UC topping up low wages says community worker as Foyle Foodbank becomes Foyle Network Foundation
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00:00 Today we're launching our re-branded Foyle Network Foundation.
00:04 This has been some of the work done over the past two years.
00:08 We've listened to people, we've listened to people who use our service, people who refer to our service.
00:13 And for some, Foodbank can be seen as a barrier, nobody using our service.
00:18 But also we're so much more than a foodbank now, we provide so many more services.
00:24 We work in partnership with others to be able to do that.
00:27 With the support of Trussell Trust, they provided some funding and we engaged Graze,
00:33 who came out and met with all our user groups, ourselves, our staff, our volunteers,
00:41 looked at if that was the case, went out to market to look at it,
00:47 and we're delighted that in the process everybody's bought on and we have a brand new name and brand
00:53 that we are launching today at our annual general meeting.
00:56 I imagine that it's probably identified that the need that's out there, it's not just food,
01:02 it's consumables, there's electricity, we've seen school uniforms, we've seen all these things.
01:07 Is that something that's been fed back into you?
01:09 Yes, so we provide more than food.
01:11 So even at our centre, in terms of practical support, we provide toiletries, household cleaning items,
01:17 pet food, along with the food package.
01:20 But alongside that we have a financial inclusion project,
01:23 and everybody that comes to our service will meet with one of our team
01:27 and they will look at what's going on for the person, what has brought them to our point.
01:31 We can provide all our financial help and support around the person,
01:35 but then what we do then is we make referrals out.
01:38 So we refer to particularly the four advice services in the city,
01:41 and we work with the three credit unions, and then we can also bring in grants,
01:46 electricity, fuel, energy for people, so it's that full wraparound support.
01:50 We work with other charities such as St Paul's and De Paul, who will help us if somebody needs furniture.
01:56 We work with some of the groups around clothes and things like that, so it's a whole package.
02:00 We don't do it all ourselves, the key to this is working in partnership with others
02:04 and bringing that support to the person.
02:07 And just at this moment in time, what's the level of need in the city?
02:12 The level of need is very high.
02:14 We've seen it recently, over the winter there,
02:17 we had a voucher scheme in partnership with Council and others,
02:21 and it was for people who were working on the threshold,
02:25 but when we went out to contact most of those people, they'd been topped up with Universal Credit.
02:30 So the salaries are so low in this town.
02:33 We have a benefits system that's not fit for purpose.
02:36 We have two years of high costs, rent, mortgages, food, clothes, everything has went up.
02:42 Home energy, we haven't seen that come down.
02:45 So we have continued to see that need there,
02:48 and there's so much unmet need because we know people haven't come forward.
02:51 Is that a difficulty to break down?
02:54 There's a sense of pride that people have,
02:57 that sometimes they'd be too proud to come forward when it comes to claiming things,
03:02 when it's there, it's a service that should be available.
03:05 Yes, and that's part of our change in our name.
03:07 We have eight members who have used our service who are now on a participation form,
03:12 and they help us shape our work, and they have identified how we can make it better,
03:17 easier for people to come through to us.
03:20 So it's vitally important that we listen and we implement that, we understand.
03:25 But what we can do, it's not just always about food.
03:28 Today we're actually sharing some of our success over the last year.
03:33 We have maximised people's income in the past six to eight months by over £100,000.
03:39 But that was in partnership with the advice services,
03:42 so that was people coming in to us who were entitled to benefits,
03:45 didn't know how to go about it.
03:47 We made the referral out to the advice service, they supported them through that process.
03:51 So that's what we can do as well, so it's more than food.
03:54 It's making a difference, and I was looking at figures there only at the end of last week.
03:58 Universal credit claims, the amount of people that are working,
04:01 there's thousands of people locally here who are actually claiming universal credits as well.
04:07 It's for working people.
04:09 Yeah, and that has highlighted to us,
04:12 and it's something that we have spoke to our other partners about that we need to look at going forward,
04:16 is that the wages are so low in this city.
04:19 Too many people have been topped up by universal credit, and that needs to be addressed.