Food banks
in Cambridge
A report from the
frontline
Published in April 2015 by the Cambridge Green Party.
In this report
1. Introduction by Rupert Read, Green candidate for Member of Parliament for
Cambridge .............................................................................................................................................................. 3
2.
What is a food bank?.................................................................................................................................. 5
3.
How do food banks work? ........................................................................................................................ 5
4.
Why are people using food banks? ........................................................................................................ 6
Benefit delays ................................................................................................................................................... 7
Welfare reform ................................................................................................................................................ 7
Benefit sanctions ............................................................................................................................................. 7
Low income and high costs .......................................................................................................................... 7
5.
Myths about food banks ........................................................................................................................... 8
It's nothing to do with poverty, food banks are being used because people like free food ..... 8
The number of people helped by food banks is growing because there are more around ...... 8
Food banks are just for the unemployed ................................................................................................. 8
Aren't they just for people sent there from the JobCentre?............................................................... 9
Food banks encourage welfare dependency........................................................................................... 9
6.
How Greens are helping, and how Green Councillors will help even more .............................. 9
7.
Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................. 11
8.
Green solutions include .......................................................................................................................... 11
Short term: ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
Short to Medium term: ................................................................................................................................ 11
Medium to Long-term: ................................................................................................................................ 12
9.
References ................................................................................................................................................... 13
Imprint
This report has been created by the Cambridge Green Party. It is promoted and published by
Ellisif Wasmuth on behalf of Rupert Read, Oscar Gillespie and the Cambridge Green Party, all
at 15 Montague Road, CB4 1B , Cambridge.
Printed on recycled paper by Elitian Printers Ltd. at 112 Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 2BD.
Food banks in Cambridge | A report by the Cambridge Green Party
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1. Introduction by Rupert Read, Green candidate for Member of
Parliament for Cambridge
Back in the run-up to Christmas there was a great deal of concern in the Cambridge area about people who are disadvantaged and badly off. But in the New Year, this subsided and
there is a danger now, even as the General Election looms, that
those of us who are comfortable in life are just not noticing
what is happening around us.
The organisers of food banks do not forget, nor do those who depend on them. And nor should the rest of us, because we need to
ask ourselves why in 2015 an apparently prosperous city like Cambridge needs food banks.
Luckily, the Trussell Trust - the nation’s leading provider of food banks - is going to make it
impossible for anyone to ignore this issue, in the next few days. This year the Trussell Trust
will publish its annual statistics on food bank use just before the General Election. The head of
the Trussell Trust visited Cambridge on 26th March, and spoke to myself and others about
these statistics. They promise to be politically explosive, and with this report we wish to contribute to putting this vital issue on the political agenda in Cambridge and outline the solutions proposed by the Green Party.
This report shows:
−
In the 2013/14 financial year the city’s food banks fed 4,684 people including 1,650
children. That is almost double the previous year’s figure of 2,400, which in itself was
twice the 1,200 people who sought help the year before that. [Cambridge News
13.6.14]. According to Cambridge City food bank, the city’s Trussell Trust food bank
distribution-centres - now numbering 7 in total (including one recently opened in
Cambourne) - fed 4700 people in the 2014/15 financial year 1.
−
The average cost of welfare reform to a household has been estimated at £1615 a year
(£31 a week).
−
Food prices have doubled in the past 10 years, according to the Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO). A survey by Which? magazine in September 2014 found that 41%
Food banks in Cambridge | A report by the Cambridge Green Party
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of people were experiencing increased stress levels due to rising food prices. 29% of
people were struggling to buy enough food for themselves or their household. A survey in 2012 by 'Netmums' found one in five mothers regularly skip meals to provide
food for their children.
I have called on the Government to make sure that the social security system actually
does its job of providing a robust last line of defence against hunger in this country, that
work pays enough for people to properly provide for themselves and their families, and
that food is sold in a way which allows people to afford a healthy diet.
The notion which the Tory/Liberal Government seems to have, that welfare recipients can mitigate the reductions they’ve seen in benefits payments by finding work or moving to a smaller
home is true for only a very small proportion of people. It is shameful that the consequence
has been that many more people in this country and in this county are facing hunger.
