hunger is back in the UK all this events in 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 right 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 like a dirty look saying what are you doing here look here and look yourself look do a dress you really need that food I've spent six months in one of Britain's busiest food banks meeting the people who've arrived at a place of last resort and what I can see you would have less than hundred pounds for electricity gas ins and food per month definitely below the bread line we just eat one meal a day I won't eat till about ten o'clock so it lasts longer she over now 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 Center is one of eleven emergency food distribution centers in Coventry alone well again to perhaps the bacon yeah run by a Christian charity food banks provides three days food to people in financial crisis there are now nearly three hundred around the country and new ones are opening at the rate of two a week Chuck these ones in there as smart as done and when you've done this cereal we need the soup soup soup Charlotte is a volunteer at the Hope Center here at time yeah there's gonna be two there's gonna be two adults two kids cool so hand routines biggest ones first yeah she has been a client here and is struggling to avoid going hungry when did he 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 a 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 you know brought up in care Charlotte's a full-time student at sixth form college and has fallen through a hole in the benefits system because I'm in full-time education with no children at the age of 21 there's nothing for me there's nothing I kind of Housing Benefit kind of income support job seekers allowance and what were they saying in the Job Center because you must have been saying to them my Connie 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 that she said well the only thing I can suggest is won't you just have a child and then you'll be able to sign on few benefits wouldn't you if you want to do college so hang on so somebody in a benefits agency suggested to you that your solution was to have a charge child exchanger 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 bag same 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 alright unlike other food banks around the country that only handout 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 and makes a valuable contribution to the standard food parcels so without looking like a decent amount of fresh bit more variety we hope the last couple of weeks wait mussels side yards 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 mints apple pie vegetable pie orange ears potato salad and bread mm-hmm but you'll ask me about four days easily today's last client arrives as the center 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 well no six months knotti unfold until the birth of her youngest child Kelly was a sales manager she's recently been on statutory maternity benefit 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 as much babies to vegetables yeah there's bits of everything Chula Jack come on babe put those in the freezer freezer where's cream good and it's not just Kelly who's been going hungry has Jack eaten all right the last few days well a lack of lazy haven't told so what have you eaten today you've been eating at school yes yeah because we can't get there free school dinners until the income sports sorted out which is why I have to come home now there's no dinner my friend straight from school okay so is that why you were so desperate today for him yes it's been hard he's been eating but I wanted to say not enough to what he should be to know what he would want to eat and it's been constantly trying to figure out how to make what we did have stretch just that bit further and just make enough so he wasn't hungry for that right now last night last meal was last night this morning around the Job Center they tell me twin social services who spoke to me and told me to get to them to get a voucher feed bunk something that I never thought I'd see myself doing I'm always won the gifts every time a charity bag comes through I always really talk and 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 and work my only ever got to pay the mortgage the council tax the food which is what you do anyway I've been good find my child care where I can stay at home bring about myself and have more money in my hand right so essentially now you're going to live a life on benefits for a while yeah do something that I always said I never wanted to do 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 read voucher is issued so this is good to go okay all right so you're feeding one adult and two children in theory there's a limit of three vouchers per crisis to provide a stopgap in reality though not all crises are short term but 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 become you kind of regular weekly shopping trip yeah sometimes they have like quite a lot to give it to us it will last say about four days five right I mean just depend where they have available today 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 despite humiliated I'll wait to hear yeah thanks when I come here stay here sometimes people just give you like a dirty look say what are you doing here look here and look yourself look do I eat rice you really need that food so you thinking people are judging you my biscuit so I just get the chocolate yeah that's okay if you tap on that door yeah and grab your me we've got you a big person yeah thank you in this stage I don't want to consider myself to be poor but I'm not far off you like this week I have fifty pound to leave on with the five children that means I need to choose with the fifty pound if I'm gonna pay the electricity gas food few years ago we was at all my husband was working we