Britain's Hidden Hungry

Hunger is back in the UK.

The cupboards are empty.

The worst thing is the first two weeks that you go hungry

because you're so used to eating normally

that you wake up and your body's, like, "Right, food."

And you're not eating.

For the first time since the establishment of the welfare state,

large numbers of ordinary people are turning to charity

to provide food for themselves and their families.

Sometimes people just give you a dirty look and say,

"What are you doing here?"

"Look at yourself, look at the way you dress.

"Do you really need that food?"

I've spent six months in one Britain's busiest food banks,

meeting the people who've arrived at a place of last resort.

From what I can see, you would have less than £100 for electricity,

gas and food per month. You're definitely below the breadline.

We just eat one meal a day.

I won't eat till about ten o'clock so it lasts longer.

So overnight, you wake up and you're not hungry

and you can last the next day.

We've got kids and we've got to think about the kids before ourselves.

The Hope Centre is one of 11

emergency food distribution centres in Coventry alone.

-Do you want to give them two packs of bacon?

-Yeah. That's nice.

Run by a Christian charity, food banks provide three days' food

to people in financial crisis.

There are now nearly 300 around the country

and new ones are opening at the rate of two a week.

Chuck these ones in there. That's the tomatoes done.

-You've done the cereal.

-Yeah.

We need the soup. Soup, soup.

Charlotte is a volunteer at the Hope Centre.

-You all right, Tone?

-Yeah.

There's going to be two adults, two kids.

Cool.

Shall I hands you tins, biggest ones first, yeah?

She has been a client here and is struggling to avoid going hungry.

When did you last have three meals a day?

Possibly Christmas.

-Right. So three months ago.

-Yeah.

Obviously, I get the odd day where I'll eat something,

but on the whole, just dinner, really.

After a while, you learn to just kind of deal with it

and pull your energy from somewhere way within.

So now I'm just...

I think I constantly buzz off adrenaline or something.

I don't know what it is. But it's not food.

Brought up in care, Charlotte's a full-time student at sixth-form college

and has fallen through a hole in the benefits system.

You sign that one for me.

Because I'm in full-time education

with no children at the age of 21,

there's nothing for me. There's nothing.

I can't have Housing Benefit,

Income Support, Job Seeker's Allowance.

What did they say at the Jobcentre? You must've said, "I can't eat."

Um, telling me that they're really, really sorry

that they can't do anything.

And then it got worse and worse during the conversation to a point where she said,

"The only thing I can suggest is why don't you just have a child?

"Then you'd be able to sign on for benefits, if you want to do college."

So hang on, so somebody in the benefits agency

suggested your solution was to have a child at the age of 21?

Yes. At the age of 21.

Bearing in mind, I'm not mature for a 21-year-old.

I've been in care. I haven't grown up yet.

I ended up coming to the food bank.

The first time was awful.

You feel so embarrassed.

You don't even want to pull the food voucher out.

I was worried about walking home with bags saying "food bank",

because I was scared that everyone would know as I walked home

that I'd had to go somewhere for food.

But they give you just normal bags.

So when I walked home, it was all right.

'Unlike other food banks around the country

'that only hand out non-perishables, Coventry receives a supply

'of fresh food, donated by a wholesale supermarket chain.

'Food close to its sell-by date is given to charities

'rather than thrown away.

'It makes a valuable contribution to the standard food parcels.'

So, is that looking like a decent amount of fresh food today?

Today, yeah.

Bit more variety than we've had the last couple of weeks.

Bananas, we haven't had for ages.

Weak muscles, tiny arms.

'This food has to be distributed on the day it arrives.

'That means Charlotte gets to take home

'some of the leftovers at the end of the day.'

So, what have you got today?

I've got...bagels,

mince,

apple pie,

vegetable pie,

oranges,

potato salad and bread...

..which will last me about four days, easily.

'Today's last client arrives as the centre is closing.

'Kelly is a mother of two who's been sent here by Social Services

'and has had to walk miles.

'She tells me she hasn't eaten for two days.'

-How old is he?

-Six months.

Is he on solids yet?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's greedy.

'Until the birth of her youngest child, Kelly was a sales manager.

'She's recently been on statutory maternity benefit,

'but with a 15-year-old son,

'it hasn't been enough to cover their living expenses,

'and food has run out.'

Yeah. So that's pretty desperate, isn't it?

Yeah.

Baked beans. A few vegetables.

Yeah, there's bits of everything. Tuna.

Jack? Come here, babe. Pop those in the freezer.

Freezer. Ice cream!

'And it's not just Kelly who's been going hungry.'

Has Jack eaten all right in the last few days?

No. Last couple of days, he hasn't at all.

-What have you eaten today? Have you eaten at school?

-He hasn't yet.

We can't get free school dinners until the Income Support is sorted.

Which is why I have to come home now to make dinner for him straight from school.

