Holiday closures and limited opening hours for Brent services - details

 

FURTHER INFORMATION ON BRENT COUNCIL SERVICES

Wembley High Road Carol Singing on December 17th 3pm-6pm - donations towards a Food Bank

 

Enough is enough! Foodbanks urge you to sign the petition to increase benefits by at least 7% to keep pace with inflation

 

In its latest email to supporter Sufra NW write:

 

Even before the additional rise in fuel prices due in October, more and more people are finding it impossible to pay their bills and buy enough food for their families. 

 

Our benefits system should reflect the true cost of living and provide a safety net for the most vulnerable. Instead it’s leaving food banks to pick up the pieces. Sufra has seen an unprecedented level of demand from new food bank users – and so have fellow members of the Independent Food Aid Network.

 

Enough is Enough!

 

This petition calls on the UK Government to urgently increase benefit payments by at least 7% to keep pace with inflation, alongside longer term improvements to the benefits system.

 

The petition is being shared by the Trussell Trust, the Independent Food Aid Network and Feeding Britain.

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

 

The Petition

 

Food banks cannot and should not pick up the pieces of UK government inaction against the rising cost of living. 

 

The cost of living is rising rapidly and increasing numbers of people are finding it impossible to cover their essential costs because their income is insufficient. A perfect storm is here and the future looks bleak with a further rise in fuel prices when the energy price cap rises again in October. People with money worries are turning to charity and being forced to take on debts. People need help now. The benefits system should reflect the true cost of living and ensure it keeps people from falling into hunger and poverty.  

 

The Chancellor has so far failed to provide enough security for people on the very lowest incomes to weather the current storm. With every day of inaction, the food bank where I work prepares for more people to be forced through our doors. Other food banks in the Trussell Trust network and members of the Independent Food Aid Network and the Feeding Britain network are telling the same story. This is no longer about the cost of living - for many, this is about surviving. 

  

The benefits system should reflect the true cost of living; instead it's leaving food banks to pick up the pieces.  And yet for the first time ever, food banks in the Trussell Trust network provided more than 2.1 million food parcels to people across the UK outside of 2020/21, the height of the pandemic. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Food banks and other charitable food aid providers which are part of IFAN and the Feeding Britain network are seeing similar devastating increases. 

 

More and more people are being put at risk of destitution, unable to afford the absolute essentials that we all need to eat, stay warm, dry, and clean. Food banks, food pantries and other food aid providers across the UK are working even harder just to keep families afloat as the essentials we all need in life are becoming increasingly out of reach and many food bank workers are feeling exhausted and over-stretched. This cannot be right.  

 

Enough is enough.  

 

Please sign this petition which calls on the UK Government to urgently increase benefit payments by at least 7% to keep pace with inflation. Longer term, it must introduce a commitment in the benefits system to make sure everyone has enough money in their pockets to prevent destitution.  

 

Steph Maxwell, Uttlesford Foodbank Coordinator  (Trussell Trust Network)

This petition is being shared by the Trussell Trust, the Independent Food Aid Network and Feeding Britain.

 

Call for targeted interventions to address hunger and poverty in Brent

The following motion will be debated at the Brent Council meeting on Monday:

This Council welcomes the findings and recommendations of the recent Resource and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee task group report into the use of food banks in Brent.

Given the scale of the problem of destitution and food poverty and likelihood that need will increase with the further roll out of Universal Credit this year, this Council recognises the need for local public, voluntary and private organisations to collaborate on the production of a proactive strategy to bring forward targeted interventions to prevent and address hunger and chronic poverty in the borough.

This Council notes the following findings of the task group:

·      Food banks are playing, and will continue to play, an increasingly significant role in society. The corrosion of the welfare state has meant that food banks have had no choice but to step up to fill in the gap. 


·      1.2 million food aid packages were given out by Trussell Trust food banks during the last financial year and this was the ninth consecutive year in which demand has risen. 


·      In Brent alone last year an estimated 5,636 people accessed food banks 


·      Major drivers behind food bank usage locally are benefit delays and sanctions, the current waiting period before benefits are paid, inaccessibility of services and low wages. 


·      Official figures do not capture the true extent of the problem across the borough; with many residents seeking assistance from religious organisations providing informal meals and food assistance. 


·      Locally, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) moved new single claimants over to Universal Credit(UC) in2015 and have now advised full  rollout of UC across Brent will happen in late 2018. It is likely that implementation of full UC will place further demands on local food banks and information / advice services. 


·      The use of food banks includes both people in and out of work. 


·      Statements from government ministers dismissing food bank use as a lifestyle choice of those who are unable to budget properly has influenced incorrect beliefs about food bank users. This has contributed to stigma, shame, and embarrassment for the people who need to use them.


Brent Council recognises the invaluable work undertaken by food bank staff, volunteers and donors. This  Council formally extends its gratitude to all involved.

Councillor Roaxnne Mashari Welsh Harp Ward 


Foodbanks in Brent: 'Behind every number is a person' - a revealing video

In an enterprising move the Scrutiny Task Group on Foodbanks has made a video about the role of foodbanks in Brent that catered for more than five and  a half thousand people last year. The roll out of Unoversal Credit this year is likely to increase the numners neeeding to use foodbanks.The Task Grpup, led by Cllr Roxanne Mashari, made 35 recommendations which can be read in the embedded document at the foot of this article.

The Task Group reports states:

Many local authorities like Brent find themselves in uncharted territory in relation to food banks . Alongside the absence of guidance for local authorities, the task group feels that there is room for improvement and external oversight with regards to safety, hygiene and safeguarding in many of the food aid providers locally.

The task group could not find any policy framework, or guidance outlining how local authorities should work with or alongside food banks.

This lack of understanding, policy and coordination presents a significant risk to public sector organisations, food banks and food bank users particularly as we approach the wider roll out of universal credit in 2018.

Time and again our task group heard of benefit delays, universal credit design problems, inaccessibility of services and sanctions driving ordinary people to extraordinary levels of desperation and destitution. We must be clear in our collective determination in Brent that our role as public and private sector bodies is to strategically tackle poverty and increase prosperity, not to create deprivation and poverty through our own policies. The fact that actions of publically funded bodies are a major driving force behind local food bank numbers is a cause for alarm and shame.

We cannot wait for the government to decide to take action when it comes to food banks , we must take matters into our own hands by demonstrating leadership and initiative to stem the tide of destitution and desperation . It is up to us to make sure that residents are not falling through the gaps of services and that there is a coordinated, preventative and interventionist approach. 

This task group has brought to light some of the most talented, hardworking and visionary individuals who help run food banks and provide a unique and vital service that would not otherwise be provided .  We have also witnessed heart - wrenching stories of neglect, desperation and abject poverty that have been both s hocking and upsetting.

What is clear is that this level of need and poverty must not be normalised or accepted.

It is time for all of us to take stock, to not shy away from the scale of the problem and to be nimble enough to respond to the shifting shape of provision for those in destitution, whether we agree with government policy in this area or not.

Our recommendations provide a blueprint for the first few steps in organising a coordinated response to this relatively new phenomenon and we will be holding local leaders to account over the next twelve months in order to translate policy and ideas into action that makes a difference on the ground.