bought a 50-inch TV we bought a Mac you know we have a boy nice house and I'm proud gonna 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 McDonald's not knowing it would have her housing benefit after find a job I was quite happy right when I run the red veneer to say I'm working is when all the problem started because is one benefits next year they just start stop stop stop of course my salary every few weeks being seventy-nine pound they was expecting me to pay the rest of the rent your salary was tiny yes okay so what happened and basically we got in trouble we we call behind with the rents all the four months I was in working for McDonald's all that monster was behind with the rent did you end up in this situation because you chose to work was that was that it when you were managing okay before before you did that with benefits and student loan and so on yes yeah I think if I stay in the benefit I wouldn't be in so much that I'm now because I decided I had enough I want to go to work I want you know be able to contribute for the country and that I think I call it was my big mistake if the food bank hadn't been there what would you have done do you think I don't know I don't think we would be here I woulda lost the house I would lost myself because the under day is no easy you see five children's wines or fish and you don't have out to support them or can be crying I can't be down I can be stressing screaming in shower comes because the other day I don't want my children to have that picture of me and inside I'm devastated or the show 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 the director of the whole Coventry Network typical day at this particular Astor will generate somewhere between a half a ton and three-quarters of ton of food current rate well we're getting through to shy of a ton a week at the moment so even if we get three-quarters of the time to here today it probably only lasts about a week demand has been growing steadily since the Coventry Food Bank started in spring last year several times since I've been here the Hope Center has run out of food what a day there's always enough food in the commentary Network and not always in the right place at the right time are you worm Craig we am going up to feed you today but there is another location open at this time which is at the Jesus Center in Lamb Street how do we know we're not going to go down same thing well I could give them a ring because you don't we don't know what the volumes are on any particular day hi there have you still got food stocks left good we've been decimated yeah absolutely wiped out so 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 center we would hold normally about a quarter a ton of stock it's just gone in the space of an hour ten minutes and I can't put my finger on what it is it's changed out there and why that happens one week and it doesn't have another but the point is it kind of tells you is that actually there is a need out there that needs to be met come on it I brought the overspill with me to feed them that's all I can get a van too long yeah okay 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 excuse me I'm very sorry to disturb you from the food bank just asking for 10 or 20 P to help families and children in crisis thank you very much aha you may just structure right in it 10 20 P so B that's just rude this is to feed kids and families Charlotte is fundraising at Coventry City College excuse me before use walk any further would you like to help Coventry Food Bank just by 10 or 20 feet nah thank you anyway I can't very slightly annoying it's like I have to like stop myself I mean looking around do you think people are aware of the kind of hardships that some people have ideally sort of time I watched people wherever I am you can never pick out the ones that are troubled right I reckon if you spotted me in a crowd you wouldn't know that I was struggling right yeah I mean do you feel jealous when you look at other people very much so I could love so my blackberry phone I everyone else has got and that new clothes and that you see all the girls and their makeup and their clothes and that that's a little bit upsetting sometimes I wish I had somewhere to go back to as well you know at night look of a family in that the ones that look healthy and chubby and happy they've got family and so what can you tell from looking at these girls like they're really really happy they obviously ain't got anything else to worry about probably just worried about what to wear in the morning it's the least of our worries that is what do you get up and worry about how to get electric on because the electric me cuz believe in or when I'm gonna eat look at them I took my arm off to have one of them I took my arm off easy look and nice they look don't you think ah what would do look and she's got a really nice rug I look so great someone's even got their windows boarded up huh 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 cuz if I eat at lunch and keep it in I'll get hungry tomorrow at lunch but if I skip meals in the day I can go and just eat at night you know just eat my dinner right Janine you're not eating during the days yeah cuz it shrinks your belly so then you get less hungry it oppresses your appetite it's amazing how you can sing today go and then get your scooter Darren has just been to food bank having been given a voucher by the Job Centre has been a godsend they've really have helped us a lot 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 very critical of people the winter job centres and having experienced it myself now more and more on a daily basis I sympathize with a lot of them I'm really doing 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 him and everything had gone completely they admitted liability it doesn't do a lot for your self-esteem it does make you feel that you're not actually