OK. So, is that why you were so desperate today?

-Yeah. For him.

-Right.

It's been hard. He's been eating, but obviously,

not enough to what he should be eating or what he would want to eat.

It's been constantly trying to figure out

how to make what we did have stretch just that bit further,

just to make enough so he wasn't hungry.

But that ran out last night.

The last meal was last night.

This morning, I rang the Jobcentre,

they told me to ring Social Services

who spoke to me and told me to go to them

to get the voucher for food bank.

It's something that I never thought I'd see myself doing.

I'm always the one that gives.

-Every time a charity bag comes through, I always fill it up.

-Right.

Um...I never thought I'd be on the other end of it.

'With a low income, Kelly has struggled for years

'to keep her head above water

'and has now decided to leave the world of work altogether.'

Financially, I can't afford to go back into work.

Not only have I got to pay the mortgage, the council tax,

the food, which is what you have to do, anyway,

I've then got to find my childcare.

Where I can stay at home, bring him up myself

-and have more money in my hand.

-Right.

So essentially now, you're going to live a life on benefits for while.

Yeah. Do something that I always said I never wanted to do.

Right.

The rapid spread of the food bank network

is due to the cooperation of the state sector.

To get the free food parcels, clients must be referred here

by social care agencies who assess their situation.

If they're at the point of desperation,

a red voucher is issued.

-So this is good to go.

-OK.

-All right?

-So you're feeding one adult and two children.

-OK.

In theory, there's a limit of three vouchers per crisis

to provide a stopgap.

In reality, though, not all crises are short term,

so sometimes, the rules are broken.

Sandra is a married mother of five.

Her vouchers are issued by her children's nursery

and she's now relying on the food bank on a weekly basis.

So essentially, this has become your regularly weekly shopping trip?

Yes. Sometimes they have quite lot to give to us.

-It will last, say, about four days, five.

-Right.

-It depends what they have available at the end of the day.

-Sure.

'She stops at food bank on her way home from part-time voluntary work.'

'The picture you have from food bank

'is people, they are poor, they are begging.

'Seeing myself in that position is quite humiliating.'

-I'll wait here.

-OK.

-Yeah? Thanks.

When I come here, I stay here.

Sometimes people just give you, like, a dirty look,

say, "What are you doing here?"

"Look at you, look at the way you dress.

-"Do you really need that food?"

-OK.

-So you think people are judging you?

-Yeah.

-They didn't have biscuits, so I loaded it with chocolate.

-It's OK.

If you tap on that door, you can grab your meat.

-We've got you a big pack of mince.

-Thank you.

'At this stage, I don't want to consider myself to be poor...

'but I'm not far off.'

Like, this week, I have £50 to live on, with the five children.

That means I need to choose with the £50 between electricity,

gas... food.

Two years ago, we were settled.

My husband was working.

We bought a 50-inch TV, we bought a Mac.

We have a nice house, and I'm proud.

Are you going to be good?

It was Sandra's refusal to live solely on welfare

that caused a catastrophic situation.

Her husband left work nearly three years ago

to study for a career in youth justice.

Sandra decided to take a part-time job in MacDonald's,

not knowing it would halve her Housing Benefit.

After I find the job, I was quite happy.

When I rung the Revenue to say, "I'm working,"

is when all the problems started,

because it was one benefit after another, just stop, stop, stop.

My salary, every two weeks, being £79,

they was expecting me to pay the rest of the rent.

-But your salary was tiny?

-Yes.

OK. So what happened?

Basically, we got in trouble. We got behind with the rent.

All the four months I was working for McDonald's,

all those months, we was behind with the rent.

Did you end up in the situation because you chose to work?

Yeah.

You were managing OK before that with benefits and student loans and so on?

Yes. I think if I stay in the benefit,

I wouldn't be in so much debt now.

I decided, "I've had enough. I want to go to work, I want to be able to contribute for the country."

I think that probably was my big mistake.

Look at that.

If the food bank hadn't been there, what would you have done?

I don't know. I don't think we would be here.

I would have lost the house, I would have lost myself,

because, at the end of the day, it's not easy. You see five children

scrambling for food and you don't have owt to support them.

I can't be crying.

I can't be down. I can't be stressed and screaming and shouting.

I can't, because, at the end of the day, I don't want my children

to have that picture of me.

And inside, I'm devastated.

Irish stew, lovely.

Most of the food given out by the food banks is non-perishable,

and donated by the general public at supermarket collections.

Thank you. Have a great weekend. Thank you.

Gavin Kibble is Director of the whole Coventry network.

A typical day at this ASDA will generate something between

half a tonne and three-quarters of a tonne of food.

Current rate?

We're getting through just shy of a tonne a week at the moment.

So, even if we get three-quarters of a tonne of food today,

it probably only lasts about a week.

I think we're going to run out of food.

