Money Moral Dilemma: Should someone who earns a decent wage use food banks?

REJP

Simple answer is "No, she should not use a food bank if she can afford to buy from shops."
Nor should anyone else who is not in real need.

strawb_shortcake

You only have to read through the DFW board to realise that salary has little relation to disposable income in some cases. People from all walks of life struggle for many different reasons.  Outsiders looking in will rarely have all the facts to ascertain fact from misguided assumptions.

Some people also abuse systems put in place to help the more needy and vulnerable. If people are abusing food banks then the responsibility for managing this needs to lie with those running it.

tain

Just having a job doesn't equal being able to buy food for yourself. 

Poor money management is very common amongst neurodivergent people. I would wager that almost every single one of them people would rather they could manage their money properly than have to use a food bank. 

What you may see as splurging on unnecessary things, treating yourself instead of paying bills, etc. could actually be someone with a crippling inability to structure their finances, mountains of debt, deficient working memory so bills are forgotten, and very little control over impulses. Usually accompanied by depression from the guilt and regret, and a society who think they're bad people. 

GB12

Blood sucking leach would be appropriate name for her. And those who support this type of behaviour (and there appears to be many) are completely incapable of seeing the negatives of this. Encouraging someone not to sort out there finances and to encourage stealing from the poor. 

tain

GB12 said:

tain said:

Ringo90 said:

I am very surprised by some comments in this thread who say "Just turn your head the other side" or even "People who can't manage their finances still need to eat". Really? All this time I thought the food we donate to the food banks go to the people who LITERALLY can't afford the basic necessities, such as the homeless, the war refugees etc. It makes me sick to see so many people justifying someone who makes "above average" wages (that means £40k per year or above?) but prefers to buy useless things and then STEAL the necessities.
They should get another kind of help, not turn to food banks. It might sound cruel to you because yeah, of course they still need to eat, but maybe if there is something that can teach them to manage their money is to learn that when they waste it, they won't get dinner! Leave food banks to people who don't have this choice at all.

Next time you donate anything, make sure you add an accompanying letter saying your donation comes with conditions. They may even invite you down to the food bank so you can scrutinise everyone's finances before the 50p tin of beans is handed over. 

[DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

Ah good old mud slinging insults rather than convincing arguments! 

I never condoned 'robbing the poor'. I dared to suggest that *you* have no clue what someone else's situation is, and you have no right to donate to a food bank on the assumption that gives you the power and privilege to judge those that use food banks. 

If you can't give freely, then please do not give at all. 

Danien

I've just helped my cousin go through her finances. She hasn't been eating properly but is too proud to go to a food bank.

She was made redundant from her job, but hadn't been there long enough to get redundancy. She is now claiming universal credit while she tries to find another job. She was on low pay when working, so had not built up any savings. She asked me to help because before becoming too sick to work (not sure why someone put disabled in inverted commas, as someone with a rare, deteriorating, heart- lung disease on oxygen, I find that pretty insulting) I used to work in welfare rights.

I went through her finances and this is what I came up with:

She's on UC, her rent for her tiny flat is paid, but she still has to pay 20% of her council tax. She has to pay the normal household bills water, energy, tv licence, contents insurance. She doesn’t smoke, can't afford to drink, has no car. She has to buy a bus pass monthly so she can travel for job searching. She does have two cats and pays pet insurance for them of £30 a month.

She gets £334 UC after rent is paid. Her bills total £275 a month. Her bus pass is £47.50. This leaves her £12.41 a month for everything else, food, clothing, household items. Even if she rehomed her cats (I've been buying cat food for her) she would only have £42.41 a month. Come October if still unemployed she will likely have nothing after bills.

Please don't be prejudiced against those on benefits. Please don't think that benefits are generous, because in most cases they are not. My cousin is out most days looking for work (UC demands this). Whichever poster said that governments shouldn't increase benefits and people should be able to look after themselves are frankly either idiotic, naive, delusional or cruel. 

