Army families on the breadline (From Salisbury Journal)

Army families on the breadline

11:00am Tuesday 4th August 2009 in News By Annie Riddle

FAMILIES of soldiers serving in Afghanistan are on the breadline and having to beg for food parcels.

The Trussell Trust, the charity that runs Salisbury’s Foodbank, said on Monday that it has given out emergency rations to 245 members of Army families in the last three years.

And the head of the Army Families Federation said they were only “the tip of the iceberg”.

The Ministry of Defence has denied that forces pay is inadequate. It said the minimum for a private on his or her first operation overseas is £20,255.

But federation chief executive Julie McCarthy accused the MoD of “selective use of figures” and said: “The fact that families have to turn to a food bank is very, very sad. It’s beyond belief that a nation like ours allows a situation like this. I wish I had a magic wand to make it better.”

She painted a portrait of young wives who find their budgets stretched to breaking point while their husbands are away on the front line.

They may need extra help with childcare and run up bigger bills for travel and phone calls, she said. Yet a young private earns a basic wage of £16,681.

According to the Army, troops receive separation and operational allowances to bring that figure up to the minimum.

But Ms McCarthy said they are not paid their £2,380 operational allowance until after their tour of duty is over.

She said: “If the families are surviving on a tight budget anyway, any hiccup in the pay system, or any unexpected bill can have a big impact.

“Some young wives may not have much budgeting experience. We have had 200 come to us in the last year with debt issues. We always refer them back to the chain of command.”

Each Army unit has a welfare officer who can assess the problem and is provided with Foodbank vouchers to tide a family over for three days while longer-term help is worked out.

The welfare officers deliver food boxes from the trust direct to those in need. Health visitors and workers from the charity Action for Children may also deliver them.

Trust director Chris Mould agreed with Ms McCarthy’s assessment. He said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if the ones we help are just the tip of the iceberg.

“These are young people, on low pay, and facing significant stresses in life.

“All it takes is an unexpected cost, such as a car breaking down. They are no longer able to hold it together financially, and they stop feeding themselves while they are trying to pay the bills.

“But it’s not just Army families. This is happening to all sorts of people, all over the country. With increasing unemployment, delays in receiving benefits are a huge and growing problem.

“We meet people every week who haven’t eaten for days. You wouldn’t know it to look at them. There’s a lot of shame involved in admitting they can’t handle things.

“That’s why the suggestion that there’s more need than we are actually seeing here is highly likely, and why more and more food banks are being opened by churches across the country.”