Demand has been growing steadily

since the Coventry food bank started in spring last year.

Several times since I've been here, the Hope Centre has run out of food.

What a day.

There's always enough food in the Coventry network,

but not always in the right place at the right time.

-Are you...Craig?

-Yes, I am.

We haven't got enough to feed you today

but there is another location open at this time,

which is at the Jesus Centre, in Lamb Street.

How do we know we're not going to go there and the same thing?

I could give them a ring, cos we don't know the volumes on any particular day.

Hi, there. Have you still got food stocks left?

Good. We've been decimated.

Absolutely wiped out.

I'm going to put them in the car and bring them down.

Today, instead of moving food around,

clients are having to be moved to another distribution centre.

We would hold, normally, about a quarter of a tonne of stock.

It's just gone in the space of an hour and ten minutes.

I can't put my finger on what has changed out there.

And why that happens one week and doesn't happen another.

But the point is, it kind of tells you that actually there is a need

out there that needs to be met.

Come on in.

I've bought the overspill with me, to feed them.

That's all I could get in the van.

HE LAUGHS

In the last year,

this slightly ad-hoc charitable supply chain has ensured that

around 170,000 people throughout the country have received emergency food.

Hello. I'm very sorry to disturb you.

From the food bank. Just asking for 10p or 20p to help families and children in crisis.

Thank you very much.

A-ha! Your mate just dropped you right in it.

10p, 20p?

That's just rude. This is to feed kids and families. Thanks.

Charlotte is fundraising at Coventry City College.

Excuse me, before you walk any further, would you like to help

Coventry Foodbank just by 10p or 20p?

Nah?

Thank you, anyway.

I get very slightly annoyed.

It's like I have to stop myself.

Looking around, do you think

people are aware of the kind of hardships that some people have?

No. I do this all the time.

I watch people wherever I am. You can never really pick out the ones that are troubled.

I reckon if you spotted me in a crowd, you wouldn't know I was someone who was struggling.

Right.

Do you feel jealous when you look at other people?

Very much so.

I would love to have a Blackberry phone like everyone else.

And new clothes, like you see all the girls and their make-up and their clothes.

That's a little bit upsetting.

Sometimes I wish I had somewhere to go back to, as well, at night,

with a family and that.

The ones who look healthy and chubby and happy, they've got a family.

What can you tell from looking at these girls?

They're like they're really, really happy.

They obviously ain't got anything else to worry about.

They're probably just worried about what to wear in the morning.

That's the least of my worries, that is.

What do you get up and worry about?

How to get electric on, because the electric meter's bleeping,

or...when I'm going to eat.

Look at them! I'd chop my arm off to have one of them!

I'd chop my arm off, easy!

Look how nice they look! Oh, what I would do!

Look, and she's got a really nice rug. SHE LAUGHS

It looks so grotty. Someone's even got their windows boarded up.

This is my lovely front door(!)

When we were back at the college, I asked you if I could buy you

-a sandwich for lunch.

-Yeah.

Explain to me why you said no.

Because if I eat at lunch

and keep eating, I'll get hungry tomorrow at lunch.

But if I skip meals in the day,

-I can go and just eat at night, just eat my dinner.

-Right.

Do you know what I mean?

You're not eating during the day...

Yeah, cos it shrinks your belly, so you get less hungry. It oppresses your appetite.

CHILD SINGS

It's amazing how you can sing today. Go on, get your scooter.

'Darren has just been to Foodbank, having been given a voucher by the Jobcentre.'

It has been a godsend. They really have helped us.

'Recently made redundant from a management position,

'there's been a delay setting up his benefits.

'He now finds himself battling an unfamiliar system.'

I always used to be very critical of people

that went to Jobcentres.

Having experienced it myself, more and more, on a daily basis,

I sympathise with a lot of them.

I can see where a lot of their frustration comes from, I really can.

I'd made my benefit claim six weeks ago, and they lost it.

Everything had gone, completely. They admitted liability.

It doesn't do a lot of your self-esteem.

It makes you think you're not a human being, just another number.

'Darren's money has completely run out...

'..but the benefits he's owed should be in his account today.

'We're going to the cashpoint to find out.'

Right, here we go.

Shall we have a look?

Are you nervous about this?

Yeah, incredibly. Yeah, incredibly.

And there you have minus £19.22,

which means everything they said they were going to do,

they haven't done, so tomorrow morning, I will be back down there.

I am really fed up now!

OK, and how much were you supposed to have in there?

£387, or thereabouts.

Right, and that would have been back pay for the six weeks...?

Six weeks, yeah.

OK, do you want to get me crying?

At this point, without Foodbank, what would you be doing to feed your family?

Probably getting a black sack and running up

and down this street, throwing things into it.

I don't know where I would turn. I haven't got the foggiest.

'Darren now has to take the last £10 out of his savings account.'

Milk and bread.