a human being that you literally 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 cash point to find out all right here we go shall we have a look here I'm nervous about it yeah incredibly yeah incredibly there you have - 19 pounds 22 which means actually everything they said they were going to do they haven't done so tomorrow morning I will be back down there absolutely I am really fed up now how much we suppose having 387 pounds or there abouts that would have been back page reverse fit six weeks yeah okay you want to get me crying and at this point then without food bank what will you be doing to feed your family probably getting a black sack and running up and down this street we're in at the moment throwing things into it I don't know I don't know where I would turn I haven't got the foggiest Darrin now has to take the last ten pounds out of his savings account milk and bread Darrin 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 I went there one day and the offices were all locked I didn't know what was going on came home and next thing I knew there was a tap on the door can we have the car in the laptop back please why cuz we're not financially but I'm afraid we've run before we can walk and we're pulling the plug the following day Darren heads the Job Center 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 canceled we've now got to try and explain to a six-year-old child while he's going to wake up on his birthday and he's not going to be as all the other kids are ripping open wrapping paper for his birthday right so I mean 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 with a minute oh and yeah I'll tell you I'm callin em you can see my benefit 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 actually I've got a family to look after we've got no money we're going to need to get another food parcel and it's my son's birthday and he's not actually going to 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 I've got kids similar ages to Darrin's and the thought of been missing out on a birthday was terrible so I offered to lend Darrin some money for presents thank you bye thank you the charity behind Food Bank is called the Trussell trust a Christian organization that franchises out the running of food banks to local mostly evangelical churches hey thank you see my 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 is going to be interviewed as far as I'm aware on stage what Kenny has to offer is that at the end of the day we can talk about the process and we could talk about how great it is but actually never expressed as well as through the life of somebody who is actually benefited from it they're quite broken' at Kelly's an example of this you know and then they come along to food bank cupboards full you know and from for a short time there's an answer there and we like to think that it's a measure of bringing a little bit of heaven into people's lives you know if we can give people an experience you know of meeting and knowing the Living God right you know that's just fabulous you know hello you're coming yeah this is a lot of dogs and you've got the baby this is your 15 year old is it yes uh-huh hello 15 year old like mine a better rhythm strike the rises great wait up all right yes this get-together is organized 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 and individuals who are here this evening I am sure you guys are already remembering the poor in so many ways to start with if you guys beat hands together pick up in Kipple and kelly we go from sherry but we thought it'd be really good if you actually met the lady who came through the food bank a few weeks ago and you heard from her how she came to be in a place where she needed to be touched by the love of well so many Christians tell us a little bit about that moment when you realized you need some outside help and how you went about getting it and what your experience was and I woke up in the morning I was panicking my older son was coming home from school expecting to dinner there wasn't anything at this point I then had to ring social services and they told me about food bank and got me about you and got me got me sorted out yeah you see Kelly his situation is not unusual and it is amazing to see the Church of God rise up in the city of contry and demonstrate that God really does love you know everybody in that city I don't know if God loves the people of Coventry the gambling and loan companies certainly do within an area of a hundred meters in the town center there are ten betting shops and five high interest moneylenders Charlotte is on her way to one of these she 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 pounds to pay living expenses to get it back she has to pay 32 pound 50 within three weeks she's basically taken alone with a four hundred and eighty percent interest rate the emergency electric had gone we were sitting in the dark if I left it we would have anything to wash in or even no light 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 to run there right okay and then what did you do with the 25-foot went and put 10-pound on my electric I put five pound on my gas take off emergency and then I went to spend ten pound on food which got me through about a week how long would you've had to pay up and yeah three weeks but in three weeks yeah I know there's no money I don't know where my next meal is coming from never mind actual cash in my hand to be able to pound 50 is a lot of money as well a lot of money to me thirty two pound fifty doesn't really feel like that much money so I've given her the cash to get her laptop back yes please thank you very much yeah thank you sandra is at the Hope Center with her husband Kelvin has 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 we started working out with the the housing benefits we looking for job now me and Calvin we just had enough a