Hungry Britain? Panorama

Tonight on Panorama: Food banks are opening all over Britain. My husband

and I would go for days at a time without eating. Feeding people who

say they cannot afford to eat. You just have half a tin of red kidney

beans. The Government says it is the offer of free food that is fuelling

demand so are people just out for a freebie? What used to happen was

that putting food on the table was the first choice and now for many

people it is not the first choice. Or has the new benefit regime

created a hunger crisis? You can debate whether they deserve the

money or not but don't starve them while you are doing that. We look at

how thousands of people are losing their benefits. People who start

poor will going to be driven into complete destitution. And our food

banks becoming part of the welfare state? If people don't have enough

to eat, I have to do something about it.

It is a cold Sunday afternoon in Bristol. Dozens are queueing for

free food from Anglican nuns. First in line R Blake and Sharron. Sharron

is 19 and five months pregnant. She spent last night in hospital. Her

midwife was worried she was not eating enough for her and her baby.

I have not been eating properly and I have only been going to the soup

run. I had publications with my pregnancies though I was in

hospital. What would happen if you would not have this place to come

to? Crash and burn, to be honest. They live in a local hospital and

both on benefits but they say they cannot afford to buy food. What

steps do you have? The contract with my telephone provider and a loan

shark, basically, when you take money out online. How much do you

owe? Round about two grand, I think. The nuns say demand is rising. Many

here have drug and alcohol problems. Most don't want us to show their

faces. Next green ticket, please. We have a system where we do not ask

any questions but it is a demeaning thing to ask for food. On the

whole, the people we meet here are not trying to play the system at

all. They are people who have really got a very difficult situation. Free

clothing is on offer, so Sharron is picking out baby grows. It is so

cute. Are you worried about bringing a small baby into your world at the

minute without any money? Slightly, yes. Hopefully it will get better.

In time. Today, in just 90 minutes, 228 people have got food. Bristol is

one of the wealthiest cities in the country but there are 50 places here

where you can go and get free food. In fact, over the last three years,

a dozen food banks have opened here. On the other side of Bristol, Steve

Hutson sits in the dark to cut down on his bills. He is broke and not

yet on benefits. How long has it been since you had your last hot

dinner? What is today? Wednesday? Thursday even. About five days since

the last proper cooked meal. What are you surviving on? The last

couple of days has been nothing, really. Other than that, since then,

I have had some pieces of toast. And some porridge and that really has

been it. Steve, who is 27, used to dream of playing for Bristol Rovers.

Can I see your fridge? Yes. You just have half a tin of red kidney beans.

And a bit of ketchup. That is all you have. Yes.

Steve is a recovering drug addict. He has had a chaotic lifestyle and

has fallen out with friends and family. There is always some kind of

crisis in my life. People ask how you keep smiling but you just

cracked on, you just deal with it. He got a part-time job in a

restaurant but it has not worked out and now he is back on benefits. He

does not have the bus fire, so it is a four mile walk to the Jobcentre.

-- the bus fare. What will you eat tonight? At the moment, I don't

know. Probably nothing. Probably not. Do you have any toast in the

house? I used the last bit of bread earlier in the week. Steve knows he

is partly to blame for his situation but he is not the only one who says

he is going hungry. In Bristol, food banks estimate they help to feed

around 8000 people last year. The East Bristol food bank is run in

partnership with the Trussell Trust, the church -based network of food

banks. Five years ago, the Trussell Trust had just 50 food banks. Today

it is more than 400. Here people have to be referred to get free

food. It may be a social worker working with the family that is

struggling to put food on the table. Maybe somebody referred by the

Jobcentre who has lost work or is changing their benefits. Different

people refer people for different reasons. Once referred, people get

enough food for three days. The aim is to give people a balanced diet.

People are coming here for fruit juice, tins of meat, tins of tuna.