Barnardo’s charity has warned that the benefits system is in freefall and is ‘no longer providing an adequate safety net’ for the poorest families in our society. Barnardo’s reported that
an ever increasing number of families are being forced to rely on food banks and face eviction
from their homes as a result of draconian benefit cuts. In a survey covering 138 of its centres
nationwide, 60% said that benefit changes are having a ‘wholly negative impact on families
and young people forced to use their services’. 64% said they had seen a rise in the use of food
banks among service users. The evidence in this report that you are now reading highlights
how the cutting of families’ incomes can have a long term and devastating impact on vulnerable children and adults. The cuts to welfare and services for the poorest and most vulnerable
in our society in the past five years have been greater than at any time since the welfare state
began. The damaging impact of benefit sanctions and, in many cases, benefits being completely stopped have forced people into dependency on food banks and increasing homelessness. The Barnardo’s report cited the case of one family in the North of England who owed
£700 to a loan shark to cover a loan of only £300, after their benefits were stopped for six
weeks as the result of missing one Jobcentre appointment. Barnardo’s also reported that the
‘bedroom tax’ which reduces monthly housing payments if claimants have a ‘spare room,’ was
preventing families living in emergency accommodation from acquiring a new home because
of a shortage of smaller social housing units. Barnardo’s called for ring-fenced funding for
local welfare schemes to provide emergency assistance to families in crisis. The Green Party
supports this call. I commend this Green Party report to you.
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2. What is a food bank?
A food bank distributes food to those who are in crisis and cannot afford it themselves. Most
food banks are run by volunteers, serving their local community.
The biggest network of food banks in the UK is run by a Christian organisation, the Trussell
Trust, which opened its first bank in Salisbury in the year 2000. In the most recent comprehensive figures available, they now have 423 food banks across the UK. In 2013/2014, two
new food banks opened every week, feeding 913,000 people. It is likely that the number of
people relying on food banks has increased again this year. A new distribution centre opened
recently here in Cambourne.
There are other organisations which provide food and support to those in need. Research has
shown that the total number of food bank users may be considerably higher as the scale of
the problem is not being effectively monitored 2.
3. How do food banks work?
The Trussell Trust runs the majority of food banks in Cambridgeshire. They work with local
churches to set up new food banks in areas of need. Once a food bank is established it starts:
−
Collecting donations of food from schools, businesses, individuals and churches. Some
supermarkets allow shoppers to donate
items they buy.
−
Recruiting volunteers, who sort and
package food into boxes, making sure
that the food is in date.
−
Serving people in need who have been
referred to a food bank by a doctor, social worker, health worker, council
worker, Citizens' Advice Bureau, or the
police. People in need are given food
vouchers that can be exchanged for
food.
They can’t just walk in off the
street and get free food.
Each voucher is equivalent to three days emer-
WHAT IS IN A TYPICAL BOX
Milk (UHT or powdered)
Sugar (500g)
Fruit juice (carton)
Soup
Pasta sauces
Sponge pudding (tinned)
Tomatoes (tinned)
Cereals
Rice pudding (tinned)
Tea bags/instant coffee
Instant mash potato
Rice/pasta
Tinned meat/fish
Tinned fruit
Jam Source: Trussell Trust
Biscuits or snack bar
gency food. Other organisations that provide
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emergency food aid have slightly different processes and provide different levels of support,
but referral and voucher systems are usually used. In rural areas food can sometimes be delivered.
4. Why are people using food banks?
People are seeing their incomes fall. Wages are down and benefits are lagging behind rises in
food prices. There are often delays in people receiving the benefits to which they are entitled.
Across the UK, people are suffering as wages fail to keep up with the cost of living. Real wages
in Cambridgeshire as a whole are lower now than they were a decade ago. The use of zerohours/low-hours contracts is an example of how underemployment has become common in
the UK. A recent survey by the Unite trade union revealed that up to 5.5 million workers are
on contracts that guarantee less than 3 hours work per week 3. For people relying on social security the situation is bleak, as a number of benefit increases are capped at below the rate of
inflation.
