Trussell Trust release new report on poverty and food insecurity

[Fambo Number Mive]

You can see the report at: https://www.stateofhunger.org/

Up to 2% of UK households used a food bank, 2018/19

The most common sources of income for people referred to food banks were state benefits, reported by 86% of people using food banks in the Trussell Trust network. Universal Credit was the most commonly received benefit in late 2018.
Other sources of income, such as paid employment or family/friends, were much less common. Around one-in-seven households (14%) using food banks had someone in employment, typically part-time.

Most of the demographic 'risk factors' for being food insecure were also risk factors for being referred to a food bank, including low income, being a lone parent, having more than two children, living alone, being a renter (particularly
a social renter), being unemployed and living in a household affected by ill health. People aged 25-54 had an increased risk of being referred to a food bank, whereas people of pension age (65+) constitute only a very small minority (2%) of people referred to food banks.

Clearly if 14% of households using a foodbank have someone in employment, work isn't keeping people out of poverty.

Francis Ryan in the Guardian:

...The thing about the normalisation of hardship is that it's only a matter of time before something that once horrified a nation is allowed to get worse. Years after food banks went from a temporary blip to a staple of most towns and cities, it's now standard practice for some to give out "cold boxes": tinned groceries that can be eaten without the need for hot water or heating. Volunteers noticed some people would collect a box of pasta and rice only to admit it was useless to them – once they got home, they wouldn't be able to afford to switch on their cooker or kettle. Other food banks tell me they are now doing a "delivery service" to disabled people who are starving but too ill to leave the house to get an emergency food parcel...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/05/food-bank-britain-trussell-trust-report-election

[petril]

you can just take food from Tory cunts. they're notoriously shit at fighting

[Buelligan]

It's shocking stuff though, what's said, about it becoming normalised, is frightening.  A bit like the drownings in the Med.  Or the number of rough sleepers.  Or the number of people deported wrongly.  Or so much more.

Why are we allowing these things to become normal?  We have to change it, even if the only thing we can do is vote, then we must vote.