Simple, basic things. Tens of rice pudding. We don't give out lobster

Thermidor. We give out basic food. It is impossible to say how many

people are being fed by food banks but the Trussell Trust say they

helped to feed hundreds of thousands of people last year, and they say

demand has tripled since 2012. The Government says that the food banks

are helping drive demand by offering free food. Let me quote from

somebody who runs the Oxford food bank. Food banks do a good service

but they have been much in the news. People know they are free, they know

about them and they will ask social workers to refer them. It would be

wrong to pretend that the publicity has not been a drive in the

increased use. To suggest that people are walking through the door

because it is a freebie and they can take advantage, that is to suggest

that 18,000 agencies in the UK are collectively colluding because they

are the ones signing the forms that say please help this person because

they are in trouble. 11 days ago, a group of Anglican bishops published

an open letter saying Britain faced a hunger crisis. They were accused

of exaggerating the problem. Obviously they had a right to speak

out. As a fellow Christian, of course they need to speak out when

they see concerns about people in their parish and beyond that they

feel are in need. Were they wrong? They were wrong to do it in the way

they did it, because I felt they were being used as pawns in a

political agenda. I don't think we are pawns of anybody's agenda. Any

debate about the affairs of the people in the country will have a

political element. Desmond Tutu said there comes a point when you fit

enough people out of the river, you stroll up stream and see why people

are falling in, and at that point you are never to be drawn into

politics. Two weeks on, Steve still has no work. He got a small tax

rebate but most of it went to a loan shark. His first benefits payment is

lower than he hoped. Just ?55 for the next two weeks. I suppose I feel

deflated, really, especially as I was anticipating more. He was

relying on free food again. Most of his benefits went on debts, gas and

electricity. Steve says he is left with ?2 75 for the next fortnight.

The staff are great. They don't judge you. They don't have

pre-judgement on anybody. If it was not for the food bank, I dread to

think what would be the case. It is 5am and the start of a busy day for

yet another organisation running food banks in Bristol. It is called

the Matthew Tree Project. Evangelical Christian Mark Goodway

is delivering a new day's food supply. He is about to open his

seventh food bank. He calls them food stores. Does Bristol really

need seven food stores in addition to all the other food banks and

other places where you can get free food? Absolutely. I have turned my

life upside down to do this and I am not of a mind to do this if there is

no need to be met. Is volunteers handed out 43 tonnes of food last

year but Mark does not just want to feed people. He wants to turn their

lives around. People are expected to show their bank statements when they

get free food. Is that intrusive? No. I don't think it is intrusive.

If somebody is coming to us because they are in financial hardship and

they are asking for help to help them out of the financial problems

they are in, we need to know what is going on. The recession has left

many worse off than five years ago. A Government commissioned report

published recently dismissed the idea that people are taking

advantage of free food. The author says some people are simply broke.

The reason we have so many more food banks in the UK is because we have

so many more people in need. Food prices have gone up about 32%

depending on which foodstuff you are talking about, over five or six

years. Over the same period, wages have stayed the same or they have

fallen. The Government says that the job is the best way out of poverty

and unemployment levels are now falling. But the latest figures

dating back to 2012 show 9.8 million people in relative poverty. That is

those living on less than 60% of the average income. In Derbyshire, they

are taking radical action. The main public health concern used to be

healthy eating but now the County Council says there is a more

pressing problem. It has become an issue of food poverty and some

people in the county not being able to eat at all. If they cannot eat at

all, what is the point in promoting healthy eating? I am responsible for

promoting the health of people in Derbyshire and if people have not

got enough food to eat, I have to do something about it. The council is

investing ?126,000 from its public health budget into food banks. Tell

me what I am eating. But not everybody thinks they are good idea.

Former Tory junior health minister Edwina Currie lives in Derbyshire

herself. We have invited her to a food bank down the road. Let me show

you the food bank area. It was set up by Christian Thorpe, a pastor

whose church now feeds about 60 people each week. It's food bank has

been given ?9,500 from the council fund. Honestly, does it not worry

you that this is the stuff you are giving them? Can I say something? If

you have nothing, nothing at all, then a little bit of something is

better than a lot of nothing. How will you get the message across that

they have to live within their means, not get indebted, plan for a

rainy day, or the old-fashioned lessons that my generation learned?

