Trussell Trust foodbank feeding 5,000 in Salisbury

HAVING returned to work (temporarily) as a reporter, I’ve found myself mulling over two apparently contradictory sets of figures this week.
First came the good news.
The number of people out of work in the Salisbury area was down by a third last month compared with March last year.
Only 619 were registered as unemployed and claiming benefit in our Parliamentary constituency.
On the face of it, this is a remarkable achievement for a community centred on a smallish market town that appears to have precious little to offer the unskilled by way of opportunity.
So now the bad news. The very, very bad news.
The number of local people who needed emergency help by way of a three-day supply of groceries from the Trussell Trust’s foodbank over the last year topped 5,000. They included 1,885 hungry children.
Three cheers for the foodbank, obviously. I’m not a religious person, but the Trust really does put its Christian principles into practice, and you have to admire that.
But then what? I don’t want to oversimplify a complex subject but I can’t help asking: If more than 3,000 of these individuals were adults, and only 600 or so were out of work, then why weren’t the majority of them, who were employed, taking home enough to keep the wolf from the door?
How many of them were part-timers, perhaps working in shops or fast food restaurants, who don’t earn enough to keep a family? How many of them were people who through some misfortune have got into debt and can’t pay it off?
I’m sure there are as many answers as there are individuals, and I’m equally sure the solution’s not as straightforward as blaming the government.
However, Trussell Trust chairman Chris Mould has said that despite the recovering economy, things are getting worse, rather than better, for people on low incomes and for those facing an increasingly harsh, and apparently arbitrary benefits regime.
On Saturday the NASUWT teaching union reported that all over the country children are turning up for school cold, hungry, and wearing unwashed clothes because their parents are facing financial problems.
And for families who get into debt, things tend to go downhill.
I can’t understand why the government isn’t shouting from the rooftops about the fantastic service that credit unions offer to people on limited incomes to help them avoid doorstep lenders and get themselves out of trouble.
We’ve got one in Salisbury. To find out more, look up Wiltshire Community Bank online, email swcu@hotmail.co.uk or phone 01722 421881.