FOOD POVERTY MAKING SCOTS SUICIDAL

Campaigners reveal grim reality for those on low pay or benefits

A man got a single penny in Universal Credit before facing a nine-week wait without food A woman with disabled sons attempted suicide after her benefits were cut Another woman went seven weeks without cleaning shifts then had to wait seven more weeks for Universal Credit payment A man in Dundee went three days without food

FOOD poverty is making Scots suicidal after going for days with nothing to eat, a damning report reveals today.

Campaigners have exposed the grim reality of hunger for people struggling on low wages or with slashed benefits.

Hard-hitting findings blame delays to Universal Credit payments, insecure zero-hour contracts and the lack of an efficient social security safety net.

The research by partnership project A Menu for Change shows some Scots are too ashamed to seek help from food banks, leaving them totally isolated.

A woman with disabled sons told researchers she considered taking her life after her vital benefits were cut.

Another woman went seven weeks without cleaning shifts then had to wait seven more weeks for Universal Credit payment. She fell behind with rent, had no money to buy food and had to take out a loan.

A man said he got a single penny in Universal Credit before facing a nine-week wait, while another man in Dundee went three days without food.

The findings were included in a report published today.

John Dickie, who helped write the findings, said: “The deeply personal stories captured in this report are as heartbreaking as they are avoidable.

“They bring into sharp focus how we must do much more to protect people from the income crises which fuel food insecurity and hunger.

“Sticking-plaster approaches and emergency food aid are not enough. We must stop people being dragged to crisis point by poverty pay and outrageous delays in receiving Universal Credit.

“Paying a real living wage, banning exploitative zero-hour contracts and scrapping the five-week delay for Universal Credit would all make huge progress in ending the need for food banks.”

A Menu for Change brings together groups including Child Poverty Action Group and Oxfam Scotland. The project aims to tackle the causes of poverty and ultimately remove the need for food banks.

About 40 people who had no money for food were interviewed. Smaller numbers were later quizzed for follow-up research. Recommendations include: Restoring the value of some benefits and uprating them in line with inflation.

Abolishing the long wait for Universal Credit, along with the benefit cap and two-child limit, which is also responsible for the hated “rape clause”.

Employers outside London pay at least the “real living wage” of £9 an hour.

In March, it emerged food banks are handing out twice as many parcels as previously thought.

Researchers combined figures from the UK’s largest provider, the Trussell Trust, and merged them with independent community food banks. Over 18 months, it was estimated 480,583 packages were provided.