causes of that crisis. Jenny visited our Foodbank to bring her neighbour. A volunteer spoke with her and we referred her to Macmillan Cancer Support. Sadly, Macmillan are seeing Jenny's situation repeated across the country. Click here to see a BBC report regarding delays to benefit payments for terminally ill patients. At the Foodbank, we do not have the expertise to advocate for individual visitors and rely on specialist organisations to fulfil this role.

 

Whilst scandalous, the scale, pace and nature of current welfare reforms make Jenny's story neither uncommon nor surprising. Approximately half of all people turning up to Foodbanks are doing so as a direct result of having benefit payments delayed, reduced or withdrawn altogether. Figures gathered by the Trussell Trust and by Chester and Ellesmere Port Foodbank show that both locally and nationally, changes to the benefit system are the most common reasons for people using Foodbanks. These include changes to crisis loans eligibility rules, delays in payments, Jobseekers allowance sanctions and sickness benefits reassessments. These changes are well documented. An excellent report published by Oxfam and Church Action on Poverty can be found here.

 

The growth in the numbers of people we provide with emergency food is a demonstration of the extent to which the 'normal' safety net provided by the state in the form of the welfare state is failing in it's basic duty to ensure that people like Jenny and her neighbour have sufficient income to feed themselves adequately.

 

We are disappointed that there has been no policy response to increasing food poverty in the UK and we strongly support the Trussell Trusts' call for an official and in depth inquiry into the causes of increasing food poverty and the consequent rise in the usage of Foodbanks. 

 

Jenny

Jenny came to the Chester and Ellesmere Port Foodbank last month, having been diagnosed with terminal Cancer. Her prognosis was three to six months. She already suffered with several chronic illnesses preventing her from working over the last two years and was in receipt of Disability Living Allowance. Having no family she was trying to "put her house in order", ensuring all her bills were paid and saving up for her funeral. Her DLA was stopped; the reason given was that as she was not expected to survive the required time, she did not qualify for this benefit! She came to the Foodbank not for herself but to bring a neighbour who had mental health issues and short term memory problems. He had been 30 minutes late for his appointment at the Benefit office (he had forgotten the time!) and had therefore been sanctioned. He had not eaten for three days. They were both given a meal and the time to talk of their problems and referred to the appropriate agencies for food vouchers and further support and help. Several weeks later Jenny came to the Foodbank to thank everyone for the help and food that was given and the kindness and support that was shown in their time of need. Jenny died three weeks later.

 

Jenny shared her story with one of our volunteers, and requested that we share it with you. We are privileged to do so.