Transcript Frozen in the headlights

Frozen in the headlights:
being poor in Newcastle
6 November 2012
www.cvsnewcastle.org.uk
supporting voluntary and community action in Newcastle
www.cvsnewcastle.org.uk
supporting voluntary and community action in Newcastle
Changing social attitudes
• British Social Attitudes Survey: signs of
increasing social divisions, a hardening of
attitudes towards welfare support, less
tolerance of immigration
• Scope: discrimination towards disabled
people rising as a result of ‘benefit scrounger’
rhetoric, 46% of disabled people reporting
attitudes towards them had worsened during
the past 12 months
www.cvsnewcastle.org.uk
supporting voluntary and community action in Newcastle
Context: the perfect storm
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Coalition austerity policies
Reduced government investment
Shrinking public sector
Changes to benefit system
Changes to tax credits
Move to more part-time working
www.cvsnewcastle.org.uk
supporting voluntary and community action in Newcastle
Where are the food banks?
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Food Banks
• Children’s Society, Brunswick Methodist Church
• Missionaries of Charity, Durham Street
• Newcastle East Food Bank, Elim Pentecostal
Church, Heaton Road
• Newcastle YMCA
• St Andrew’s Church, Newgate Street
• St Joseph’s Asylum Project, Armstrong Road
• Storehouse, Tyneside Vineyard, City Road
• Walking With, Wallsend
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Other facilities
• Blandford Square – Hot drinks and sandwiches, Saturdays
• Peoples Kitchen, The Alison Centre - Hot meals and
sandwiches and hot drinks: 4 sessions at Alison Centre plus 4
street outreach sessions
• Summerhill Square, West Road - Hot meals and sandwiches,
Sundays
• The Cyrenians, Ron Eager House – Food and hot drinks: 5
projects in Newcastle, 1 in Gateshead
• Walter’s Kitchen - Hot dogs, soup and pasta, St Andrew’s
Church (Thursday) and Blandford Square (Sunday)
• West End Refugee Service – Cash handouts for food
• Edible Elswick, Elswick Community Garden – Run by West
End Women and Girls
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supporting voluntary and community action in Newcastle
Findings
• An increase in the number of families seeking help from food
banks (number and testimony)
• The demand is widespread and increasing but not
overwhelming (at the moment)
• A clear risk that food banks become part of the system
instead of a supplementary support service to longer term
solutions (policy and testimony)
• Collaboration, and even co-location, between food banks and
other services would improve the overall package of help for
clients (testimony)
• The hard work of food bank volunteers and the generous
donations of the public have a huge impact on those affected
(reported testimony)
www.cvsnewcastle.org.uk
supporting voluntary and community action in Newcastle
Conclusions
• Issue of poverty demonstrated by need
• Issue of ‘rough sleeping’ further evidenced
• Some evidence of increased need for food
banks
• Some evidence of increased demand for
food kitchens
• Food is a problem for families and
individuals
www.cvsnewcastle.org.uk
supporting voluntary and community action in Newcastle
“Demand has been steadily increasing and
the most common reason we have noticed
at our food bank is either debt or benefit
changes.”
– Food bank coordinator, Newcastle upon
Tyne, October 2012.
www.cvsnewcastle.org.uk
supporting voluntary and community action in Newcastle
Frozen in the headlights
the key themes
• Increasing anxiety due to welfare changes
• Rising levels of personal debt and difficulties in
managing debt
• People disempowered from helping themselves by
complex and demanding customer service
systems
• Steady and increasing demand on voluntary and
community organisations for support and advice
• Increasing pressure on individuals, communities
and voluntary sector workers and volunteers
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supporting voluntary and community action in Newcastle
The perfect storm continues
• Commission on living standards (Oct 2012)
– ‘on the UK’s current path, come 2020 household incomes across
the bottom half of the working age population look likely to be
lower than they are today’
• JRF Universal Credit report (Oct 2012)
– ‘low income families face a significant challenge, women likely to
be affected disproportionately, needs to be a more visible
ombudsman’
• Living Wage Week 4–10th November
– ‘we believe that work should be the surest way out of poverty’
Living Wage Foundation
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supporting voluntary and community action in Newcastle
What can you do next?
• What can your organisation do?
• What can it do with partners e.g. other
VCOs, city council, other public sector
agencies, local businesses
• And what type of support would you need
from Newcastle CVS to achieve these
actions?
www.cvsnewcastle.org.uk
supporting voluntary and community action in Newcastle