FOOD BANKS AND WELFARE: A FEW BAD DECISIONS FROM POVERTY

I believe that New Start Highland offers a way forward for helping people who are long-term unemployed. Our success rate is 700 percent better than some aspects of the work programme and it is not focussed on anything punitive, it is all focussed around the person. 

Our policy of developing individuals is far more effective than simply giving people hand outs and punishing those who fail to meet set criteria, like the policy adopted by the welfare system. One of the symptoms of the changes to the welfare system is an increased need for food banks. 

I spoke to the Inverness Courier this week amid surging food bank use in Scotland and spoke of how welfare reforms are inextricably linked to the rising demand for emergency food relief. 

Have a look at some of my comments below that were published in Tuesday’s paper. I’d be delighted to know what you think.

Are welfare reform changes punitive?

“Of the tens of thousands of people who are unemployed and in poverty very few of them don’t want to work. 

I think the changes in the benefit system are draconian and some of the sanctions people face are barbaric. The solution for me isn’t taking someone’s benefits away because they don’t turn up for a meeting, the solution is engaging with people.

It is not a political view, although it probably sounds like one, it is simply an observation and I am working in the midst of people in horrible poverty.

I think it is absolutely wrong that this wealthy society  is spending hundreds of millions on nuclear weapons, and human beings, mums, dads, children still do not have food.

I wonder if the decision makers lose sight of the fact that all of us are only a few bad decisions or a few unfortunate events away from poverty ourselves.”

Although a spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions insisted that there was no robust evidence linking welfare reforms to the increased use of food banks and said: 

“We will ensure that no one falls through the cracks and we are working with local authorities, community groups and the financial industry on how best to support individuals,”

The majority of those receiving food parcels said benefit changes, benefit delays plus low income were to blame for their situation.

On the other hand, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has recently labelled the UK government's social reform a "disgrace" for leaving people in "destitution".

Why do you think there has been a sharp increase in the use of food banks recently?

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols recently said the "safety net" for the poorest families had been "torn apart".

Speaking to the Telegraph last month Archbishop Nichols - the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in England and Wales and designated by Pope Francis to be appointed a cardinal- said the welfare state was becoming "more punitive".

"I think what's happening is two things", he said.

"One is that the basic safety net that was there to guarantee that people would not be left in hunger or in destitution, has actually been torn apart. It no longer exists, and that is a real, real dramatic crisis.

"And the second is that, in this context, the administration of social assistance - I am told - has become more and more punitive."

Do you agree? Let me know!