Families 'living on a knife edge' due to Universal Credit are turning to Byker Pantry

This Newcastle project is determined to help those "living on a knife edge" as Universal Credit grips the North East.

Mike and Ann Leddra opened the Byker Pantry in a bid to help families who struggle to buy food at supermarket prices.

Unlike a foodbank, people do not have to be referred to use the pantry - it is open to anyone.

People can come to the pantry at Raby Cross and exchange money for points and then they can buy items that are priced in points, with everything at least half the price of supermarket stores.

Mike, 63, and Ann, 61, decided to start the food pantry because they felt a traditional food bank was a "sticking plaster" and they really wanted to give people control of what they are buying.

Mike said: "What we wanted to do was have people take more ownership and control over what they were doing.

"So that's how it really began. It started off quite slowly but we had, originally, a lot of people coming in who were really desperate.

"Then as the project became more well-known, we are getting more people who are struggling, so the nature of the people coming in has changed slightly."

Mike, who is a retired university lecturer, said the people coming in for food is across a broader spectrum.

"There are families, who almost everything they get now is from us, which is phenomenal," he said. "If there are things people want, we will try and get hold of them."

Most importantly, he says, it is not just about food but building a community and helping people build their confidence.

He said: "The people who come along on a Tuesday and a Thursday, some don't shop at all, they just come in for a chat and see how people are getting on and see how they can help.

"We've had people come in who wouldn't say anything, wouldn't make eye contact, but after a couple of weeks are chatting away.

"We have people who came to join the project who are volunteers now.

"We've had people who have come in and said 'I feel confident enough now that I can go for a job' and that is amazing - that's what it is about.

"It is not just about the food. It's about people's self confidence and a lot of people feel really low, the benefit system isn't helping them at all."

Figures show the number of people in Newcastle receiving Universal Credit in October 2018 was 18,285.

New figures from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the leading authority on poverty in the UK, reveal one in five - 14.3 million - of the UK's population are in poverty.   Of these, 8.2m are working-age adults, 4.1m are children and 1.9m are pensioners, with in-work poverty rising faster.

There are now 4m workers in poverty, around one in eight in the economy.

The foundation says gains from the National Living Wage and tax cuts are outweighed by changes to tax credits and benefits that top up low wages.

One of the problems with the benefit system is people start to feel confident and then they get "clobbered by something" and it sets them back, meaning they have to start from scratch, Mike said.

"People that are in the benefit system are living on a knife edge and I think one of the biggest problems is people think 'What if something goes wrong, what if I'm penalised for something?'

"I think that stress, I think they could really do without that. If that was taken away, I think they would be a lot more self confident to move forward," he said.

"But because they get clobbered so much and they know other people, there is no stability and it is the lack of stability that is the biggest problem.

"I don't know the benefit system that well but it used to be if you got hit it would be one benefit.

"Now they are combining it, which is theoretically a good idea, then the whole benefit gets hits and I think that is the root of the problem."

Mike said that once people have "gone off a cliff, it is difficult to come back".

He added: "They haven't got the flexibility. Their mental capacity as well sometimes because of the situation they are in. They can't handle that.

"I think the Government, I think its heart is in the right place, its head might be a bit of a mosh.

"I think the people making decisions haven't been in that situation and probably the people feeding them information, generally speaking, haven't been in that situation.

"If they came in here and just spoke to people they would think this is a major problem. When there's enough people saying there's a problem they should be listening."

Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said the "burning injustice" of poverty must be tackled to make Britain a country that works for everyone.

He added: "No one wants to see more families being pushed to the brink."