Yes, we are working with other agencies. We are trying to teach

people to take responsibility. We encourage people to talk to people

and there are some people who listen and others who do not. I think this

is a bit of a trap. I disagree. For me this is not the solution. I

disagree. It is clear the visit has not changed her mind. I don't think

there is a need for food banks. I think there is a need for support

for people with problems. But you do think there is food poverty? I

don't. I think people make choices. What used to happen was putting food

on the table was the first choice. And now for many people it is not

the first choice at one of the reasons for that if they can get

free food. -- is they can get free food. Back in Bristol, some say it

is not the question of choice. People are going hungry because they

suddenly have no money. The biggest single driver for your food stores

this year has been what? Benefit changes. 23% of our clients, the

biggest group, are here because their benefits have been stopped or

reduced to such a level that they cannot survive. We have been told it

is the same story across the country. Figures from food banks

show problems caused by benefits are the biggest single reason why people

are getting free food. That's been confirmed by the Citizens Advice

Bureau. But the Government says there is no robust evidence of a

link between welfare reform and the rush for free food. The Government

says its benefit reforms will encourage the unemployed to get

work. They're aimed at people like Ian Hoswell. After he missed

meetings at his Bristol job centre, his jobseeker's allowance was cut

completely for three months. He went from ?71 a week to nothing. It's

called being sanctioned. Guilty as charged. For whatever reason it was,

maybe I was ill, maybe I had the flu that day, I just do not... I cannot

remember... But it seems such a drastic punishment. If you are

judged to have broken the rules you automatically lose your jobseeker's

allowance for at least a month. The toughest penalty - three years. The

Department for Work and Pensions says rules are made clear to

claimants and people can apply for hardship payments and loans. Ian did

apply and qualified for a hardship payment of ?43 a week. But most

people don't get the cash for a fortnight. Ian had to sell his CDs

so he could eat. The lowest point was just eating a box of cornflakes,

dry, sitting in the dark, no electric. Spent three days like

that. After his bills were paid, Ian's ?43 hardship payment didn't go

far. The fact he smokes didn't help. What would you say to these people

who would say, look, you had a choice there, you spent the money on

cigarettes rather than food? I was under enough stress at the time from

the Government sanctions. Packing in smoking at the time would just add

more stress onto me which I just couldn't cope with at the time. With

little money left, Ian had to rely on the Matthew Tree Project to eat.

What did you enjoy from last time? Usually the meatballs which I had

with pasta. A record number of benefits sanctions were imposed in

the year to last September. A total of 875,000. So that means to say

they had got either no money coming at all or virtually no money coming

in, so it's impossible to survive on that. You could have the debate as

to whether they deserve the money or not, but don't starve them while

you're doing that. People should be treated with dignity, you know

whatever their situation. There will be people who attend there who are

in crisis, and yes, there will be some that have been in part of the

system of sanctions and within that system is trying to ensure that

local authorities are supported with hardship funds to be able to help

people through that process. We don't simply walk on the other side

when that happens. In the latest Government figures we've found a

shocking statistic. In 11 months, more than 133,000 sanctions were

overturned. That's almost 400 every day. But it can take weeks to

challenge an unfair sanction and get the cash back. Now what that means,

of course, is that people will be left with little or no money until

officials correct their mistakes. These essentially are sanctions that

should never have been given in the first place. Yes, yes. Dr David

Webster has been researching the government's figures on sanctions.

That seems like an awful lot of people wrongly sanctioned. It is. It

is a lot of people wrongly sanctioned, and it would be even

higher if more people appealed. And of course the problem is that even

if you get your sanction decision overturned you still go through

quite a lengthy period when you've got no income, or on - or you're on

a very heavily reduced income. Do sanctions push people into poverty?

Basically, people who start poor are going to be driven into complete

destitution. Suzanne Harkins and her husband found themselves on benefits

for the first time when she lost her job and he became so ill he couldn't

do his. Make us something nice for lunch. Yeah. They were wrongly

sanctioned after a clerical mix up and their main benefit was cut to

just ?63 a week for a family of four. It was devastating. It got to

a point that there was no food in the house and any food that did come

in had to feed the two children and my husband, and I would go for days

at a time without eating. I was still breast-feeding Mason at the

time and I stopped producing milk because I wasn't getting enough

nourishment into me to produce milk to breast-feed him. Suzanne was

referred to a food bank. The sanction was overturned and the

money refunded, but the family had been on reduced benefits for three

months. I think the whole sanction policy is a way of the Government

saving money. And that probably does sound cynical but that's how I feel

about it. Not about getting people into work? No, no.

