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This month, Disability Arts Online's Editor, Colin Hambrook chats with Emma Greenwood, Area Manager South West of The Trussell Trust.
The Disability And…Podcast gets right to the heart of some of the most pressing issues in arts, culture and beyond with a series of bold, provocative and insightful interviews with disabled artists, key industry figures and the odd legend. The Disability and…Podcast is currently monthly.
37 Disability And…The Cost of Living Crisis with the Trussell Trust
Intro
Welcome to the Disability Arts Online and Mind the Gap podcast, Disability and... Bringing together thoughtful discussion and debate. This month Disability Arts Online Senior Editor, Colin Hambrook chats with Emma Greenwood, Area Manager South West of The Trussell Trust.
Colin Hambrook
Welcome. Colin Hambrook here, on the Disability and... podcast: The Trussell Trust We have Emma Greenwood, who is the Area Manager for South West England, whose job is to ensure the delivery of The Trussell Trust's vision to end the need for food banks in the UK by developing an in-depth understanding of food banks in her area. Emma, can you give us an overview of what The Trussell Trust is and what you do?
Emma Greenwood
Sure, thanks, Colin. Yes, so The Trussell Trust supports a network of more than 1300 food bank centres across the UK with the aim to provide practical support for people that can't afford the essentials, but also at the same time, to campaign for change in a future where food banks aren't needed, because everyone has enough money to pay for those essential costs. So I work as an Area Manager, as you say, in the South West, and I get the privilege to support 22 food bank teams, to help them do what they do responding to the needs in their communities as well as possible for as long as they're needed. But also to help them think about some of their spheres of influence, and what are some of the levers that they have to really build a future where people can afford to buy food and essentials for their households themselves?
Colin Hambrook
Thanks so much. Can you tell us a bit about your experience of food bank need and disability and/ or poor mental health and the connections in the area that you support?
Emma Greenwood
Yes. So I think in all of this, I, myself, have never had that lived experience of needing support from a food bank. So my insight really, and perspective, comes from being involved with food banks and working on the long side food bank teams. So really helping to understand the stories that people have when they find themselves coming to a food bank for support. And I think it's a really, really key thing that in the work that we do as The Trussell Trust, and also through our food bank teams, is that there are various inequalities that are exposed by who we find being driven into poverty and driven to the doors of a food bank. And what we see when you're looking at disability, is that people with long term health conditions are actually more than twice as likely to be food insecure than those who don't. So there's a really strong correlation between people living with disabilities or in a household, where a disability is something that they are kind of living alongside is having a big impact on the numbers of people that are needing support.
Colin Hambrook
Have you seen any changes in food bank need, since the pandemic and the cost of living crisis? Has that need gone up do you think, amongst disabled households?
Emma Greenwood
I think if we speak generally, when I talked to food bank teams, they said right at the start of the pandemic, the pandemic shone a spotlight on the problems and inequalities that were there at the start. It was really clear that groups that were struggling pre-pandemic, it just showed that that need was there before COVID. But then when COVID came, it started to peel off layer upon layer of people that were just about managing and getting by. And I think what we see with the cost of living crisis is that there is this acceleration of that, that more and more people are finding themselves struggling to cover the basics. I think what we see in this is where again, the link with with disabilities and households living with disabilities is that the main drivers for people coming to food banks are problems with the benefit system. There's problems with lack of formal and informal support. And then inevitably, there's issues where people are facing an unexpected change in circumstance and quite often, not unexpected changing circumstances due to ill health or disability, and that can compound all those drivers. So I think when we speak to our food bank, sadly, the picture is is that need is accelerating, and that more and more people are finding themselves not being able to cover the food bill or energy bills. So yes, I think it's really important to be having these conversations and again, looking at the inequalities that this exposes.
Colin Hambrook
It's a very worrying picture, isn't it? And in your experience, what sort of impossible decisions are people who walk through the doors of food banks having to face?
