Poverty on our doorstep

Tunbridge Wells is affluent, but the poor are always with us. Today's Tunbridge Wells edition of the Kent & Sussex Courier carries a two page story about a family on low income. In an excellent hard-hitting editorial a number of key points are made:

• Deprivation in this country is often overlooked.
• The lady who is the subject of the article is like thousands of others, struggling each week to feed herself and her family
• The families' situation is an all-to common one: They have found themselves in a vicious circle of spending too much and racking up debt. Fuelled by a mixture of poor budgeting, low income and easily accessible credit they are now in a particularly vulnerable financial position.
• Such people are society's forgotten poor. They are not homeless and begging on the street, so it is easy for people to pretend such problems are not rife among us.

The editorial rightly argues that the current benefit system needs to be changed as it is hurting individuals and society as a whole by trapping people in poverty. The Courier has a clear understanding of the problems of poverty and is to be congratulated on publishing this story.

I make two observations:

1. The newly formed Kent Savers Credit Union has statutory duty to provide advice on budgeting and thrift.

2. Should we be looking in Kent at setting up a foodbank along the lines of those established in the USA? For an example follow this link . Foodbanks in Kent are small and not much is known about them. Perhaps an opportunity for a social enterprise?