So are sanctions about saving money? Take a look at this wall chart. It

was displayed in a Jobcentre in Grantham last year. It's

highlighting to staff the savings that sanctions can bring. More than

?900 with one three-month sanction. Well, the department say to our

members is that there isn't a target for the number of sanctions that you

have to do each week or each month, but we expect you to do the same as

everybody else. So they set a figure that maybe the average in a certain

cluster of offices, and um, that becomes what you're expected to

achieve. Now that is a target. It might not be called a target but to

all intents and purposes it is. The Government says the wall chart was

an isolated local incident and does not reflect policy. It says there

are no targets for benefit sanctions and they are used as a last resort.

The vast majority of decisions are right and the appeals process is an

important part of the safeguards put in place. But it's not just people

on benefits who are struggling. Lisa Hall's landing home in a Bristol

suburb after her shift at B She works 30 hours a week but still went

to a food bank. She says she's gone days without a proper meal. Your

stomach rumbles, you feel sick, you get jealous if you walk past a cafe

or anything, it would be nice to have a certain type of food now that

you haven't been able to afford for ages. Even sausages. I haven't eaten

sausages for a while. Lisa takes home ?900 a month but after bills,

including debts and running a car, she's left with less than a tenner a

week. Her kids have left home. With two empty bedrooms she no longer

qualifies for the lower council rent thanks to the so-called bedroom tax.

So why not move and save money? I don't want to downsize, I brought my

children up in this house. I've got it the way I want it, it's my stamp

on it. I don't want to move to another neighbourhood, I don't want

to go somewhere else. She's gone and got herself a second job. All right,

thank you very much. Bye-bye. Delivering pizzas. Sometimes working

till four in the morning. Why are you doing this? To pay

bills. So I can stay in my house. And so I can eat. She now works up

to 60 hours a week and doesn't need the food bank. The Government has

said food banks are not part of the welfare system, but the line seems

to be blurring. We've found that many are now receiving support from

the tax payer. This is Chingford in North East London. It's where the

Government minister responsible for benefits changes - Iain Duncan Smith

- has his seat. His constituency takes in two councils, and we've

discovered that between them they've committed almost ?70,000 to help

feed people. We've contacted every council in England and Wales. Just

over a third of them, 140 councils, confirmed that they were subsidising

food banks. ?2.9 million of public money has been committed to food

poverty in the last couple of years. So, are food banks becoming part of

the welfare state? Whether it looks like we're, er, becoming a

substitute for the welfare state, they're...they're valid concerns.

And they are the concerns that politicians and policy makers need

to grapple with. Food banks are an inadequate plaster over a gaping

wound. They do not solve the problems. And that they should be

enshrined as an inadequate solution is deeply immoral. We wanted to ask

the Government about food banks and our research. We first asked the

Government for an interview three months ago but nobody wants to talk

to us about food banks. The Department for Work and Pensions

referred us to the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office referred us back

to the Department for Work and Pensions. Then we were shunted to

the Prime Minister's own press team at Downing Street. But despite all

that, no interview. In a statement, the Government told us that local

authorities are now responsible for emergency help, and had been given

additional funding to pay for it. It also said that it is helping

families with the cost of living, and that all its welfare reforms

will make three million households better off. We need Government to be

explicit whether food banks are to be part of the system, and if they

are, then how do we make them work effectively. If they are not part of

the system, again we need a clear signal from Government about that.

Remember Steve in Bristol? He's hasn't had to sign on for a while.

OK, if you could enter your PIN? He's now working in a city centre

bar. I'm less anxious, I'm less concerned about where my next income

is coming from. Physically, obviously, being able to eat a lot

more now means that, you know, hopefully I should put a bit of

weight back on and feel a lot more fresher and a bit more invigorated,

I suppose. And he's not the only one with good news. Lisa's been able to

get full time hours with B She no longer needs her second job.

How important was it to have the food bank at that time? Very

important. It was like a lifeline. It helped me get by. I had food on

the table, I was able to go and look for another job. I didn't feel

hungry any more. Many believe that food banks are here to stay. There's

no doubt that they have helped many people, but the question remains. Do

we want a Britain where so many people are living on food hand-outs?

Next week: The real life drama inside accident and emergency. We

meet doctors and nurses ready for anything and everything. But is the

pressure getting too much to take?