Should the hypothetical person use a food bank? Who knows until you've been through their income and expenditure. Do they have debts they are desperately trying to pay? If so suggest they call stepchange. Are they bad at budgeting? Then offer, gently and non judgementally to help. Don't say ' you shouldn't be using a food bank', say 'It makes me sad that you're needing to use a food bank, please let me help you go through your budget to see if together we can make things a bit easier for you', or refer them somewhere where they can help with budgeting - there are even websites and apps that can help, so search them out and have them ready to offer if she's too embarrassed to go through finances with someone she knows. Go with several options. Be kind and understanding. If you start from a place of judgement she won't listen and will become defensive.

Sorry for the long post. Having helped many people with benefits, debt and budgeting, this is something I feel very strongly about.

fatbelly

Yeah. It's a stupid topic for a 

Moral Dilemma

and this thread should be closed

RealTalk01

Danien said:

I've just helped my cousin go through her finances. She hasn't been eating properly but is too proud to go to a food bank.

She was made redundant from her job, but hadn't been there long enough to get redundancy. She is now claiming universal credit while she tries to find another job. She was on low pay when working, so had not built up any savings. She asked me to help because before becoming too sick to work (not sure why someone put disabled in inverted commas, as someone with a rare, deteriorating, heart- lung disease on oxygen, I find that pretty insulting) I used to work in welfare rights.

I went through her finances and this is what I came up with:

She's on UC, her rent for her tiny flat is paid, but she still has to pay 20% of her council tax. She has to pay the normal household bills water, energy, tv licence, contents insurance. She doesn’t smoke, can't afford to drink, has no car. She has to buy a bus pass monthly so she can travel for job searching. She does have two cats and pays pet insurance for them of £30 a month.

She gets £334 UC after rent is paid. Her bills total £275 a month. Her bus pass is £47.50. This leaves her £12.41 a month for everything else, food, clothing, household items. Even if she rehomed her cats (I've been buying cat food for her) she would only have £42.41 a month. Come October if still unemployed she will likely have nothing after bills.

Please don't be prejudiced against those on benefits. Please don't think that benefits are generous, because in most cases they are not. My cousin is out most days looking for work (UC demands this). Whichever poster said that governments shouldn't increase benefits and people should be able to look after themselves are frankly either idiotic, naive, delusional or cruel. 

Should the hypothetical person use a food bank? Who knows until you've been through their income and expenditure. Do they have debts they are desperately trying to pay? If so suggest they call stepchange. Are they bad at budgeting? Then offer, gently and non judgementally to help. Don't say ' you shouldn't be using a food bank', say 'It makes me sad that you're needing to use a food bank, please let me help you go through your budget to see if together we can make things a bit easier for you', or refer them somewhere where they can help with budgeting - there are even websites and apps that can help, so search them out and have them ready to offer if she's too embarrassed to go through finances with someone she knows. Go with several options. Be kind and understanding. If you start from a place of judgement she won't listen and will become defensive.

Sorry for the long post. Having helped many people with benefits, debt and budgeting, this is something I feel very strongly about.

I like this post, very well written and informative on what clearly seems a REAL persons situation - respect to your cousin for trying to work things out herself without relying on food banks as they are supposed to be a last resort and many wont put in the work themselves! i wish her and yourself the best in hopefully making a bad situation worse 🙏  

But can i just say.. we should all be very pleased and thankful with what is given from the government in benefits.. there are many manyy countries worldwide that do not have a benefit system anything like ours and worse none at all! My friend from the Philippines for example made me appreciate this when she informed me there is no benefit system there and even in the case of a natural disaster (which is a frequent occurrence there) there is little to no handouts to help people. 

Lets all be a little more open and understanding of how lucky we really are in the UK - love it or hate it appreciate every little thing you can and put yourself in other peoples shoes 

RealTalk01

RealTalk01 said:

Danien said:

I've just helped my cousin go through her finances. She hasn't been eating properly but is too proud to go to a food bank.

