Figures released by the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) show that comparing October 2020 with the same month last year, independent food banks report a 62 per cent increase in emergency food parcel distribution. From February to April 2020, independent food bank use soared by 120 per cent.
IFAN is calling on the UK Government and England’s local authorities to take urgent action to reduce the need for food banks and stop the institutionalisation of a charitable food aid system. IFAN says urgent action is needed to significantly reduce the need for charitable food aid provision. The Government’s recent pledge of over £400 million to help support families and individuals unable to afford to buy food is welcome. However, policy changes that would reduce the need for food banks in the long-term have been avoided.
IFAN says “The provision of yet more emergency food parcels will not solve poverty, and a charitable food aid system is being further embedded with every week that passes. We urge the Government to look beyond an emergency response to the systemic problem of poverty that pre-existed the COVID-19 crisis and to make changes to our social security system and to our economy that will mean everyone is able to afford to buy food.”
IFAN is calling on the UK Government to:
- make the £20 uplift to Universal Credit permanent and extend it to legacy benefits
- remove the benefit cap
- end the five week wait for a first Universal Credit payment by removing the loan element of advance payments
- end the two-child limit
- end the sanctions system
- permanently suspend No Recourse to Public Funds status.
In addition, IFAN is calling on local authorities in England to use their share of the recent DWP’s £170 million allocation to distribute cash grants to individual and families whenever possible and to avoid bolstering a food aid system in place of a ‘cash first’ approach.
IFAN member organisations spoke about the latest figures. Charlotte White of the Earlsfield Foodbank said: "We currently serve 90-100 households per week. This time last year, it was 20-25. Of this increase, the majority are people who have never used food banks before, and we've noticed a significant increase in households with children. Many people are coming to us because of delays or problems with benefits/universal credit, and we're also seeing a big increase in people with low income (often zero-hour) work. We can give people food, but food poverty is a symptom of the problem, not the cause. Until we tackle the underlying structural problems, the situation will worsen."
Tracy Olin, Pembrokeshire Action To Combat Hardship said: "Pembrokeshire has been recognised as the worst in Wales for child poverty. At the moment in five days we help the same number of people as we would have helped in a month in years gone by."
Anne McCormack, of Broke Not Broken, Perth and Kinross said: In October this year we distributed 103 parcels compared with 33 the year before, November has seen a huge rise in food bank use. 305 parcels were distributed compared with only 19 the year before. More families are coming forward, we are seeing more redundancies affecting families who were precariously balancing their finances every month. Food bank parcels, whilst certainly useful, are not helping the longer-term issues people are facing. They need real financial help.”
Sabine Goodwin, Coordinator of the Independent Food Aid Network said: “Independent food banks are picking up the pieces yet again as more and more people struggle to pay the bills. There needs to be a realisation that we cannot continue to provide an emergency response to a long-term crisis. The Government’s £170 million funding has huge potential to support people through a ‘cash first’ approach and the provision of cash payments by local authorities instead of food bank referrals. But ultimately it’s the social security system and the payment of adequate wages that need our attention to end food poverty for good.”
Dr Maddy Power, Co-Chair IFAN’s Board of Trustees said: “The impacts of COVID-19 have been profoundly unequal and nowhere has this been more apparent than in the sharp increases in poverty and hunger caused by the economic fallout of the pandemic. No one should have to use a food bank but at present the welfare system creates rather than prevents poverty. Without significant government action to improve incomes we will become a country in which millions of people are permanently reliant on an already stretched charitable food system for survival.”
Since June 2020, IFAN has been running a Cash First Project in Scotland that is currently being extended to England. This strives to help people access financial advice and support as an alternative to emergency food aid, principally through the co-development of 'cash first' referral leaflets.
* Cash First Project https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/cash-first-project
* The UK-wide Independent Food Aid Network connects, supports and advocates on behalf of frontline food aid organisations. IFAN has identified at least 916 independent food banks operating across the UK https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/
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