About
Campaigning
We are Wirral Community Foodbank Campaigners, a volunteer campaigning group of people who have had to use the foodbank at some point in our lives.
We are local to Wirral and want to see less people having to use the foodbank and to help make changes in order to alleviate poverty.
We are supported by Wirral foodbank and Trussel.
We are running two very important campaigns as mentioned below. We think you will find they are interrelated.
Guarantee our Essentials
The basic rate of Universal Credit should at least cover the cost of essentials like food, household bills and travel, but it is not currently set according to any objective assessment of what people need.
This is only £91 a week for a single adult. That means there’s a significant shortfall between people’s living costs and their income, and it’s pushing people to food banks.
We are campaigning for the government to put in place a measure whereby Universal Credit is always aligned with the actual cost of living and to ensure that it never falls below that amount.
The majority of universal credit claimants are living in a negative budget and this is bringing a significant amount of people to the foodbank.
Numerous charities and community groups across the UK are also campaigning for an Essentials Guarantee for Universal Credit including Trussel, see more here Guarantee Our Essentials | Trussell
More face to face advice
The design and delivery of the social security system is the biggest driver towards foodbank nationally and locally at our foodbanks on Wirral.
People have been telling us that they wish there had been more face-to-face advice and support with this and some were not even aware of what services were on offer.
A large number of people had problems contacting the right person who could support them. Many feel like they have to jump through hoops, feel that people have no real understanding of the difficulties they are experiencing and have to contact multiple organizations and wait on busy phone lines.
To be on universal credit, or other forms of social security payments, you have to be organsied, need a phone and access to the internet. We speak to many people who are struggling to cope generally and some do not have access to the internet. People with complex needs and those who are vulnerable are asking for face to face support and we want to help them access that.
Imagine if your phone breaks, and you’re living off £91 per week, you have to go to a hospital appointment, afford food and perhaps look for a job. You cannot afford to fix your phone and therefore cannot organize appointments. This is why we need more local drop-ins based in warm welcoming open spaces that people will feel comfortable approaching. This is why we need to clearly inform people about how and where to access this support and to encourage people to ask for help.
We are currently exploring ways to improve access to advice and support, especially for those on universal credit. Let’s offer face to face drop-ins based in local community centres and let’s make sure people know about it and feel comfortable to ask for help. Let’s help people navigate this complicated system, let’s create a service designed for the people who need it most and ensure that they get the support that they need.
We are hoping this will open up access to other services across the region. Many of these services are working hard to tackle many of the other reasons that bring people to the foodbank. We want to ensure that everyone knows about what is out there and can access these services.