Cuts to benefits such as the Housing Benefit, Child Benefit, and Council Tax Benefit have
pushed many people to require emergency food assistance. On top of welfare cuts there is
now also a harsher approach to people with disabilities and a much stricter benefit sanctions
regime. This has had a noticeable impact on the number of people seeking help. In some cases,
disabled people with serious medical conditions have been told they are fit to work, and their
benefits stopped. These assessments are carried out by private companies such as ATOS. The
sanctions regime at Job Centres has come under repeated criticism for being driven by sanctions targets that result in wrongly penalising benefit claimants.
If Universal Credit is ever introduced, despite all the difficulties with its implementation, these
problems will get worse and there will be an even higher demand on food banks.
A survey by Which? magazine in September found that 41% of people were experiencing increased stress levels due to rising food prices. 29% of people were struggling to buy enough
food for themselves or their household 4. A survey in 2012 by 'Netmums' found one in five
mothers regularly skip meals to provide food for their children.
Jobcentre Plus has been sending people to food banks since September 2011 if, for example, a
crisis loan or benefit advance is refused, benefits are reduced due to a change in circumstances, or there delays in paying benefits.
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Benefit delays
Data from the Trussell Trust shows that 31% of people using food banks in 2013/14 were
there because of delays to receiving their benefits. Delays often happen when someone's circumstances change; for example, if they move house, start working more or less hours, or
change bank details.
Welfare reform
17% of all referrals to Trussell Trust food banks in 2013/14 were due to changes in benefits.
Under the present UK Government, there have been cuts to Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, and freezes on Child Benefit and Tax Credits. A report released in August by the Local
Government Association estimated that the average cost of welfare reform to a household
would be £1615 a year (£31 a week) 5.
In April 2013, the Social Fund was abolished. This used to provide Crisis Loans and other support for those in severe financial need. It has now been replaced by local schemes set up by
councils, several of whom have decided to spend this money on food banks instead.
Benefit sanctions
In October 2012, the UK Government introduced a new benefits sanction regime. The changes
actually serve to punish people who receive Job-Seekers Allowance, for example if they miss
appointments, or if they are judged not to be trying hard enough to find work. Joint research
by Oxfam, the Church of England and the Child Poverty Action Group suggests that between
20% and 30% of people relying on food banks in 2013 had had their benefits sanctioned 6. In
the Eastern region, benefit sanctions doubled between 2009 and 2013.
Low income and high costs
Figures on the reasons for food-bank reliance are also revealing. In 2013/14, 20% of food-bank
users indicated low income as the cause, whilst another 8% attributed need for food banks to
financial debt. It's unsurprising that food bank use has increased, at a time when household
incomes have remained static, or fallen, whilst costs and debts have risen. 7
Electricity, gas, and housing costs have all been rising faster than overall inflation. 8 Utilities
bills are often higher for poorer households who depend on pre-pay meters. 9 The lack of affordable credit and banking entails that poorer households can end up in spiraling debts, as
they attempt to fund basic necessities. 10 Poorer households are also limited in their choices of
where to buy food and other goods as they cannot afford to travel, or to buy in bulk to take
advantage of discounts. 11
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Further details are provided in a recent report from The Trussell Trust, Oxfam, Church of England and Child Poverty Action Group (November 2014) – ‘Emergency Use Only’ http://www.trusselltrust.org/resources/documents/Press/Foodbank-Report.pdf
5. Myths about food banks
It's nothing to do with poverty, food banks are being used because people like free food
In order to use a food bank, you have to be referred by a care professional who has assessed
that you need support. This could be a GP, social worker, health visitor, or staff at the Jobcentre.
The number of people helped by food banks is growing because there are more around
Conservative Lord Freud said about food banks: ‘There is actually no evidence as to whether
the use of food banks is supply led or demand led.' The number of people using food banks is
increasing much more than the number of food banks themselves. Often, people have already
run up debts, or turned to family and friends for support before coming to a food bank. Last
year, a report found that food banks are predominantly a last-resort, short-term measure,
prompted by an ‘acute income crisis’ – something which had happened to completely stop or
dramatically reduce their income 12.