'Darren tells me he had a senior managerial job.

'It seems his sudden fall into poverty could happen to any of us.'

I had been, for a number of years, managing...

a group of recruitment agencies.

I was commuting to Northampton and back, every day, and, erm...

I went there one day and the offices were all locked. I didn't know what was going on.

I came home and next thing I knew, there was a tap on the door.

"Can we have the car and the laptop back, please?"

"Why?"

Cos we're not financially viable, I'm afraid,

we've run before we can walk, and we're pulling the plug.

'The following day, Darren heads to the Jobcentre to make a free call

'to the Benefits Agency.

'On the way, a friend phoned and told him he was unable to lend him

'some money.

'Darren tells me this means his youngest son's birthday

'will have to be cancelled.'

We've now got to try

and explain to a six-year-old child why he's going to wake up on his birthday

-and not be like the other kids ripping open wrapping paper for his birthday.

-Right.

Of all the stuff that's going on,

I guess that must be the most painful?

Absolutely. At the minute, yeah.

You wouldn't want to be inside my knotted stomach at the minute.

I'll tell you why I'm calling. You can see my claim on there.

We had to get a food voucher last week,

because you guys had messed up on my claim,

which was six weeks ago.

I've got a family to look after. We've got no money. We'll need to get another food parcel...

and it's my son's birthday,

and he won't be receiving anything for his birthday, thanks to you.

So when's the next available appointment, please?

Tuesday next week is the first time you can get me in?

It's unacceptable. Unacceptable.

You know, at the end of the day, I wouldn't want you to live

in the situation I'm living in right now, I really wouldn't.

HE HANGS UP

'I've got kids similar ages to Darren's,

'and the thought of Ben missing out on a birthday was terrible,

'so I offered to lend Darren some money for presents.'

Thank you, bye.

'The charity behind Foodbank is called the Trussell Trust,

'a Christian organisation that franchises out

'the running of food banks to local, mostly evangelical, churches.'

Thank you. See you later, darling!

'Gavin, the director of the Coventry network,

'gave up work as an accountant two years ago

'to follow a more spiritual road.

'Tonight, we're on our way to pick up Kelly,

'the mother-of-two I'd met earlier.

'Gavin's invited her to speak at a Christian event.'

Kelly's going to be interviewed, as far as I'm aware, on stage.

What Kelly has to offer is that, at the end of the day,

we can talk about the process

and we can talk about how great it is,

but that's never expressed as well as through the life of somebody who has benefited from it.

They're quite broken - Kelly's an example of this -

and they come along to Foodbank, the cupboard's full,

and, for a short time, there's an answer there.

And we like to think it's a measure of bringing a little bit of heaven into people's lives.

If we can give people an experience

of meeting and knowing the living God, great.

That's just fabulous.

Hello, you coming?

This is a lot of dogs.

You've got the baby. This is your 15-year-old, is it?

Hello, 15-year-old.

Might need a bit of rhythm...

# Strength will rise as we wait upon the glory

# Wait upon the glory Wait upon the glory

# Strength will rise as we wait upon the glory... #

Is the environment a bit alien for you?

Yeah, a little bit.

# Lord God, you reign

# For ever

# Be to our God, for ever and ever

# Be to our God For ever and ever... #

This get-together is organised by Christians Against Poverty, part of an evangelical movement

to provide social services to the most disadvantaged...

and to win converts.

Thank you so much for coming to join with us

to remember the poor this evening.

We come together to remember the poor,

and we're excited about the fact that,

as individuals here this evening,

you guys are remembering the poor in so many ways.

To start with, if you'd like to put your hands together

for Gavin Kibble and Kelly, who's going to share his story.

We thought it would be really good

if you met a lady that come through the food bank

a few weeks ago, and you heard from her

how she came to be in place where she needed to be touched by the love of...

so many Christians.

Tell us a little bit about that moment when you realised

you needed some outside help, how you went about getting it,

and what your experience was.

I woke up in the morning. I was panicking.

My eldest son was coming home from school, expecting a dinner.

There wasn't anything, at this point.

I then had to ring Social Services,

and they told me about Foodbank

and got me a voucher and got me sorted out.

Kelly's situation is not unusual.

It is amazing to see the church of God rise up in the city of Coventry...

and demonstrate that God really does love everybody in that city.

'I don't know if God loves the people of Coventry,

'but gambling and loan companies certainly do.

'Within an area of 100 meters in the town centre,

'there are ten betting shops and five high-interest moneylenders.

'Charlotte is on her way to one of these.

'She's still got no income at all,

'and her boyfriend's benefits have been temporarily suspended.

'She's had to hock her college laptop for £25 to pay living expenses.

'To get it back, she has to pay £32.50 within three weeks.

'She's basically taken a loan with a 480% interest rate.'

The emergency electric had gone. We were sitting in the dark.

If I had left it, we wouldn't have had anything to wash in...

no light, or nothing.

