IDS to put job advisors in food banks

[apelike 10]

It'll be a very good way of monitoring who is actually using these places and to what extent they are being used and why.

They will create data and provide some statistics hopefully.

I can't see anyone objecting to it unless it's for a politically biased reason.

 

The only data they will legally be able to collect is just how many people are using them, anything else falls foul of the data protection act. The company, charity, church whatever cannot pass on any private details of individuals using a food bank.

 

---------- Post added 28-10-2015 at 22:22 ----------

 

 

We now treat asylum seekers better than the destitute unemployed et. al., such is the lack of support for the unemployed et. al., the basic level of income we give to asylum seekers should at the very least be given to the unemployed etc. automatically when they are sanctioned.

 

Cant argue with any of that.

[Mister M 1,594]

People need to realise that if you want to survive to old age, you are going to have to work to support yourself. There's no two ways around it. Doesn't matter who's in power, the era of "cradle to grave" benefits has come to an end. It had to.

 

Officials who used to work for the system have reported that staff were encouraged to “agitate and inconvenience” claimants so they fell foul of the rules, enabling their benefits to be stopped. One ex-official said unscrupulous staff would target vulnerable claimants, such as those with a learning disability, for sanctions.

(http://www.theguardian.com/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2015/feb/03/sanctions-staff-pressured-to-penalise-benefit-claimants-says-union)

[RonJeremy 10]

Yes here's one:

https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/3156-botched-wca-triggered-claimant-s-suicide-coroner-rules

 

No sorry. That's a single case. You claimed there had been an increase in the suicide rate. Do you have any statistics?

[Happ Hazzard 10]

Officials who used to work for the system have reported that staff were encouraged to “agitate and inconvenience” claimants so they fell foul of the rules, enabling their benefits to be stopped. One ex-official said unscrupulous staff would target vulnerable claimants, such as those with a learning disability, for sanctions.

(http://www.theguardian.com/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2015/feb/03/sanctions-staff-pressured-to-penalise-benefit-claimants-says-union)

I won't argue that that is wrong. But there's a lot of people who would of fallen foul of stringent enforcement of the existing rules in any case. It really isn't hard to turn up on time once a fortnight. If I was late for work every day for a fortnight I'd be lucky if I wasn't sacked, I'd certainly face a disciplinary.

 

I think the whole "jobcentre" concept is outdated tbh. There must be more efficient and cheaper ways of doing it nowadays. Maybe fingerprint scanners in post offices? All the actual jobsearching is done online already.

[SqueakyPete 10]

IDS said...

“I am trialling at the moment a job adviser situating themselves in the food bank for the time that the food bank is open, and we are already getting very strong feedback about that,” he said.

 

I have heard of positive/negative feedback before,but what is strong feedback?

Would that be the kind of feedback that usually includes swearing by any chance?

[Anna B 1,401]

Malnutrition and Victorian diseases are soaring in England, 'due to food and poverty cuts' according to today's online 'Independent' newspaper.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk. Lifestyle

 

"NHS statistics show 7,366 people were admitted to hospital with primary or secondary diagnosis of malnutrition between August 2014 and July this year. Compared with 4,883 cases in the same period 2010-2011, a rise of 50% in just 4 years."

 

Chris Mould, chairman of the Trussell Trust (Foodbanks,) said they saw tens of thousands of people who have been going hungry, missing meals, and cutting back on the food they buy.

 

How on earth have we let this happen in a rich, civilized country like England? How much worse is it going to get if the tax credit cuts come in?

 

This government should be ashamed.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Anna B

[TJC1 10]

Welfare systems a mess and having an advisor at food banks just going to add to the problem

[Joe-b-1 10]

Do you have any proof of these claims about suicide etc? I'll accept your word that a man set himself on fire.

 

I used to know Shaun Pilkington named in some of these articles. The reasons are correct. RIP Shaun.

 

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2014/10/21/uk-welfare-reform-deaths-updated-list-october-21st-2014/

 

http://calumslist.org

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/more-80-suicide-cases-directly-5634404

 

https://streetdemocracy.wordpress.com/this-is-what-austerity-looks-like-suicides-due-to-bedroom-taxbenefit-capshardship/

[Happ Hazzard 10]

The problem is that we have so many people entirely reliant on welfare. Rendered incapable by the welfare state. It's a problem that there is no solution to. Returning to the "soft" benefits system under Labour (and for that matter, the previous Tory government) would just be kicking the can down the road. Plenty of countries have a far less generous welfare system but do not have this level of people that can't exist. Too many families don't raise their children to be able to cope with life because the expectation is that the government will provide everything.

[harvey19 541]

Would a return to the workhouse type of system benefit some people.

It would provide a roof over their heads and meals, the two areas which seem to cause most concern.

[Joe-b-1 10]

............................

Edited October 28, 2015 by Joe-b-1
Accidental repost

[Happ Hazzard 10]

When you allow someone to not have to work for 30+ years, tell them they are too disabled to work, allow them to become isolated from the rest of society, then suddenly tell them that they now have to work, it's not surprising that some people can't cope. I am almost certain that the people in that article would have had much more fulfilled and happy lives if the same rules that exist today existed when they were young and they were "forced" into work as teens or early 20 somethings.