Emma Greenwood
One of the things that we try to do at The Trusell Trust is really amplify that lived experience in the stories of people coming to us. And I think I've come across a couple of stories recently, one that really struck me was from someone being supported by a food bank, that when faced with energy bill, that they just didn't know how they were going to pay. The thoughts that were going through their head was right, 'What time am I gonna go to bed, so am I gonna go to bed at nine o'clock, or am I gonna go to bed at eight o'clock? in order to make a saving on my energy costs.' Other decisions, I've heard about people feeling that they couldn't provide their family with the fruit and vegetables that they wanted to buy, because they knew that they were going to be forced to buy cheaper food, which is often not as nutritious as they would have liked. And I think I found a story really from someone that turned to a food bank for support that was talking about doing so much work already working as a secretary and a cleaner and also with a family to support, and then they had a diagnosis of cancer at an advanced stage. After the treatment, the impact of that meant that they weren't able to continue with their job, and the work they were doing. The fact that they had no money and bills, actually the choices that person was making was between whether they could afford to have a shower and have shampoo and have toiletries. Actually that decision was making the quality of life really, really difficult. And really, that would have been having a massive impact on her health and her ability to respond and keep going with the treatment. So things like that are making real impacts on people. Have stories around the difficulties of disabled people accessing health services come through your experience at all? It's really interesting you say that. I was in a food bank just this weekend and we talked about what is needed to help people. The first thing they said was support to navigate the benefit system, because we know that particularly for people that are living with disabilities and other health conditions, it is so difficult and almost at every stage of that process, they really have to fight or to push for getting the support that they need. And the second thing they said was that access to the right advice around their health, both physical and mental. It was really interesting, because I had not looked at it in those terms before. But I suppose it does speak into that picture of where the support is and whether people can get it at the right stage. The other thing that we often hear from food banks, and I think this is particularly relevant around the mental health side of things, is that support often isn't easily accessible at those early stages of needing help, and by the time they get to a point where they are able to get support, it's often escalated and it's often much more difficult. So yes, I think they are messages we're hearing from our food banks.
Colin Hambrook
I guess the quality of food as well, that people are able to buy, that is going to have an impact on health as well.
Emma Greenwood
I think we find in our food banks on that note, that whilst the standard emergency food parcel is the non-perishable items that are obviously much easier to collect and to distribute and to store, there's so many examples of food banks in our network and other frontline emergency food provision, really trying to make good food and fresh fruit and vegetables accessible. So we hear stories of food banks that give out vouchers for their local veg shop or their local butchers. So there is this real desire to enhance the dignity of the food that's on offer, and as you say, would have benefits for people's health as well.
Colin Hambrook
That segues into the next question I was going to ask, which was about the support other than emergency food, that food banks in The Trussell Trust network provide to people facing financial hardship?
Emma Greenwood
All of my food bank teams are there because they have a real desire to show compassion to the people that are in need of support. And so whenever you go into a food bank, you always get a real genuine sense of warmth and friendliness and just an open door. I think a lot of what food banks do is alongside distributing the emergency food, they demonstrate that there's someone there that actually has time and has a real desire to help and to understand. So, a lot of what I see are volunteers that are so immensely skilled at listening, and are really able to demonstrate that genuine care but also, as much as possible, provide really good joined up signposting to local support or to national support. It's been so difficult for our teams over COVID, because a lot of what they did was stripped right back because of the lack of contact that people had when they came to the doors of a food bank. It's really encouraging to see that being built back in again now that people are being invited to come in perhaps, and spend a bit more time in a food bank setting. So that genuine welcome, combined with opportunities to link people into support at the earliest opportunity are really key to the work that our food bank teams do. We've got quite a big focus at the moment, what we're calling 'Financial Inclusion Projects' that are essentially projects that aim to help people maximise any aspects of their income. So, making sure they're getting the benefits that they're entitled to, or whether there's any support that they need with debt, or accessing various local crisis grants and things. So, the idea that at that point of coming in contact with a food bank team, there will be multiple opportunities to see whether there's anything else that could be done to help put money in people's pockets or bank accounts. There's so many other things aside from finance, that food bank teams are able to do in terms of linking in with groups that might reduce social isolation, or support with a variety of things. So communities are amazing, and especially since COVID we see such collaboration and joined up support and just knowing what other people are doing. So I think that's something else that food bank teams have to offer.
Colin Hambrook
Yeah, I can imagine the sense of community that comes through the work that you're doing must be really, really important. Recent, the Chancellor announced support for households in Britain and Northern Ireland in response to the cost of living crisis, including additional support for disabled people, and I wondered what your thoughts are on that?