She was made redundant from her job, but hadn't been there long enough to get redundancy. She is now claiming universal credit while she tries to find another job. She was on low pay when working, so had not built up any savings. She asked me to help because before becoming too sick to work (not sure why someone put disabled in inverted commas, as someone with a rare, deteriorating, heart- lung disease on oxygen, I find that pretty insulting) I used to work in welfare rights.

I went through her finances and this is what I came up with:

She's on UC, her rent for her tiny flat is paid, but she still has to pay 20% of her council tax. She has to pay the normal household bills water, energy, tv licence, contents insurance. She doesn’t smoke, can't afford to drink, has no car. She has to buy a bus pass monthly so she can travel for job searching. She does have two cats and pays pet insurance for them of £30 a month.

She gets £334 UC after rent is paid. Her bills total £275 a month. Her bus pass is £47.50. This leaves her £12.41 a month for everything else, food, clothing, household items. Even if she rehomed her cats (I've been buying cat food for her) she would only have £42.41 a month. Come October if still unemployed she will likely have nothing after bills.

Please don't be prejudiced against those on benefits. Please don't think that benefits are generous, because in most cases they are not. My cousin is out most days looking for work (UC demands this). Whichever poster said that governments shouldn't increase benefits and people should be able to look after themselves are frankly either idiotic, naive, delusional or cruel. 

Should the hypothetical person use a food bank? Who knows until you've been through their income and expenditure. Do they have debts they are desperately trying to pay? If so suggest they call stepchange. Are they bad at budgeting? Then offer, gently and non judgementally to help. Don't say ' you shouldn't be using a food bank', say 'It makes me sad that you're needing to use a food bank, please let me help you go through your budget to see if together we can make things a bit easier for you', or refer them somewhere where they can help with budgeting - there are even websites and apps that can help, so search them out and have them ready to offer if she's too embarrassed to go through finances with someone she knows. Go with several options. Be kind and understanding. If you start from a place of judgement she won't listen and will become defensive.

Sorry for the long post. Having helped many people with benefits, debt and budgeting, this is something I feel very strongly about.

I like this post, very well written and informative on what clearly seems a REAL persons situation - respect to your cousin for trying to work things out herself without relying on food banks as they are supposed to be a last resort and many wont put in the work themselves! i wish her and yourself the best in hopefully making a bad situation worse 🙏  

But can i just say.. we should all be very pleased and thankful with what is given from the government in benefits.. there are many manyy countries worldwide that do not have a benefit system anything like ours and worse none at all! My friend from the Philippines for example made me appreciate this when she informed me there is no benefit system there and even in the case of a natural disaster (which is a frequent occurrence there) there is little to no handouts to help people. 

Lets all be a little more open and understanding of how lucky we really are in the UK - love it or hate it appreciate every little thing you can and put yourself in other peoples shoes 

sorry for the miss-type.. “a bad situation better!*”

dreamyd

Perhaps it's time for someone to clarify the situation. I'm deeply unimpressed with some of the attitudes on display in this thread.

I was for several years a long-term volunteer at a Trussell Trust food bank. People were able to get up to three boxes (one at a time) via a voucher issued by CAB, schools, or certain churches/organisations. Additional support including debt advice and budgeting was available at the distribution centres (usually local churches at various points in the week).

What is also  now available are community fridges/larders where perfectly edible food destined for landfill is available for distribution to whomever needs it. There are a number of these run by local organisations  near me (often churches, but not necessarily)  which serve two purposes - supporting people facing financial hardship as well as reducing food waste.  These are open to all, and whilst I haven't used these (mostly as I'm currently sufficiently fortunate as not to need them) I'm very glad  that they are there to support those who do. The Olio app is another resource, although I  haven't used it  very often due to the lack of distributors in my immediate area (I can't drive).

I do use Too Good To Go as a means of reducing my food bills, which enables me to donate to Food Bank collections. My family went through several periods of financial precariousness in the 1970s and 80s due to redundancies. What that taught me was never to judge anyone, as you literally have no idea when your household might be the one who needs support because of a sudden change in circumstances.