No heat, no light, no food - nothing.

So I had to go and put it in, and all my college work is on there,

all my pictures, all my baby pictures.

The only ones I've got are on there.

What did you do with the £25?

Went and put £10 on my electric.

I put £5 on gas, to take it off emergency.

And I spend £10 on food...

which got me through about... a week.

And how long would you have had to pay up?

I have three weeks, but in three weeks I know there's no money.

I don't know where my next meal is coming from, never mind...

..actual cash in my hand.

£32.50 is a LOT of money, a lot.

'To me, £32.50 doesn't really feel like that much money.

'So I've given her the cash to get her laptop back.'

-Laptop?

-Yes, please. Thank you very much.

That's 32.50, yeah?

Thank you.

'Sandra is at the Hope Centre with her husband, Kelvin.

'There's been a delay reinstating the family's benefits,

'and their debts are mounting.

'I'm struck by how different Sandra appears from the first time I filmed her.

'To me, they both look as though they're in real distress.'

Are you getting your benefits now?

We're starting to work it out with Housing Benefits.

We're looking for a job now, me and Kelvin.

We've just had enough.

'A meeting's been called with the family's social care

'team and the children's teachers.

'The first point for discussion is the effect on their eldest son's' school life.

I don't know if this is a front he is putting up...

-but he didn't want to let anybody in. Does that make sense?

-Yes.

He's quite embarrassed. Being 13 years old, it's not easy.

Carl packed the lunch.

I'm sure nobody else knows this, because he done a very good job,

but bread and water, that's it.

He made sure nobody else could see that,

but you could see in his face.

It's not nice. You sit with your mates and you have just bread and water.

We couldn't afford anything else.

And he got so happy when he got his free school meal.

Oh, God, he was really delighted.

'Apart from the struggle for food,

'the family are still in serious debt to their landlord.'

In the last meeting, we talked about,

can you afford in the long term,

for twelve months,

to stay in the property?

Have you come to any conclusion of where you want to go

and what you want to do?

Yeah.

Basically, me and Kelvin came to the conclusion

-we cannot afford to pay.

-OK.

And...the solution is, be...homeless.

OK.

Register as homeless and see how it goes.

If you made yourself homeless,

they may not offer you a house straightaway, they may offer you bed and breakfast,

-or something like that.

-Yep.

Which means you could be in there for a good few months

before they find you a place.

SHE SOBS

We just can't take it any more.

Just can't take it any more.

I'm in that situation, not because I am lazy.

I want to work,

and I lost everything to choose to go into work.

But sometimes you think you make the right decision,

but you make the wrong decision.

Being lazy would help my situation. Being working, it doesn't.

'Caroline, the younger Children's Welfare Officer,

'is the person who's been issuing the family's food vouchers.

'But on Sandra's last visit,

'she was challenged by Gavin about her repeated use of the service.'

Caroline, with all the respect, I do appreciate your help,

but after last week, when we came here, we made the decision,

no way I want anything to do with the food bank. No way.

Because that is not the way to treat people.

Three vouchers, in reality, that is enough...? It's not.

In their defence, they're all volunteers.

They're not professional people.

It's no excuse, because I'm a volunteer where I'm working,

and I don't get paid not one penny,

but I'm doing my job. I'm stressed, I cry every day.

I can't even stand on my legs sometimes when I'm hungry,

but I go there and I am professional.

I am. I don't treat anyone badly.

Something went wrong in terms of Sandra's experience

with Foodbank, didn't it?

Yes, and I'm still trying to get to the bottom of exactly what that experience was.

From what I can gather, coming here is a very difficult thing

for her to do and, given that, the mere fact her entitlement

was questioned was enough to sort of push her over the edge.

Yeah, and that's the same impression that I get.

At the end of the day, we have to avoid abuse.

If you're at seven or eight referrals, that's our duty to challenge it.

It really is unfortunate

that somebody's pride and dignity is offended by that.

I feel I have a duty to everybody who contributes food into the food bank

to be sure we're feeding the right people.

'Darren is on his way to Foodbank for a second time,

'a week after he was first here.

'Gavin knows he's coming and is bending the rules to save

'Darren the trouble of returning to the Jobcentre for a voucher.'

-Hello, nice to see you.

-It's good to see you.

-How's things?

Well, better for me than for you, I think.

-Thank you for that.

-That's all right.

'Tomorrow is Darren's youngest son's birthday.'

-Gavin's seven tomorrow, isn't he?

-Yeah, that's right.

'A birthday cake has been put aside from today's delivery of fresh food.'

-Here's your gateau...

-Thank you.

..for your son's birthday.

Good day to get food, today.

Good day for a slab of chocolate gateau.

Have you got enough birthday candles?

Yeah, last year's - just add one to it.

'Darren's quickly getting familiar with the system.'

What's that? Oh!

