UK Foodbank Use: Time for a Fresh Perspective
The UK is a country of inequalities. Central London is the richest region in Western Europe, yet nine of the ten poorest regions in Western Europe are also in the UK. When it comes to that most basic human need, food, this inequality is striking. We live in a time where food is apparently more abundant than ever before: we throw away 7 million tonnes of it every year, and obesity rates have doubled over the past two decades. Yet increasingly, people are struggling to feed their families, with foodbank use at a record high. For low-income families whose children qualify for free school meals, the upcoming holidays may not include the usual abundance of food and sweet treats we associate with Easter: over 40% of parents in low-income families report having had to skip a meal during school holidays so that they can afford to feed their children. Concerns over this ‘holiday hunger’ have led to proposals by a Scottish council to provide free school meals to low-income children all year round.
The rise of the foodbank
Rising levels of foodbank use made headlines around the 2015 UK general election, with some attributing it to the effects of austerity. An article in the British Medical Journal found that more foodbanks had been opened in the areas which faced severest the cuts to welfare spending. Most available figures come not from government, but from the Trussell Trust, a charity which runs the largest network of foodbanks in the UK. It reported giving out almost 1.2 million emergency food parcels in the year 2016-17. Since there are other foodbanks operating independently of the Trussell Trust, these figures are, if anything, an under-estimation.
Common misconceptions
‘Free-riding’
Critics have disputed the argument that rising foodbank use is an indicator of greater need, arguing that it is a response to an increase in supply, and attracting free-riders. But most foodbanks, including all run by the Trussell Trust, do not give out food parcels to anyone who walks through the door. Users must be referred by a frontline professional – such as a GP or the Citizens Advice Bureau – who assesses their level of need. In addition, researchers have suggested that the food provided is not as costless as is first perceived – although there is no monetary cost, the feelings of shame and stigma which many foodbank users report suggest that visiting a foodbank is a last resort, not an opportunity to get ‘something for nothing’.
Eating healthily is not cheap
Some have tried to use the association between low-incomes and a higher risk of being overweight or obese as evidence that food poverty is not a result of low-income, but laziness or ignorance of the value of good nutrition and healthy eating habits. But this argument shows a lack of appreciation for the challenges facing those on low or unpredictable incomes. For the 10% of UK households in fuel poverty, the ‘heat or eat’ dilemma may mean that they can’t afford to consistently run electrical appliances, which restricts what meals they can prepare. For those seeking to economise by buying in bulk, fresh fruit and vegetables are less-cost effective as they perish quickly (especially if one can’t afford to pay for the electricity for a fridge).
People without a car, or access to affordable public transport, are limited to buying whatever food is available in the local area. This phenomenon of ‘food deserts’, areas where supermarket access is difficult, has been much discussed with respect to the US but less so in the UK. Food deserts may not be easy to spot, as there is often lots of food available, but not the nutritious ingredients which can form the basis of a healthy diet. For example, the Bronx borough of New York City is classed as a food desert – whilst it is full of fast food outlets there are very few grocery stores. The paradox of the UK’s parallel crises (hunger and obesity) is that they often affect the same people: those who face hunger may be forced to choose between eating something which is healthy and something which is cheaper and more filling.
The wrong voices are being heard
When foodbanks use became a subject of public debate in the UK it revealed the divide between those who make and discuss policy, and those who feel its impact. The 2015 election debates showcased Prime Minister David Cameron’s ignorance over figures surrounding foodbank use. A media furore was also sparked when a member of the House of Lords made headlines by implying that people were going hungry because they didn’t know how to cook. The voices of those who have actually used foodbanks has been sadly lacking from the policy debate, something which social policy research has begun to try and rectify. Dr. Kayleigh Garthwaite (University of Birmingham) recently published a book based on a year’s experience volunteering in a foodbank in Stockton-on-Tees, which gave a voice to some of the users of foodbanks, as well as revealing a deep divide between the foodbank users, and more affluent members of the local community who often voiced some of the common misconceptions discussed above.
Conclusion: what questions should we be asking?
Policymakers, journalists, and all those who seek to voice an opinion on the issue of food poverty should learn from this example, and seek to listen to those for whom it is a reality. But to truly confront this issue we need to go beyond a debate over whether foodbank users are deserving of the help they gain. By engaging in the debate over the deservingness of recipients, we legitimise the idea that the public should be making deservingness judgements at all, which feeds into the sense of shame and stigma which many foodbank users feel. We need to look beyond the phenomenon of foodbanks to the structural conditions that have created them – in particular, to examine the links between austerity, welfare reform and food poverty. The key debate should not be over the deservingness of foodbank users, but how we have reached a situation where foodbanks are necessary in the first place.
References
Garthwaite, K. (2016). Hunger Pains: life inside Foodbank Britain. Bristol: Policy Press.
Jackson, T. (2015). ‘Austerity and the rise of foodbanks’. BMJ, 350 :h1880.
McMillan, T. (2014). ‘Hunger in America’. National Geographic Magazine (August 2014), pp. 66-89.
Van der Horst, H., Pascucci, S. and Bol, W. (2014). ‘The “dark side” of food banks? Exploring emotional responses of food bank receivers in the Netherlands’. British Food Journal, 116(9), pp. 1506-1520.
About the Author
Holly Metcalf is a graduate student reading for the MSc in Comparative Social Policy at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford. She has a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect any editorial policy.