meetings 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 whether this is like a front that he's putting up hmm but you know he didn't want to let anybody in does that make sense yes you know he's quite embarrassed being 13 years old is no easy Kyle back to lunch I'm sure nobody else notices because he's done a very good job like bread and butter that's a you know and he made sure nobody else could see that but you could see in these face you know there's no nice you sit down with your mates and you have a like just bread in water we couldn't afford anything else and he goes so happy when he goes to frigate three school meal yeah Oh God it was really delighted apart from the struggle for food the family is still in serious debt to the landlord in the last meantime we were talking about can you afford to long term for 12 months stay in the property if you've come to any sort of conclusion of where you want to go and what you want to do yeah be basically me and gather we came in that conclusion we cannot afford to pay okay no and the solution is be unless okay yeah Reggie said sir MLS and see how he goes if you made yourself homeless it may not they may not offer you a house straight away yeah offer your bed and breakfast or something like that yeah which means you could be in there for a good few months before they find you a place just gonna sit just taking anymore let's go take em this situation no because I'm lazy I went to work and I lost everything for toons to go on to work but sometimes you make you think you make the right decision but you're making the wrong decision I mean being lazy it will 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 due respect I do appreciate your help I do but after the last last week when we came here we made 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 do reality that is enough it's not in their defense that is all it is it's no excuse because I'm a volunteer where I'm working and I don't get paid no one penny but I'm doing my job I'm stressed I cry every day I can't even study my legs sometimes when I'm hungry 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 food bank didn't it yes and I'm still trying to get to the bottom of exactly what that experience was just as far as I can gather coming here is a very difficult thing you had to do and they're given that the mere fact that her entitlement was questioned was enough to sort of push her over the edge yeah and that's the same impression that I get but 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 and it really is unfortunate that somebody's pride dignity is offended that particular thing but I feel I have a duty to everybody who contributes food into the food bank to be sure that we're feeding the right people Darrin is on his way to food bank for the second time a week after he was first here Gavin knows he's coming and is bending the rules to say Darren the trouble of returning to the Job Center for a voucher hello how's the scene oh it's good for you Thanks yeah well better for me than for you I think yeah thank you for that that's all right tomorrow is Darrin's youngest son's birthday tomorrow isn't it yeah that's right the birthday cake has been put aside from today's delivery of fresh food issued at sir yeah thank you good day to get food today there's a good day for a southern chocolate gateau many of them will be tomorrow you're not the birthday candles new with it idea excellent the Laster is that's that it does it enough know you got that recipe lacrosse ship Darrin's quickly getting familiar with the system is that yes oh oh and today he's taking home close to a hundred pounds 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 fo0 do more like really cheap like Tempe and onion and stuff yeah but she's living on what must be the bare minimum so how much have you got to spend now and well I've got 20 pound but meats in a bag like sausages and normally get from Iceland's because they're just cheap sure okay cheerful okay and that twenty pound is gonna last you how long week more easily okay that lamb I could never afford anything like that even now you couldn't afford that no no now you do have money for food do you see that you were starving for our three months yeah that's what yeah yeah that badly is where I would like was living off one meal a day if that 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 by the time it gets around to dinner it sounds really stupid yeah that hungry you're not hungry it almost becomes a game do you know what I mean you get wrapped up in this sick little game where you think if I can stop myself eating for this amount of time then I'll have this amount of food for the next day so how much about no custom it comes to six pound 18 iron that's quite expensive still I know to other people that don't sound expensive all the stuff that I got 693 votes our Jail they're always little last you know like okay because you're less essential yeah I seem to survive on very little knowledge but there's been so many things that I've got confused about that I just don't get because no one's taught me sure ah Sierra's gorgeous ah for somebody who's grown up in care Charlotte seems to have a determination to better herself despite never having had a proper family to learn from she's lovely that's not be room it is be roots read it will be ready if you clean the mud of it oh wow I worked out I didn't like avocado from food bank that green thing in it yeah yeah I didn't like that Charlotte may now be able to buy food but what she's been through in the last months it's 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 care to foster care with a black bin liner full of my stuff and told to kind of get on with it and they say here's the shower is the kitchen is your bedroom off you got oh you don't even want to come out your bedroom you'd only want to use a shower I think all that's