'And today, he's taking home close to £100-worth of food.

'Gavin offers to give Darren a lift home with the shopping.'

Thanks ever so much.

'For Charlotte, there's been a dramatic change in circumstances.

'Originally from London,

'she was moved to Coventry by Social Services,

'but they then lost contact with her. She's back in touch now,

'and because they have a responsibility toward her

'until she's 24, she's now getting regular hardship payments,

'and can go shopping.'

I don't get none of my veg from here.

Because Foleshill Road do them really cheap, like 10p an onion and stuff.

'But she's living on what must be the bare minimum.'

So how much have you got to spend now?

Well, I've got £20, but meats in a bag, like sausages,

I normally get from Iceland cos they're cheap and cheerful.

£20 will last you how long?

A week, easily.

Back then, I could never afford anything like that.

-Even now, you couldn't afford that. Couldn't afford a chicken.

-No!

'Now you do have money for food,'

-do you see that you were starving for the past three months?

-Yeah.

That's the way you see it, is it?

Yeah. Badly, as well.

I was living off one meal a day, if that.

The worst thing is the first two weeks that you go hungry,

cos you're used to eating normally,

you wake up and your body's like, "Food!" and you're not eating.

By the time it gets round to dinner, it sounds stupid,

you're that hungry, you're not hungry.

It almost becomes a game.

You get wrapped up in this sick little game where you think,

"If I can stop eating for this amount of time,

"then I'll have this amount of food for the next day."

How much did that lot cost you?

It come to...

£6.89.

That's quite expensive, still.

I know to other people that don't sound expensive for all the stuff I got, £6.89.

I've got to get toilet roll, shower gel...

They're always left till last.

OK. Cos they're less essential?

SHE LAUGHS

I seem to survive on very little knowledge.

There were so many things I got confused about

-because no-one has taught me.

-Sure.

Ah!

SHE LAUGHS

She was gorgeous!

'For somebody who's grown up in care,

'Charlotte seems to have a determination to better herself,

'despite never having a proper family to learn from.'

She's lovely!

-That's not beetroot!

-It is.

Beetroot's red!

It will be red, if you clean the mud off it.

Oh. Wow! Really?

I worked out I didn't like avocado from Foodbank.

That's that green thing, isn't it? I didn't like that.

'Charlotte may now be able to buy food,

'but what she's been through in the last months

'is just a continuation of what she's endured throughout her life,

'and things have finally got too much for her.'

I was passed from foster carer to foster carer

with a black bin liner full of my stuff and told to get on with it.

They say, "Here's the shower, here's the kitchen, here's your bedroom, off you go."

You don't even want to come out of the bedroom, you don't even want to use the shower.

I think all that's catching up on me.

I went to the doctor's to get temazepam to sleep, cos that's the main thing.

I can't sleep, even with the temazepam. It's doing my head in. I'm knackered all the time.

-I think I'm having breakdown.

-Do you?

Yeah. I'm not like this. I'm not self-pitying, normally, either.

Sounds silly and selfish.

I feel really sorry for myself.

I think it's cos of everything I have been through the last couple of months,

cos I've struggled so much, my body and my brain's just gone,

"Right, enough!"

I think I shut away that much,

everything has just...

reared its head at the same time.

We have shed-loads of blueberry muffins. I have 2,000,

so do not be afraid to give them away.

'I'm at Foodbank two weeks later,

'and Charlotte's boyfriend has phoned Gavin,

'desperate for some spare food.'

-That's for Charlotte over there.

-OK, Charlotte.

'To find out what's gone wrong, I offer to take it round to them.'

PHONE RINGS

-Hello?

-Ash, hi, it's David.

You all right, David?

Yeah, I'm sitting outside your block with Charlotte's food in my boot.

-I'll run down.

-All right, see you in a sec.

See you in a sec.

'Charlotte is seriously distressed and doesn't want to do any filming.

'It's another week before she agrees to talk to me on camera.'

You weren't in a very good way when I came last week, were you?

No, not at all.

I didn't even want to accept help, to be honest.

My appetite had got back to normal

and I started feeling a bit healthier,

which meant when we were plunged back

into struggling, I was starving hungry again, like, ridiculously.

Had nothing.

It's the worst feeling, knowing your belly's rumbling

and you can't do anything about it and you feel sick.

It's awful.

My cupboard has...not a lot.

'Despite the payments from Social Services, Charlotte's still living below the breadline.'

So what are you and Ash going to eat tonight?

Erm...I'm not sure at the moment.

I don't think I've got any food. I haven't got any food in the freezer...

at all.

That's properly empty.

I don't think I've got anything in there.

Oh, I have two onions!

A bit of jam...

..tiny bit of milk...and that's it.

'The cause of her renewed hunger appears to stem

'from a loan taken out some months ago.

