Welfare Reform

Depth_Charge

Hi

Below is the headline from the Mail article - a blatant lie if you go on to read the full article, where you will also see that other blatant lies were told

HOW MOS REPORTER GOT 3 DAYS OF GROCERIES... NO QUESTIONS ASKED

DC

FireWyrm

Depth_Charge wrote: »

Hi


Below is the headline from the Mail article - a blatant lie if you go on to read the full article, where you will also see that other blatant lies where told.


HOW MOS REPORTER GOT 3 DAYS OF GROCERIES... NO QUESTIONS ASKED


DC

And clearly the only questions asked were the wrong ones because 5 minutes of investigation on the part of CAB would have proved he was no more entitled to charity than I am. He was handed groceries (three days worth is debatable) but he didnt have to show anything much to get it.

The system is easy to game and the conclusions being drawn from facts and figures to do with the number of people using food banks are erroneous in the extreme. This report shows what most people have always suspected. Not only are those who dont deserve help getting it but the left are also gaming the figures for their own agenda.

I for one wont be giving to a food bank until they deal with the blatant abuses and political chip on their shoulder.

Time_to_face_the_music

A Church Action on Poverty report (May 2013) estimated that over 500,000 people in the UK were reliant on food aid.

A range of experts have also warned in the British Medical Journal (December 2013) that UK food poverty "has all the signs of a public health emergency that could go unrecognised until it is too late to take preventive action."

An All Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger and Food Poverty (co-chaired by Rt.Hon.Frank Field MP and Laura Sandys MP) is now investigating "the root causes of hunger and food poverty" and the increase in British demand for food banks.

Since September 2011, Jobcentre Plus has "signposted" people to food banks, but the Government does not officially track food bank usage.

Is this propaganda? Is it put out by the Trussel Trust? Or the Labour party? Or "the Left"? Or someone else with a "political chip on their shoulder"?

No, it's information which is given to Members of Parliament in support of their parliamentary duties.


Yes the CAB made a mistake but think of the number of people who have been conned by journalists to get a story. The CAB is staffed by volunteers who are bombarded non-stop in people's need for help, if they stopped to check on every person asking for help, they could probably only deal with half of their clients.

Now FireWyrm, where does your information come from that food banks are unnecessary? Or is that just your ill informed opinion? Maybe you think the CAB is an unnecessary service too?

Depth_Charge

Hi

I think the food banks will survive even if there are people who do not agree with them or wish to donate which is their choice of course.

I understand that there have been record donations to food banks since this article was printed which paradoxically is great news, I suppose we should all thank Mr Slater and the Mail:)

Publicity seeking reporters are nothing new but you would think that they would at least get the headline up as right and truthful and not a shocking blatant lie against a charity as in this case.

The Citizens Advice Bureau's and their staff / volunteers will also go on helping people who are in debt and with other problems for free as always.

My take

DC

FireWyrm

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

A Church Action on Poverty report (May 2013) estimated that over 500,000 people in the UK were reliant on food aid.

Estimated. Based on what? They do have an agenda you know.

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

A range of experts have also warned in the British Medical Journal (December 2013) that UK food poverty "has all the signs of a public health emergency that could go unrecognised until it is too late to take preventive action."

And yet the obesity epidemic continues to gain momentum. I have never seen people starving in our streets. The poor who use these food banks look anything but thin.

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

An All Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger and Food Poverty (co-chaired by Rt.Hon.Frank Field MP and Laura Sandys MP) is now investigating "the root causes of hunger and food poverty" and the increase in British demand for food banks.

People demand what is free. They will always avail themselves of free stuff. The very presence of the free stuff encourages people to claim it.

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Since September 2011, Jobcentre Plus has "signposted" people to food banks, but the Government does not officially track food bank usage.

Why should it. Food banks are charitable organisations and frankly, grossly inneficient at what they do.

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Is this propaganda?

Probably. Organisations' entire reason for existence and continued 'support' (tacit or otherwise) is based on the popular myth that they are required, like estate agents. The truth is somewhat different.

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Is it put out by the Trussel Trust? Or the Labour party? Or "the Left"? Or someone else with a "political chip on their shoulder"?

Yes. See above..

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

No, it's information which is given to Members of Parliament in support of their parliamentary duties.

Clearly, they dont see it this way, or they would be acting on that information. They arnt, which suggests that the information is irrelevant and grossly biased.

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Yes the CAB made a mistake but think of the number of people who have been conned by journalists to get a story.