catching up on me I went to the doctor and got temazepam to sleep because that's the main thing I can't sleep even with its immense power I can't sleep and it's doing my head in knackered all the time I think I'm having a bit of a breakdown I did yeah yeah I'm not like this and I'm not self-pitying normally ever and I feel really sounds silly and selfish that I felt feel really sorry for myself I think it's because of everything that I've been for the last couple of months because I've struggled so much my body and my brains just come right enough like I think I'd shut away that much I think everything has just reared its head at the same time we have shed loads of blueberry muffins I have 2,000 blueberry muffins guys so do not be afraid to give them away I'm at food bank two weeks later and Charlotte's boyfriend has phoned Gavin desperate for some spare food that's what Charlotte over there okay sure to find out what's gone wrong I offered to take it round to them ash hi it's David yeah I'm sitting outside your block with Shauna's food in my boot okay right I 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 with the food last week no not at all I didn't even want to accept help to be honest my appetite had got back to normal when I started feeling a bit healthier who eat Jenna when we were plunged back into struggling I was starving hungry again like ridiculously had nothing and it's the worst feeling knowing your bellies rumbling and you can't do anything about it and you feel sick it's awful Hubbard has not a lot despite the payments from social services Charlotte's still living below the bread line so what are you and ash gonna be tonight and 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 no that's properly empty yep I don't think I've got anything in there oh no I have two onions a bit Jam tiny tiny bit milk and that's it the cause of her renewed hunger appears to stem from alone taken out some months ago when her boyfriend had a part-time job they borrowed 125 pounds from the money shop but were unable to repay and the debt has doubled obviously when he lost his job disaster struck we have no money to pay them at all but that meant that they try and take money off you every single day until you finally get money in your bank to benefit money's hard all of them have gone see they're given completely free access to your bank account literally they can do what they want when they want how they want they can take as much as they want whenever they want to other people I get that you'd think why do you keep doing it why are you doing this why why can't you figure out something else but when you're in this position you exhaust every other option so that you're left with no choice you know like 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 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 and 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 a lie down cess that means you owe within a matter of days volunteer is delivering another food parcel thank you very much thank you do like Charlotte Kelly is paying a high price for easy money why did you need another food parcel and the money it went in or and tax credits gone taken up and with other bills straight tried for it hit me account and when you say other bills what does that mean this Elaine's okay these would be high interest yeah loans yeah I didn't know how much they're taking or when they were taking it I just overtime work to get my buddy over the last two weeks think it's all gone I'm angling to tell them how's that work can we arrange something but they still kept taking it right apparently that's what the agreement says right but it can take it it's just as they wanted whenever they want it okay even though it leaves you in a position where you can't buy food yeah what's that on your face Darrin appears to have become a regular at Food Bank yeah okay and gets his food without the need for the voucher lovely thank you cheers Mike come on out is that everything George he arrives early because lately the fresh food has been running out before the end of the day I think they knew you were come in and thought oh let's give him all the cakes the shelves are almost empty painting absolutely devastated we haven't been this busy since we started at the year ago at this time last year it's all got yeah that's it it wasn't gonna sorry yeah well not today no sorry okay how do you feel when you run out of food like this well I want a good day and I've fed everybody it's great and then you get days like this when you've mean one outfit and you cut a list people out there that need food it just cut me up right to the gut you know cuz I thinking this shouldn't be happening I feel oh we gotta do something more but I don't know what they're having a party of sorts at the Hope Center hello how you doing good see you 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 hi nice to me thank you so much for coming the symbolic 10,000th client chosen to receive the food parcel is Darren so ladies and gentlemen this is symbolically because we've gone over 10,000 we are feeding the 10,000 person by Coventry Food Bank since it started 18 months ago so thank you Lord Mayor and if you'd like to feed Darren little him we're not gonna force-feed you we're just going to give you some food so do i but you are so thank you very much are you around the book thank you very much 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 which is assignable 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 yeah will I be able to swap out for something polish yeah that'd be much better thank you very much what about that watermelon do you do anything with that he's now driving a courier van and despite claiming Jobseeker's Allowance he's doing delivery jobs which he's not declaring so he's committing benefit fraud got work thursday/friday working in interlink just doing some multi