The truth is the growth of food banks is a sign of growing poverty and inequality in the UK.
Olivier de Schutter, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, recently commented that: "[Food banks] ... represent the best and most up-to-date source of data on social
marginalisation in our societies – and thus hold the key to understanding the nature of poverty in developed countries. Access to food is the perfect bellwether for broader socioeconomic inequalities. Food insecurity hotspots generally correlate not only with poverty but
also with a series of factors that marginalise people and narrow their options." 13
Food banks are just for the unemployed
According to the Trussell Trust, only 3.65% of food bank vouchers are issued to people because
they are unemployed. Most vouchers (around 31%) are issued because of delays in benefits,
many of which are supporting people in work. More than half of children in poverty live in
working households.
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Aren't they just for people sent there from the JobCentre?
Only around 3% of people coming to food banks have been referred by the Jobcentre, according to the Trussell Trust.
Food banks encourage welfare dependency
If someone has visited a Trussell Food Bank more than 3 times (9 days of emergency food) in 6
months then the manager contacts the organisation which referred them. This is to make sure
that they are receiving the help they need to escape poverty.
6. How Greens are helping, and how Green Councillors will help even
more
Oscar Gillespie, Green Party candidate for Market Ward, has been working hard on the
food banks issue for several months now. He said:
"Kind-hearted University students have frequently gone out to give food directly to the homeless. Some groups have tried to route some of the food waste from retailers to help the needy:
The Foodcycle project in Cambridge helps to feed people, using food that would have been
thrown away by supermarkets. The Liberated Feast, Food Not Bombs, FOODISCO and Plan Zheroes are all running or starting up in Cambridge soon, with variations on the theme. These are
wonderful projects, but unfortunately they do not solve either
food waste or food poverty.
The Food Ethics Council make this point in their 2015 report ‘Food
on the agenda’. The problems can be resisted locally, but can only
be solved nationally, by a committed government.
A report by the Waste and Resources Action Programme charity
(WRAP) claims that only 1.3% of the 15m tons of food thrown
away in 2013 came from supermarkets and grocers, whereas half
of it was from homes. This fails to acknowledge the role that supermarkets play in food waste
by offering BOGOF deals and bulk discounts.
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To add to the humiliation and stress of filling out unnecessarily bureaucratic paperwork to
claim meagre benefits, people have to take coupons across the city to get emergency food for
their families. It's easy to get the impression that governments have made the benefits system
more painful to use, to deter people from using it. We need a benefits system that gives people dignity, but I can't imagine the 'major' parties supporting that. Until then, we need more
credit unions to make payday loans obsolete, we need sustainable local food which is affordable and combats rising food prices, and we need more cooking workshops for making healthy
meals on a budget.
To really tackle food poverty, wages must rise but food prices must also come down. Three
examples of local growers with a Green vision are Hodmedods in Norfolk who are growing
fava beans and quinoa using rediscovered agriculture techniques, COFCO who have championed organic techniques and donated food to community projects, and Waterland organic
farm in Lode who have championed the CropShare scheme that employs community supported agriculture to grow food and distributes it to the homeless as well as the volunteers.
Finally, as a Green Councillor, I would aim to support food banks by funding a cycle courier
system that allowed food collection from shops and households that would normally throw
edible food away.”
Oscar has been working with Cambridge Young Greens to address the issue. Cambridge is a
city with some of the most conspicuous privilege in the country but, there are also families in
the local community who are struggling with poverty because of the Coalition's austerity programme. That is why the Young Greens have been supporting Cambridge City Foodbank, including the organisation of monthly collections from Cambridge colleges. Students are encouraged to donate foods from a suggested shopping list, so that families will have the means
to put a decent meal on the table.
Jessica Scott, a Young Green who helps organise the college collections said: “Over 900,000
people claimed emergency food provision over the last year… The power of food banks is not
only in the essential gift of food, their collection and redistribution of items donated. It is in
the welcome offered to those in need, to sit and chat, and be heard.”