'When her boyfriend had a part-time job,

'they borrowed £125 from The Money Shop but were unable to repay and the debt has doubled.'

When he lost his job, disaster struck.

We had no money to pay them at all.

That meant they try and take money off you every single day

until you finally get money in your bank.

Two benefit monies, he's had.

All of them have gone.

So they're given completely free access to your bank account?

They can do what they want, when they want, how they want.

They can take as much as they want, whenever they want.

I get for other people they think, "Why do you keep doing this?

"Why can't you figure out something else?"

But when you're in this position,

you exhaust every other option,

so you're left with no choice.

What do you do? Do you sit with nothing?

It don't feel like you live, it feels like you just survive.

'The Money Shop have since told me they've frozen the debt.

'Kelly's life's seems to be entering a more settled phase.

'The father of her youngest child is living with them now

'and she's beginning to get back on her feet.'

It was only those few days where everything was a mess.

Back to normal now. The mortgage, that's the only worry now.

'With levels of personal debt at an all-time high,

'many of us live closer to the breadline than we like to think.

'We're encouraged to spend, not to save...

'so when things go wrong, it's too easy to be tipped into poverty.'

Go and lie down. Cess, that means you.

Move, now!

'Within a matter of days, a volunteer is delivering another food parcel.'

Thanks very much.

'Like Charlotte, Kelly is paying a high price for easy money.'

Why did you need another food parcel?

The money that went in for Tax Credits got taken up

with other bills before it hit the account.

When you say "other bills", what does that mean?

Just some loans.

-And these would be high-interest loans?

-Yeah.

I didn't know how much they were taking, but every time

I went to the get my money over the last two weeks, it was gone.

I told them I was out of work and could we arrange something?

-But they still kept taking it.

-Right.

Apparently, that's what the agreement says.

They can take...

As much as they wanted, whenever they wanted.

-OK. Even though it leaves you in a position where you can't buy food?

-Yes. Yeah.

What's that on your face?

Right, can I get you sign this, please?

'Darren appears to have become a regular at Foodbank...

HE LAUGHS

'..and gets his food without the need for a voucher.'

Lovely. Thank you. Cheers, mate.

Is that everything, Jordan?

'He arrives early because lately, the fresh food

'has been running out before the end of the day.'

I think they knew you were coming

and thought, "Let's give him all the cakes!"

Your shelves are almost empty, Tony.

Absolutely, devastated.

We haven't been this busy since we started a year ago.

This time last year.

It's all I've got.

Not today, sorry.

How do you feel when you run out of food like this?

When I've run out on a good day and fed everybody, it's great.

On days like this when you've run out of food and there's people out there that need food,

it cuts me up to the gut.

This shouldn't be happening.

I feel we've got to do something more, but I don't know what.

'They're having a party of sorts at the Hope Centre.'

Hello, how are you doing?

'Since they opened 18 months ago, they've issued 10,000 food parcels,

'and today the Lord Mayor is coming to mark the occasion.'

I'm Gavin Kibble, I'm the operations director.

Nice to meet you. Thank you so much for coming.

'The symbolic 10,000th client, chosen to receive the food parcel,

'is Darren.'

This is symbolically, cos we've gone over 10,000.

We are feeding the 10,000th person by Coventry Foodbank

since it started, 18 months ago.

So, Lord Mayor, If you'd like to feed Darren...?

We're not going to force-feed you,

we're just going to give you some food.

-I wish I wasn't handing this to you.

-So do I, but you are, so thank you very much.

Can you give a round of applause? Well done!

'But I'm beginning to have my doubts about Darren.

'He's been doing radio interviews today in the run up to the event

'and he's giving a completely different account of the cause of his benefit delay.'

D'you want me to sign the bottom?

'He's behaving with a sense of entitlement

'I've not seen in any of the other clients.'

If you see Gavin, he sends me down, so it's fine.

Could I swap that for something? That's much better.

What about that watermelon, are you doing anything with that?

'He's now driving a courier van

'and despite claiming Job Seeker's Allowance, he's doing delivery jobs,

'which he's not declaring, so he's committing benefit fraud.'

Got work Thursday, Friday, just doing some multi-drop driving.

Couple of days' work for money that I wouldn't have, you know?

-Right.

-Ben, can you come here so I can test you on this?

'On his way to Foodbank on one occasion,

'he stopped to buy Ben a new scooter.

'And he's only client I've come across who's stopped on the way home

'to buy Parma ham from the supermarket.'

I take it the Parma ham didn't come from the food bank?

No, but I have had nice salami from there before.

'And today, he's telling everyone he's about to start a new managerial job.'

Got any job interviews lined up?

I've got a job starting on the 23rd, which is really good.

-Really?!

-It's working for Parcelforce.

Decent money, company vehicle,

management role, so back into what I'm used to.

'But Parcelforce tell me they've never heard of him.

'Gavin, though, remains convinced about Darren's need.'