drop driving but a couple of days work money that i wouldn't have you know been can you come here so I can test you on this for your height please on his way to food bank on one occasion he stopped by been a new scooter yeah and he's the only client I've come across who stopped on the way home to buy Parma ham from the supermarket I'll take it apart my ham didn't come from a food bank you know although I have had nice salami from there before and today he's telling everyone he's about to start a new managerial job I got my job interviews lined up I've got a job starting on the 23rd now which is really good yeah it's working for Pascal course for parcel force all right yeah decent money completely via game management roles so back into what I'm used to the parcel force tell me they've never heard of him really nice for us at our family Kevin though remains convinced about Darren's need he's a very genuine guy and it was a pleasure to work with him you know and I'm really pleased with the outcome of that one you know it is a good news story for him as good news story for the food planners world we have a set of procedures and practices to protect the food bank from abuse if we feel you know that 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 potentially have pulled the wool over eyes but I really don't think that was daring at all but it seems that little Darrin has told any of us has been true milk and bread the first time I'd filmed him and 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 benefit agency tell me Darren was in full-time employment as a courier until the day before he first arrived at Food Bank and his benefits were paid a week later meaning there never was a delay at all yeah 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 started a new job but it's not as a manager for parcel force what's the job you're doing now it's driving delivering to people so in effect it's on the opposite side but to be honest it's it's going to tide me over until I'm in a better position to put my suit back on again looking back over white film with you over the weeks one of the kind of most emotionally painful things was Ben's birthday yeah wasn't actually his birthday that weekend yeah he got your trampoline it's down his nanny's if you don't have a look he's bouncing though you want to go and bounce on it but it was actually his birthday that weekend though was it what it wasn't actually Ben's birthday that weekend was it no a couple of weekends before but it was it was us making it up to him basically it was his birthday was way before that it was but you know what it was it wasn't it was an emotional factor that we'd planned apart I got Darren his birthday was in the beginning of May right but we planned a party for them we couldn't afford anything for them at the time and we'd basically you can afford anything for him in May well you were eight you were in full-time employment in May I was but we were starting to struggle at the time right I call it the benefits agency you were a van driver on the 5th of May I wasn't armed and according to them you've been on off the benefits system for some time I haven't been on an offer for some time no you got a history of getting and petty offense like I am and I think I think you've heard about food banks and you targeted them for a bit of free shopping like that wasn't cased and he did very well out with was the case Dave I did get a fair bit of food yeah yeah you could have a month worth of shopping out of the food bank and that's probably worth what five hundred quid no I don't know why don't I think the stuff they gave me I couldn't everyday what I know I don't know make me man you woman here we've got to two people you one who's the other at the Hope Center Gavin is scrutinizing people's vouchers we've got to support workers we've turned up without any form of identification yeah that's fine okay I just need to be sure yeah all right bye yeah you have been accurately described I was struck by the ease with which Darren had abused the system and I actually think we have for the voluntary sector in this is you a very very tight level of control and we need that because we need to honor every single Tim that's been denoted to us by the general public that we have a good idea that that food is going to somebody who actually needs it like it's somebody like Darren for example you gave him vouchers really needed them yes very specific example somebody that we got to know very very well indeed and understood the circumstances - but do you think you were equipped to assess with me properly we yes I think so how do you think your Assessors new problem yes Darren was a conman Govan serious Darren was a conman nothing he told you was true he got you into position where you were giving vouchers on demand and he took you for everything he could is this being recorded this has been recorded yeah then I need to reassess what we're doing I'm absolutely shocked by that because I felt we were a good judge of people so I'm just the stories of everyone I've met a 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're actually done you have a mr. Kipling cake yeah you don't have to be at food bank long to meet people like Aaron and Zoey Aaron's been in and out of low paid work and the couple are struggling with rent arrears heavy on ain't that nice your weekly food budget by forty pounds uh dishes a big help for a family of four you need at least tonight you pound the hell have you been managing we went to the food bank study and we don't we just eat one meal a day whereas the kids get their full breakfast lunch dinner and put in Norway and eat till about ten o'clock so like it last longer so you overnight you wake up and you're not hungry and then you can last the next day and until night time run we gotta think about the kids before ourselves then never go about do yeah you look your food