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7. Conclusions
The number of food banks has risen markedly in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, and across the
UK. Other organisations providing similar support are also experiencing rising demand.
Longer-term factors in the growth of food banks are falling incomes, and rises in food and
other costs. The impacts of these fall disproportionately on those who are already vulnerable.
Welfare reform, welfare cuts, and in particular the new benefit sanctioning regime, has been a
significant factor driving up the numbers of people going to food banks. The introduction of
Universal Credit could see another big rise in the demand for emergency food aid. Food banks
are filling the holes currently being made in welfare provision.
Food banks and similar services depend on the continued good will of communities to donate
food and to volunteer. Huge pressure is now being placed on an emergency food system that
is unable to take it. Many are now stretched beyond breaking point. For Greens, the rise in use
of food banks is a symptom of an economic system that signally fails to meet the needs of ordinary people. We need radical solutions to fixing the economy and fixing our society.
8. Green solutions include
Short term:
1. Making sure emergency food aid organisations work together to be most effective
2. Ensuring that benefits are set at levels which allow people to live in dignity
3. Administering benefits better so there are not delays to payments
4. Tackling hunger in school holidays when free school meals are not available
5. Supporting food banks by funding a cycle courier system that allows food collection
from shops and households that would normally throw edible food away. Linking local
food banks with local projects on food waste.
6. Free training should be provided to help food banks get through the excessive legal
requirements when giving food to the needy.
7. Greater availability of sessions where people can learn cooking skills, both for students
in schools, and adults through local libraries.
Short to Medium term:
8. Making work pay by ensuring the Minimum Wage is a Living Wage
9. Investing in job creation, especially for young people
10. Ensuring wage ratios (between high and low earners) are narrowed
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11. Tackling the high cost of utilities such as housing, energy, and water, including by
providing them socially
12. Making allotments more available, especially to the poor; creating more edible garden
schemes. Local authority planning should ensure that allotment space is maintained,
and included in new developments.
13. Local authority support and Government support for Community Supported Agriculture schemes
14. Support organisations such as ‘Foodcycle’ and ‘social supermarkets’
15. Update the welfare system in a fair way to ensure that any inefficiency is not used as
an excuse for further attacks on the poor.
Medium to Long-term:
16. End the corporate stranglehold over the unsustainable ‘runaway food system’ we currently have:
www.frameworksinstitute.org/toolkits/foodsystem/docs/foodSystems.pdf;
Tackling
global food insecurity
17. Bring utilities such as electricity, water, and railways back into some form of public
ownership
18. Reform the ‘welfare’ system radically to provide a Citizens' Income
19. Enable those who wish to live off the land more, whether as smallholders or whatever;
enabling a larger percentage of the population to partly provision themselves.
The welfare system should be there to provide security for everyone, so that we can all be sure
that sudden unemployment or ill-health will not drive us into poverty. That can happen to
anyone, not simply those thought of as ‘the poor’. Food banks have shown society’s commitment to help those in need. It is to their great shame that the present Government does
not appear to share this commitment.
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9. References
1 http://cambridgecity.foodbank.org.uk/
2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22715451
3 http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/sep/08/zero-hours-contracts-unite-survey
4
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24192396
5 http://www.local.gov.uk/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/4097215/NEWS
6 http://www.trusselltrust.org/resources/documents/Press/Foodbank-Report.pdf
7 http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/30/household-spending-income-fuel-essentialsons-energy
8 http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/13/uk-britain-utilities-idUKLNE9AC00R20131113
9 http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/apr/20/energy-bills-prepay-meters-cost-poorerhouseholds
7 http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/06/broke-britain-doorstep-lending
11 http://www.churchpoverty.org.uk/foodfuelfinance/walkingthebreadline/report/walkingthebreadlinefile
12 http://www.trusselltrust.org/resources/documents/Press/Foodbank-Report.pdf
13 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/27/food-banks-social-safety-nets
All documents have been last checked in April 2015.
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