Emma Greenwood
We really welcomed the changes or policies that came into play in May, where the government have taken action to mitigate the worst of the cost of living crisis, particularly for people that are experiencing the lowest incomes. We know that because of that action, there'll be people that will be prevented from needing to turn to a food bank for support. So, it's very much the direction of travel that we welcome, but we know that in order to really effectively maintain a Social Security system that works for everyone, and that enables people to bounce back or to just be supported when they need that support from a social security system that the investment needs to be longer term. And it's not about one-off payments, so we are continuing to talk to national government about the policy decisions that would mean that we have continued investment in our social security system, in particular to protect people from debt and destitution and the reality that the Social Security system needs to be there to support the numbers of people that are struggling with those essentials. So we've got a lot more to say, and a lot more than we think the government can be doing, especially around the rates of benefits, that they will always be paid at the adequate rate. We've got a lot of research into that and there was a survey that said 5% of people surveyed said that their disability benefits covered the cost of living. So 5% of people that were receiving benefits around disability said that that covered the cost of living, so there's lots more to do to make sure that actually the benefits that people are receiving when they're encountering disability and ill health that actually meeting those basic costs. So I think that presents the scale of what needs to be done around benefits in particular.
Colin Hambrook
Yeah, benefits are such a barrier, and increasingly so since the benefit reform changes that have taken place over the last 10 or 12 years, I think have successively made it harder and more difficult to access benefits. The way that everything's gone online, people in that position are not necessarily au fait with online systems and filling in benefit forms. There are so many more barriers that are being put in the way. What do you think needs to change in order to ensure that no one in society needs to use a food bank?
Emma Greenwood
I think one of the key things that actually links in with what you've just said about the barriers that people face, just to navigate a system to ensure that they get what they're entitled to, is really symptomatic or is a really good example of how quite often the systems that are in place to support people aren't designed with people that have experience with having to navigate those systems. So I think one of our big themes at the moment, and we're speaking to ourselves in the food bank network as well about this, is how much are people with that lived experience really shaping how those systems are designed. One of the things that really strikes me when I've had the privilege to sit alongside someone and hear a bit about their journey is how much resilience, in particular when you are struggling with ill health or disability, it takes to continue to navigate that system and to present the information that you're asked to present then, and all against a bit of a backdrop where you're constantly having, it seems (and again, I don't have lived experience of this) but it feels like you're proving what you can't do or what you're unable to do. And just spending 5 or 10 minutes talking to someone, which is perhaps the extent of how I get to understand it a little bit to see what that does in terms of eroding people's dignity, you want to see something that's more empowering and more supportive. So I think a lot of what we try and do is point, people and point national government and local government policy decisions to really include people with that lived experience. So the systems that are designed are fit for purpose. We're really keen to have these kinds of conversations. We think that changing minds is really important because there's a danger that food banks and emergency food provision is seen as acceptable, and it just merges into a landscape that is never questioned. So wherever possible, we want to be having these conversations, to say that it's not okay. And that we think as a society, we can do more to design some systems, but also have this understanding that it's not somewhere we want to be as a society, where people are needing emergency food support in increasing numbers. Then there's the changing communities side of things, and I've already mentioned that, doing all we can to provide strong formal and informal layers of support at every level, so that people are linked in to advice and support where that exists at the earliest opportunity. And also talking, I suppose also at local authority level, to make sure that where they have crisis grants or discretionary funds, or support around arrears or anything like that, again because that support exists, that it perhaps isn't always working as effectively or as well advertised or accessible as possible. So there are other ways that we think we could work towards the future where food banks aren't needed.
Colin Hambrook
Thanks Emma, and is there anything that our listeners could do to help support the work of The Trussell Trust? Anything practical in terms of getting those messages out there?
Emma Greenwood
Yes, I think there's there's practical ways that people can respond. So, find out where your local food bank is, and you can do that through The Trussell Trust webpage. And increasingly find out what food items your food bank actually need, because we are experiencing food banks that aren't getting the right levels of donations or the right types of food. So find out what your local food bank is most in need of and then you can make a practical donation. But there as I say, other ways of making sure that these conversations continue to happen, and there's lots of opportunities to follow latest campaigns. We've got a cost of living section on our website, and there's lots of ways to engage through our social media. So there's some really good things to read and to be informed about and there's always ways to join us in that general campaigning.
Colin Hambrook
Thanks Emma. I think it is a disgrace the way that the country has gone considering the wealth that this country has, and how we're apportioning that wealth. I really applaud the work that you and The Trussell Trust are doing. Thanks ever so much for speaking to us on the podcast today.
Emma Greenwood
Thanks, Colin.
Outro
All thanks to Emma Greenwood of the Trussell trust and Charlotte for their Frank and informative contribution to this month's podcast. Further information on the Trussell trust can be found on their website at www dot Trussell trust.org. Next month, Mind the Gap’s assistant producer Paul Wilshaw speaks to Coronation Street star Liam Bairstow and CBeebies presenter George Webster about their careers and what it's like to be successful television actors with Down syndrome