In wealthy towns, families hit by falling incomes and benefit cuts are increasingly being forced to rely on charity handouts
Archbishop Vincent Nichols, who criticised the cuts, is made a cardinal at the Vatican Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Volunteers have sounded the alarm over a growing reliance on food banks in one of the richest areas in Britain.
Weekly earnings in Hart in Hampshire, recently named as the most desirable district in the country for quality of life, are up to a third higher than the national average. But the district also has three food banks, which have given out more than 1,000 emergency food parcels in the past six months.
Anti-poverty campaigners say that, even in wealthy areas such as Hart, benefit changes and low wages are creating growing pockets of desperate need.
"When we opened in 2011, people said, 'surely there's no hardship in Hart?', but a surprising number of people in this area are in clear need," said Graham Bunch, the food banks administrator. He said most people who use the service are families and single people aged between 25 and 45. Benefit delays (33%), benefit changes (14%) and low income (20%) are cited as the main reasons. "Each voucher covers three days' emergency crisis relief food, by which time we hope that the benefit system has caught up and the situation has improved, but it is taking longer for the benefit system to move."
Last week Cardinal Vincent Nichols, leader of the Roman Catholic church in Britain, launched a fierce attack on welfare reforms, accusing the coalition of taking a "punitive" approach to the poor. In the Daily Telegraph, he said: "Something is going seriously wrong when, in a country as affluent as ours, people are left in that destitute situation and depend solely on the handouts of the charity of food banks."
This was followed by an open letter in the Daily Mirror, in which 27 Anglican bishops expressed outrage that citizens should go hungry in the world's seventh richest country and accused David Cameron of creating a "national crisis".
In Hart, which includes the towns of Hook, Fleet and Crookham, there was widespread astonishment that the handouts were necessary.
In Fleet, one resident, Roger Thompson, 74, retired from the Army, said: "I can imagine food banks in Manchester or Liverpool, but in this area do we really need them?" Another said: "It's shocking. I wouldn't even know where the food banks operate." However, Linda Picton, 63, a youth worker, said: "It's difficult when people have a perception that Hart is full of rich people. Yes, it's an affluent area, but there are spots of real hardship."
Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, which last year gave out 100,000 food vouchers, told the Observer: "Affluent areas have not escaped the surge in food bank use. Low wages that are rising at only half the rate of inflation continue to make day-to-day living difficult, and poorly applied welfare sanctions are adding to the misery for many." In a response last week to Cardinal Nichols, David Cameron insisted that the welfare programme ensured that "the safety net remains in place" for those in dire need, but Hart's food bank volunteers are adamant that people are slipping through the cracks.
According to volunteer Lorely Clark: "Social agencies are so busy they haven't got time to spend with individual clients to sort out problems and people don't know what to do. The grey mist comes down and they can't cope any more."
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/22/food-banks-booming-affluent-areas?CMP=fb_gu
Weekly earnings in Hart in Hampshire, recently named as the most desirable district in the country for quality of life, are up to a third higher than the national average. But the district also has three food banks, which have given out more than 1,000 emergency food parcels in the past six months.
Anti-poverty campaigners say that, even in wealthy areas such as Hart, benefit changes and low wages are creating growing pockets of desperate need.
"When we opened in 2011, people said, 'surely there's no hardship in Hart?', but a surprising number of people in this area are in clear need," said Graham Bunch, the food banks administrator. He said most people who use the service are families and single people aged between 25 and 45. Benefit delays (33%), benefit changes (14%) and low income (20%) are cited as the main reasons. "Each voucher covers three days' emergency crisis relief food, by which time we hope that the benefit system has caught up and the situation has improved, but it is taking longer for the benefit system to move."
Last week Cardinal Vincent Nichols, leader of the Roman Catholic church in Britain, launched a fierce attack on welfare reforms, accusing the coalition of taking a "punitive" approach to the poor. In the Daily Telegraph, he said: "Something is going seriously wrong when, in a country as affluent as ours, people are left in that destitute situation and depend solely on the handouts of the charity of food banks."
This was followed by an open letter in the Daily Mirror, in which 27 Anglican bishops expressed outrage that citizens should go hungry in the world's seventh richest country and accused David Cameron of creating a "national crisis".
In Hart, which includes the towns of Hook, Fleet and Crookham, there was widespread astonishment that the handouts were necessary.
In Fleet, one resident, Roger Thompson, 74, retired from the Army, said: "I can imagine food banks in Manchester or Liverpool, but in this area do we really need them?" Another said: "It's shocking. I wouldn't even know where the food banks operate." However, Linda Picton, 63, a youth worker, said: "It's difficult when people have a perception that Hart is full of rich people. Yes, it's an affluent area, but there are spots of real hardship."
Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, which last year gave out 100,000 food vouchers, told the Observer: "Affluent areas have not escaped the surge in food bank use. Low wages that are rising at only half the rate of inflation continue to make day-to-day living difficult, and poorly applied welfare sanctions are adding to the misery for many." In a response last week to Cardinal Nichols, David Cameron insisted that the welfare programme ensured that "the safety net remains in place" for those in dire need, but Hart's food bank volunteers are adamant that people are slipping through the cracks.
According to volunteer Lorely Clark: "Social agencies are so busy they haven't got time to spend with individual clients to sort out problems and people don't know what to do. The grey mist comes down and they can't cope any more."
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/22/food-banks-booming-affluent-areas?CMP=fb_gu
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