Tag Archives: family
Bishop wants research into welfare reform-food bank use ‘link’
Research is needed into whether government welfare reforms have caused more people to become dependent on food banks, the Bishop of Truro says.
The Right Reverend Tim Thornton said it was vital to understand if there was any sort of link.
A study by Church Action Poverty and Oxfam said more than 500,000 people in the UK may rely on food banks because of benefit cuts and unemployment.
The government said its reforms aimed to improve the lives of poor families.
Bishop Thornton said: “We need to ask for the facts as to why people are in this situation, and why there is such a desperate need for food.
“It wouldn’t take much work to point out how these things are growing.”
In response to the recent Church Action Poverty and Oxfam study, the government said its welfare reforms would “improve the lives of some of the poorest families in our communities”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-23216487
Asda saving food instead of it going to landfill
ASDA to donate surplus food to charity
UK supermarket chain ASDA have announced that they are to team up with charity FoodShare to help cut food waste and support some of the most vulnerable people in the UK.
This pioneering change means an extra 1,500 tonnes of food will go to UK charities every year – increasing the amount of food redistributed by FareShare by 41%. That’s the same as an extra 3.6 million meals every year.
It’ll also save the 910 charities supported by FareShare a massive £4.5 million every year.
The benefit sanctions regime has “gone too far”, leading “to destitution, hardship and hunger
Half a million people in Britain rely on food banks
Huge cuts to welfare reform have left more than half a million people in Britain reliant on foodbanks to feed themselves or their family, a shocking report by a group of charities has revealed.
Church Action Poverty and Oxfam, with the backing of the Trussell Trust, are calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the relationship between benefit delay, error or sanctions, welfare reform changes and the growth of Britain’s ‘hidden hungry.’
“The shocking reality is that hundreds of thousands of people in the UK are turning to food aid. Cuts to social safety-nets have gone too far, leading to destitution, hardship and hunger on a large scale. It is unacceptable that this is happening in the seventh wealthiest nation on the planet,” said Mark Goldring, Oxfam’s CEO.