A foodbank user describes living on £1.86 a day

I’m a bus driver but I lost my job two years ago and have been out of work since then. I signed on to jobseeker’s allowance but became homeless and was in a hostel for two to three weeks. I then moved back in with my parents for a few weeks before I got a flat. Jobseeker’s allowance paid £73.20 a week, and that had to cover the water, gas, electric, food, TV licence and bus fares. My neighbour told me about the foodbank. It’s amazing and they’re a really nice group of people. They help you out.

Without the foodbank, I would go hungry. It was there I met Vicky, and we started a relationship and moved in together. Vicky had been through a divorce, and someone at church told her about the foodbank. She was not in a good place then, and stopped coming for a bit before coming back.

When we moved in together, we told the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and did everything we were supposed to. But the payments all went down and swept us into a really difficult situation…


This article was supplied by Church Action on Poverty. Identifying names have been changed. www.church-poverty.org.uk

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This is an extract from an article that was published in the February 2019 edition of  Reform