>>28164270Not often outright, but there's absolutely problems with the benefits system, especially in the last decade or so where they've been made ever more difficult to claim with vague handwaving about clamping down on benefit cheats. Of course, this is all while failing to do anything that meaningfully stops said cheats, who are ultimately a small minority even if it's a very real and parasitic one.
The benefits issues cover a range of situations, often with people screwed out of what they are really entitled to by byzantine application requirements, or because their need and ability to qualify for support is intermittent, and the effort needed to reapply each time just isn't worth it compared to using a food bank occasionally.
Outside that, there's a bunch of social factors. The stigma associated with benefits means many people are too proud to use them, preferring the greater anonymity of food banks. Then there's the wider problem that human civilization as a whole is still dogshit at mental health, so plenty of people are in a state where they'd struggle to navigate the best social security system, or they destructively self-medicate with legal or illegal drugs leaving too little money for food.
