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Justice in a time of austerity (Pt 2)

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17 January 2019 / Jon Robins
Issue: 7824 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus
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Food for thought: Jon Robins reports on the current state of foodbanks & the impact of universal credit
 

In the six months up to the end of November, Hammersmith and Fulham Foodbank fed 7,342 people compared to 6,376 last year and 3,317 in 2016. A fortnight before Christmas Day I shadowed Sophie Earnshaw, a lawyer running a free legal advice clinic at the foodbank as part of the ‘Justice in a Time of Austerity’ project.

During our morning at St Matthew’s Church, just off Wandsworth Bridge Road, South Fulham, we met a 33-year-old woman from Algeria with three children under the age of 16. ‘I haven’t received any money for three months. I’m living off food vouchers,’ Asma told us.

Earlier in the year, her husband threatened to kill her (not for the first time) and social services arranged for her and the children to move to a refuge. She hadn’t a penny to support her and the children since she left their father. Her housing benefit

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