Welfare cuts force more than a million people in the UK to turn to food aid

Walking the Breadline estimates that over 500,000 people in the UK are now reliant on food aid, the use of food banks and receipt of food parcels.

Up to half of all people turning to food banks are doing so as a direct result of having benefit payments delayed, reduced or withdrawn.

The report claims that rising levels of unemployment, underemployment, food and fuel prices, along with low and falling incomes, are also contributing to an increase in the number of people using food banks.

It goes on to say that the number of people reliant on food aid is likely to escalate in the coming months because of cuts to benefits and the introduction of Universal Credit, which will require internet access and makes payments less frequently.

However, the charities warn that food banks may not have the capacity to cope with this increased level of demand, and while they are currently meeting the needs of families in crisis, food banks should be viewed as a short-term emergency response.

To tackle the underlying problems of food poverty, the report recommends that:

• The Department for Work and Pensions commission independent monitoring of the roll-out of Universal Credit to ensure that there is no unintentional increase in food poverty
• The House of Commons’ Work and Pensions Select Committee conduct an urgent Parliamentary inquiry into the relationship between benefit delay, error or sanctions, welfare reform changes and the growth of food poverty.
• The Department for Work and Pensions publish data on a regular basis on the number and type of households who are deprived of their benefits, the numbers leaving and returning to benefits and the number of referrals from the Jobcentre to local food banks.
• All referrals to food banks/emergency food aid provision made by Government agencies should be recorded and monitored in order to establish more accurate numbers of people experiencing food poverty in the UK.
• HM Treasury make tackling tax dodging as an urgent priority to reduce the need for future cuts in benefits.

The recommendations are being backed by the Trussell Trust, the largest provider of food banks in the UK.

Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam, said, ‘The shocking reality is that hundreds of thousands of people in the UK are turning to food aid. Cuts to social safety nets have gone too far, leading to destitution, hardship and hunger on a large scale. It is unacceptable that this is happening in the seventh wealthiest nation on the planet.’

Niall Cooper, chief executive of Church Action on Poverty and lead author of the report, said, ‘The safety net that was there to protect people is being eroded to such an extent that we are seeing a rise in hunger. Food banks are not designed to, and should not, replace the "normal" safety net provided by the state in the form of welfare support.’

Commenting on the report, Imran Hussain, head of policy at the Child Poverty Action Group, said, ‘It’s a national scandal that half a million British people are now having to turn to food aid. It’s a problem that has quickly escalated and shows that something has gone badly wrong with the safety net that is supposed to help families in need. It is particularly concerning that more and more of the families seeking food aid are actually in work, but on poverty pay and facing cuts to their tax credits.

‘Without urgent action we only see the situation getting worse because the Government has decided that both tax credits and safety net benefits will no longer keep up with rising prices, so more families will face the stress and stigma of relying on food aid just to give children a basic healthy diet.’

Len McCluskey, Unite's general secretary, said, 'The original concept of food banks was that they should be a last resort safety net, but it now appears they are becoming a way of life for hundreds of thousands of people through no fault of their own.

'The Conservative Party may pretend that food banks are an affirmation of the so-called Big Society, but the fact that an increasing number of people are using them just to survive is a searing indictment of this Government, whose polices are pushing thousands of families into grinding poverty.

'The growing queues at the food banks are stark evidence that ministers need to reverse their failed polices and get a flatlining economy moving again – creating jobs and putting money into the pockets of ordinary people, and not into the coffers of the rich and powerful.'