The CEO and founder of a major London food bank has called it "outrageous" that critics have suggested Ken Loach's latest film, I, Daniel Blake, about a man who is plunged into poverty as a result of complications with his benefit claim, is unrealistic.
"When I saw I, Daniel Blake I thought, 'This is not a drama, this is reality,'" Daphine Aikens, who founded and runs the Hammersmith and Fulham food bank, told BuzzFeed News.
"I meet Daniel Blakes every single day," she added. "For critics who don’t have a clue what it’s like to live that way to say the film is not realistic is just outrageous."
Aikens joined a chorus of voices from poverty experts and charity workers who have condemned critics who said they believed the film gave an exaggerated portrayal of life on a low income.
Speaking about the six and a half years she has been running the food bank, which she estimates provides around 1,040 meals per week to those who visit, the most consistent problem she said people came up against was issues with their benefit payments.
"The steadiest thing I've seen is people who have delays with their applications and changes to their benefit payment – which usually means cuts," Aikens said.
Recently, she said, she has been seeing more people who are struggling with the newly introduced universal credit scheme, which merges six benefits into one monthly payment. She said that she expects new caps on housing benefit to leave more people still in need of emergency food parcels.
One of the most powerful scenes in I, Daniel Blake shows the title character joining his friend Katie on a visit to a food bank, because she's had sanctions placed on her benefits. Blake, who has his employment support allowance application rejected because he is deemed fit for work despite having suffered a heart attack, is too proud to take help.
Aikens told us that benefit sanctioning – which means a claimant will have their payments reduced if it is considered that they're not trying hard enough to find work – is also an issue she sees regularly.
A new report by anti-poverty charity the Trussell Trust has found that 44% of people using food banks this year did so as a result of delays and changes to their benefit payment.
Between April and September 2016, the Trussell Trust distributed 519,342 three-day emergency food supplies across the UK – up from 506,369 during the same period last year.
At the Hammersmith and Fulham food bank, which is supported by the Trussell Trust, there was a 28% increase in people receiving emergency food last year. "It looks like we’ll see a similar rise this year," Aikens said.
When BuzzFeed News visited the Hammersmith and Fulham centre recently, one woman, who preferred not to be named, told us she had been using the food bank since she was moved to the universal credit scheme last April.
"Because universal credit [payment] happens once every month, it’s really quite challenging," she said. "I don’t have much money at the moment. I’m getting Job Centre money, and it’s not really much."
She was referred to the food bank by a homelessness charity, which has been providing her with emergency accommodation.
In order to help those who find themselves at food banks because of issues with their benefit payments, the Trussell Trust is calling on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to introduce a telephone hotline from food banks to Jobcentre Plus.
This would mean that volunteers could bypass lengthy DWP phone queues and contact its advisers directly, allowing them to more easily assist people with accessing enough money to be able to buy food themselves.
"It’s clear that more can be done to get people back on their feet faster," David McAuley, CEO of the Trussell Trust, said.
"Many food banks now host independent welfare and debt advisers but they cannot solve all the issues," he continued. "A telephone hotline could build on this and go a
long way to improving food banks' ability to help get people out of a crisis
faster."
Aikens welcomed the proposition of a direct line from food banks to job centres. "Many people develop debt, or suffer depression and anxiety, as a result of benefit delays," she said. "Anything we can do to resolve benefit issues quickly will benefit society as a whole."
At the Hammersmith and Fulham food bank, volunteers have already provided far more support than just the emergency food parcels. At their White City centre, they also run an "Eat Well Spend Less" course to help people with planning and prepping their meals and reducing their food spend.
"Kindness and support from people you don’t know, who aren't judging you, is very valuable," Aikens said. "People will tell us things they wouldn’t share with others. We hear about domestic violence, drug abuse. We always link people with another relevant charity."
When we visited, the woman we spoke to revealed to us that she was having trouble with her boyfriend. "It’s good for me to be able to use the food bank because I’m staying with my boyfriend and things are not so great," she said. "It’s a good way to not rely on him. I don’t have much income and I depend on him for quite a lot."
The following day Aikens told us that she had stayed at the food bank with the woman until late that evening – six hours after it was due to close – trying to find her relevant support so that she didn't have to return to her boyfriend's home.
The trust's proposed hotline to assist with benefit claims would be one more level of support food banks could offer to help people with the problem that seems to be the most common among their visitors.
"It’s not about creating dependency," Aikens said. "We want to help people become independent, to provide them with the correct support to free them from dependency."
Debbie Abrahams, Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “The Trussell Trust report showing that the UK is on course for a record number of people needing to use emergency food parcels is a damning indictment of the Tory government’s failure. Even more staggering in the run-up to Christmas is almost 200,000 children will be relying on a food parcel to get a decent meal.
“It is clear that delays in benefits payments and changes to eligibility are a major cause behind this increase."
The Department for Work and Pensions has been contacted for comment.