It may have been 'conned' by a journalist to get a story, but it shouldnt have been possible to con anyone in this way. The journalist highlighted the blatant abuse of the system and you cant change that fact.

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

The CAB is staffed by volunteers who are bombarded non-stop in people's need for help, if they stopped to check on every person asking for help, they could probably only deal with half of their clients.

As I said, grossly inefficient and not fit for purpose.

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Now FireWyrm, where does your information come from that food banks are unnecessary?

Historical evidence. In 1983, we had 3 million more unemployed than we do today and there was no popular need for food banks. Indeed, there was less in the way of 'social security' available, less help, less general information on where to obtain that help, and yet people managed to survive without starving.

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Or is that just your ill informed opinion?

Why is any opinion contrary to yours, ill informed? Where is your unbiased, unvarnished and un-gamed evidence that food banks are necessary?

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Maybe you thin
k the CAB is an unnecessary service too?

I have utmost respect for CAB as staffed by unpayed individuals. I have less respect for a bloated, political organisation that the CAB has become.

Some people are in need of assistance. Most are not. No one is starving in this country and we could do away with food banks tomorrow. We as a society have done without them for generations, even when the financial climate was a fair bit frostier than it is today. Many in modern society have grown up in a culture of plenty, where working or not is a choice and life without TV, mobile phones and a yearly holiday is simply unthinkable. People are weak, lazy and greedy. Food banks feed that greed. Clearly, the system must change to pull it out from under the cloud of ill-repute and into the light of day...where people who deserve help are given it and those who dont, are told to jog on.

Depth_Charge

Hi

The CAB are not just staffed by 'unpayed' individuals


DC

hohum

'No-one is starving'

But admissions to hospital for malnutrition have tripled in last three years, whilst food bank use rises.

Highest rise is in the West Country. Elderly people on low incomes particularly at risk.

Report notes one child eating wallpaper.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/malnutrition-cases-in-english-hospitals-almost-double-in-five-years-8945631.html

It is hard not to see a link between food bank use, cases of malnutrition and welfare reform.

It might make it easier to pretend that only scroungers are as desperate as some people are. It doesn't make it accurate.

FireWyrm

hohum wrote: »

'No-one is starving'

But admissions to hospital for malnutrition have tripled in last three years, whilst food bank use rises.

Actual credible statistics please. What form of malnutrition? malnutrition from actual lack of food, or from vitamin deficiencies caused by eating too much junk.

hohum wrote: »

Highest rise is in the West Country. Elderly people on low incomes particularly at risk.

...and who dont use food banks. Make up your mind which point you are trying to make.

hohum wrote: »

Report notes one child eating wallpaper.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/malnutrition-cases-in-english-hospitals-almost-double-in-five-years-8945631.html

Oh please!
a) one mistreated child does not an epidemic make
b) where were the parents
c) why werent the parents prosecuted for misappropriation of the child benefits.
d) That link says 5500 people in the ENTIRE country were diagnosed with malnutrition in 2008/2009. It is 2014 now.
e) the report specifically cites rickets as 'malnutrition'. It is a vitamin D deficiency easily fixed with exposure to sunlight and/or fresh fruit. Neither of which is in short supply or costs lots of money.

His alcoholic father left his mother two years ago. The only food the children were given was cheap and processed.

Excerpt from the cited reference. The child was malnourished because of neglect and abuse, not government policy.

It is hard not to see a link between food bank use, cases of malnutrition and welfare reform.

Oh, there is a link. Welfare reform has tightened the criteria by which people are judged to be in need of state assistance. Unfortunately, they have become accustomed to a certain level of living and are unwilling to cut their coat according to their cloth.

It might make it easier to pretend that only scroungers are as desperate as some people are. It doesn't make it accurate.

I repeat, in 1983, there were THREE MILLION more unemployed than there are now. Welfare was far more structured and rigid as to who qualified for what. We didnt need food banks then, we dont need them now...and even if we did, food banks should be shut down and re-opened with proper regulation that a) stops cheating and b) provides an actual food parcel that is useful and nutritious.

Depth_Charge

Hi

Interesting article below on the use of food banks.

Benefit sanctions playing a big part here amongst other things

I don't know what the Mail and their so called under cover reporter might make of this but I can imagine, maybe go to the CAB and tell a pack of lies and waste their valuable time again.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/churches-unite-to-act-on-food-poverty-600-leaders-from-all-denominations-demand-government-uturn-on-punitive-benefits-sanctions-9263035.html

DC

Depth_Charge

Hi


I forgot to mention a headline with a blatant lie about no questions asked


DC