Vulnerable family food stamps expire without warning in Dudley

The mum who only wanted to be named as Ms Bishop, works part-time and was promised the vouchers in March after she received a letter from Dudley Council. The Winter Covid grant scheme was designed to provide support to vulnerable families who have suffered during the pandemic.

However, after applying to use the vouchers just a few weeks later, she was told they had already expired – despite no expiry date being given on the original letter.

Ms Bishop said: “I was going to take both vouchers from Aldi. I liked the fact that you couldn’t buy rubbish with these vouchers, it had to be food.

“I wake up at half four in the morning for a few hours of work and then I come back so it is hard. I am a single mum with three children. I don’t earn much, so these vouchers make a big difference.

“I trusted that we will be able to go there and for two weeks or even one and a half weeks I could feel comfortable that it’s not going to cost me a lot. I conditioned myself that this is going to be good, we can buy things these two weeks and not feel anxious about how much our shopping is going to cost.

“If it is not my fault that they haven’t put the date on it, whose fault is it? They say, oh, we didn’t know there was no date on it as well, but they are responsible.”

Ms Bishop was particularly disappointed with the lack of communication she received from Dudley Council.

She continued: “When I asked this information I wanted to know how many individuals or how many people or children were affected or families. They said they don’t have to provide anything.

“I am very disappointed. I feel that they stole my children’s money and not just my money, I feel for other people as well that they have not disclosed that are also in my situation. In fact, they might be in a worse situation.”

Dudley Council has apologised and offered to provide Ms Bishop with new vouchers however they failed to explain why the expiry date had not been provided.

Councillor Ian Bevan, cabinet member for public health said: “We are working directly with Ms Bishop to try and resolve the issue, and I am confident we will be able to issue a new voucher very soon that she will be able to use.

“The vouchers we issued did expire at the end of April as the conditions of the grant meant the funds had to be used by then.

“A huge majority of the vouchers were cashed straight away and we had very few that expired as in this case.

“That said, we accept we should have communicated more clearly there was a date by which the voucher should be used. We will ensure this is the case in future and apologise to Ms Bishop for the confusion and inconvenience.”