A Brazilian TV crew interviewed volunteers at a food bank 'because they felt sorry for them'.
That's one of the stories from a special report on the affects of Universal Credit on a town that piloted the much-maligned system.
The launch of the controversial scheme in Oldham in Greater Manchester, in late 2013 has seen families fall into extreme poverty.
Food bank volunteer Diana Walsh told the Manchester Evening News that staff 'often see grown men in tears because they can't believe they're here'.
Demand at the pub-turned-foodbank increased 10% last year and in the year to December, Oldham housed nearly 400 children in temporary accommodation such as bed and breakfasts.
Two thirds of those now coming into the town’s food bank for help in 2019 are in work.
As part of a special report Zoey Stansfield spoke about how the area is still struggling to adjust to the six-in-one benefit.
She said: “It’s not just about people ‘on benefits’,”
“Universal Credit (UC) includes working tax credit. Which means they’re working.
"We have had nurses coming in. There’s not often an acknowledgement that you could be working and claiming UC.”
Due to demand, the food bank expanded into the former Three Crowns pub a couple of years ago. Instead of gin and vodka there are now thank-you cards pinned behind the bar.
Diana said: “One lady came in here today, her brother-in-law had died and his wife couldn’t cope.
“She’d taken six children into her home but she couldn’t get any benefits for them at all. With her own, that’s eight children in a two bed house.
“She hadn’t got bedding or anything for them. Social services are involved but it’s going to take a few weeks, so what’s she going to do?
“There’s no emergency provision. We are the emergency service. But we are not government funded.”
Diana, notes the ‘sheer embarrassment’ she felt when a film crew from Brazil visited to interview them about poverty earlier this year, ‘because they felt sorry for us’.
Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham and Saddleworth East, says ‘not a week a goes by’ without her office seeing at least one distressing case related to the benefit.
In recent weeks she has raised in Parliament the case of Sally, a single mum who escaped an abusive relationship, only to have her UC docked by £400 due to her circumstances changing.
June, who has a two-year-old daughter and works for the police, told by the JobCentre that UC would pay 85% of her childcare costs but still waiting for the money six months later, having had to pay upfront.
In another case, Amanda, a single mum with ‘significant’ mental health problems who was sanctioned for failing to fill in an online review, days before giving birth.
The Department for Work and Pensions said that the reasons for people using food banks are 'complex', and that Universal Credit is a 'force for good with 2.2 million people now being supported by the benefit.'
"It gives people financial help if they’re unemployed, low-paid or unable to work. People can get their first payment on day one of their claim as an advance and we continue to make improvements”, a spokesman said.