He's a very genuine guy.

It was a pleasure to work with him, you know, and, erm...

I'm really pleased with the outcome of that one.

It's a good news story for him and for the food bank, as well.

We have a set of procedures

and practices to protect the food bank from abuse.

If we feel the need is genuine,

we don't play to the system,

we play to the need that we see.

If he'd been really clever, he could have pulled the wool over our eyes.

But I really don't think that was Darren...

at all.

'But it seems that little Darren has told any of us has been true.'

Milk and bread.

'The first time I'd filmed him, I'd lent him some money

'for his son's birthday.

'A check with the Coventry registrar

'reveals that it wasn't Ben's birthday at all - that was two months earlier.

'The Benefits Agency tell me Darren was in full-time employment

'as a courier until the day before he first arrived at Foodbank...

'and his benefits were paid a week later, meaning there never was a delay at all.'

-Is that all yours, mate, yeah?

-Yeah, it is.

They give you all that?

He's got a large family.

Ah!

'A serial debtor with a string of County Court judgments against him,

'I think Darren targeted the food bank and did very well,

'because the system was easy to manipulate.

When I catch up with him, he's started a new job...

'but it's not as a manager for Parcelforce.'

What's the job you're doing now?

It's... driving, delivering to people,

so it's on the opposite side.

But, to be honest, it's going to tide me over

until I'm in a better position to put my suit back on again.

Looking back over what I filmed with you over the weeks,

one of the most obviously painful things was Ben's birthday.

Was it his birthday that weekend?

Yep. He got his trampoline, it's down his nanny's, if you go and have a look.

Do you want to go and bounce on it? THEY LAUGH

-It wasn't actually his birthday that weekend, was it?

-What?

It wasn't Ben's birthday that weekend, was it?

All right, a couple of weekends before, but it was us

making it up to him, basically.

His birthday was way before that.

It was, but do you know what it was? It was an emotional factor that we had planned a party for him...

Hang on, Darren, his birthday was in the beginning of May.

May...but we planned a party for Ben.

We couldn't afford anything at the time...

Hang on, you couldn't afford anything in May?!

-Not really...

-But you were in full-time employment in May.

I was, but we were starting to struggle at the time.

According to the Benefits Agency,

you were a van driver on the 5th of May.

I wasn't.

According to them, you've been on and off the benefits system for some time.

I haven't been on and off it for some time.

-And you've got a history of debting and petty offences.

-I have, yeah.

And I think you heard about food banks and you targeted them

for a bit of free shopping.

That wasn't the case, Dave.

I did get a fair bit of food, yeah...

You got a month's worth of shopping out of the food bank and that's worth about £500?

I don't know. From the stuff they gave me, I couldn't tell you, Dave.

I don't know, mate.

Me, man. You, woman. Here, we've got two.

Two people.

You, one. Who's the other?

'At the Hope Centre, Gavin is scrutinising people's vouchers.'

I've got two support workers who have turned up without any form of identification.

That's fine. I just needed to be sure. Bye!

You have been accurately described!

'I was struck by the ease with which Darren had abused the system.'

I actually think we have, for the voluntary sector,

a very tight level of control.

And we need that because we need to honour every single tin

that's been donated to us by the general public.

That we have a good idea that the food is going to somebody who actually needs it.

Somebody like Darren, for example...

you gave him vouchers when he needed them?

Yes, very specific example of somebody we got to know very well

and understood the circumstances.

Do you think you were equipped to assess his need properly?

-Yes, I think so.

-And do you think you assessed his need properly?

Yes.

-Darren was a conman.

-Serious?

Darren as a conman. Nothing he told you was true.

He got you into a position where you were giving him vouchers on demand

and he took you for everything he could.

This is being recorded?

This is being recorded, yeah.

Then I need to reassess what we're doing.

I'm absolutely shocked by that, cos...

I felt we were a good judge of people.

So I'm just...

HE SIGHS

The stories of everyone I've met are more complex than they first appear.

And the system IS too easily abused.

But food banks have identified, and are trying to meet, a real social need,

and for every opportunist,

there are many more in genuine crisis, with nowhere else to turn.

You all right, Jayden? You going to have a Mr Kipling cake? Yeah.

'You don't have to be at Foodbank long to meet people

'like Aaron and Zoe.

'Aaron's been in and out of low-paid work

'and the couple are struggling with rent arrears.'

Is that nice?

Your weekly food budget is how much?

About £40, so this is a big help.

For a family of four, you need at least £90.

So how have you been managing

when you've not been going to the food bank?

Just not eating. We just eat one meal a day,

whereas the kids get full breakfast, lunch, dinner and pudding.

I won't eat until about 10 o'clock, so it lasts longer.

So you wake up and you're not hungry, and you can last the next day and until night time, then.

We've got to think about the kids before ourselves.

You don't have a go at that, do you?

You love your food.

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