Will cancelling my food parcel also cancel my priority slots?

JohnTeapot

On the govement site if you want to cancel you are supposed to answer yes to the following question.

"Do you have have a way of getting essential supplies at the moment?".

It is not clear what doing so would mean..

They might just take you off the supermarket priority slots list as well as cancel the parcel. which is not what I want.

I want to cancel the parcel but stay on the slots list as the parcel if not suitable for me.

twoLou

Hello there, I’ve just had a look for you and the websites I have seen advising you how to stop the boxes all say something along the lines of:
‘Please note that deregistering from the food parcels will not cause you to lose your priority status slot for supermarket delivery’

Here is a link for the Scope website, if you scroll down they have highlighted the section in yellow

https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/unwanted-food-parcels/

I hope that helps

JohnTeapot

twoLou said:

Hello there, I’ve just had a look for you and the websites I have seen advising you how to stop the boxes all say something along the lines of:
‘Please note that deregistering from the food parcels will not cause you to lose your priority status slot for supermarket delivery’

Here is a link for the Scope website, if you scroll down they have highlighted the section in yellow
 

I hope that helps

Yes but it really is a !!!!!! poor performance by the gov when it is unclear exactly what you are cancelling, and you are left thinking you might have no access to food at all.

Shockingly bad.

maman

I have a friend who's been receiving food parcels because he's on the vulnerable list and shielded. He really doesn't need them as he's financially comfortable and has family that can shop for him.
What he's done is contact another friend whose work has completely dried up due to the virus and given the food parcel to him (he collects it from the doorstep). Without it, he'd probably be using a food bank. 
It may not be what the government intended but I'm sure Boris would approve of using common sense.

p00hsticks

I've heard that leaving a large notice on the doorstep when a delivery is due saying that no parcel is required seems to do the trick.....

BooJewels

p00hsticks said:

I've heard that leaving a large notice on the doorstep when a delivery is due saying that no parcel is required seems to do the trick.....

That worked for me this week - ours was due on Wednesday and as the previous week it had come before 06:30am, hence me missing them, I pinned a note to the door on Tuesday night, asking them to re-distribute it to someone in greater need.  Whilst I didn't hear anything, we got no box this week.

Another thread discussing this said that the Government web site had been changed to allow you to re-register, now stating that you didn't need help and this would stop the boxes, but retain your shopping slots.  Two people doing so had received a Government text confirming that their boxes had been cancelled, but they still had their priority supermarket slots.  

Mickey666

maman said:

I have a friend who's been receiving food parcels because he's on the vulnerable list and shielded. He really doesn't need them as he's financially comfortable and has family that can shop for him.

Ditto.  In my friend's case he cancelled the food parcels.

One thing he said about the food parcels though - they are basically a good idea and no doubt a great help to single vulnerable people, but in his case he has a wife and one child also at home so they need enough food for three people, not just the one.  It's not that he was ungrateful but the idea was to help vulnerable people remain shielded, yet in his case his wife still had to go out to buy enough food for the whole family, thus running the risk of bringing an infection back into the family home and therefore negating the benefit of the food parcel.

KxMx

Official guidelines say that those living with a shielding person do not need to shield themselves. 

Some households may choose to do otherwise but that is very much their choice against advice.

BooJewels

KxMx said:

Official guidelines say that those living with a shielding person do not need to shield themselves. 

Some households may choose to do otherwise but that is very much their choice against advice.

My husband is the one Shielding, but I've chosen to do so too - on the advice of his consultant. Because if I go out at all - to shops and the like - I then have to isolate from him within the house - and ours is nowhere near large or well facilitated enough to allow that.  So from a practical perspective, the only way to properly keep my husband safe, it to shield myself also.  Thankfully, our current circumstances allow for that - others might not be as able to do so, I fully appreciate that. 

I wouldn't say that went against advice, but the advice doesn't actually require other household members to shield - but does then require you to isolate from each other where you don't.

All the Shielding parties I know are doing the same as us.  To me, doing any less somewhat defeats the object and would require quite onerous household practices.

KxMx

Every case is different and different decisions will be made about how people want to do it. 

I have a friend advised to shield living in a small place with a wife and several children.
They decided as a family to follow the advised steps where practical, such as frequently cleaning surfaces, handwashing and not sharing towels.

What they decided they wouldn't do was for them all to stay permanently in the flat or isolate themselves away from each other. He certainly wasn't willing to not hug his children for example or stay indoors 24/7 when they have a private garden--he was one of the first advised to shield, and the advice at that time was stay indoors, sit in front of an open window for fresh air! 

Another shielding lady living alone I know does go out for a walk late evening when the streets are quiet, she is concerned as more people come out of lockdown and the streets lose that quiet that she will have to stop.

I've also seen on here couples where one is shielding, one is a key worker, they find ways to manage they are happy with which don't involve staying in or isolating from each other inside. 

mac.d

Obviously it's down to every individual or family group to decide how they go about shielding, my concern is that its becoming clear we are going to have to live with this coronavirus for some time, therefore completely isolating is not really a good solution. Is it feasible to rely on deliveries and just not go out to the shops ever, or indeed outside anywhere, or are people going to have to try and learn how to best live with it. Even those who as lockdown eases, will continue to have to exercise great caution?

There was an article in the RCN's Nursing Times last month, and to me its saying use some common sense and stick to some basics, but you don't need to go completely overboard to protect the rest of your family. Obviously this article is related to nurses dealing with Covid-19 patients and not transferring the virus into their home, and not people who are living with someone who is shielding, but couldn't the same procedure be used at home? I know of people who are working in care settings and stay with someone who is shielding, one has chosen to stay off work, the other is still working. I can understand both, but just how long can the person who is staying at home continue to do that?

Nursing Times article: COVID-19: the steps to take when your shift ends to stay safe at home