The number of food bank users in 2015 had seen a huge spike to over one million, compared to the figure of 61,000 just five years prior. But are food banks the solution to hunger in the UK? Mafalda Correa shares her perspective.
As a consequence of economic austerity, the number of people struggling to put food on their tables is spiralling out of control. Food banks are now necessary to ensure that these people are fed, but they do not achieve more than putting food in their mouths at a given time. What we need to do is to stop their struggle, and food banks aren’t doing anything except delaying potential solutions. Food banks keep growing at an astonishing rate, close to 1,000 banks are now spread out across the UK, all while politicians stand by applauding the efforts of charities to try and keep 13 million people living below the poverty line fed. |
No one likes food banks more than politicians, not even their users. Food banks give the perfect excuse for politicians to not worry that a fifth of their population does not seem to have enough money to support themselves and their families.
Who cares that something is obviously going wrong? Food banks are there to give the bread, and the government just needs to keep the public distracted. No one can really see the elephant in the room with all these food banks blocking the view.
People go hungry daily in the UK for several reasons. The extra cost of heating in the winter might not leave people with enough money for food; an unexpected bill could suddenly pop up while they’re barely scraping by; or even cuts and delays to benefits could mean that they will have to go without food. The money just does not stretch enough to cover it all, and for some, after the bills are paid there’s often nothing left.
Blessed then are those who get the magical food voucher to collect their meals from the food banks, because these are not available to everyone either. To get your three-day-worth-of-food pack, you need to get a referral from a frontline care professional such as a doctor or social worker.
Who cares that something is obviously going wrong? Food banks are there to give the bread, and the government just needs to keep the public distracted. No one can really see the elephant in the room with all these food banks blocking the view.
People go hungry daily in the UK for several reasons. The extra cost of heating in the winter might not leave people with enough money for food; an unexpected bill could suddenly pop up while they’re barely scraping by; or even cuts and delays to benefits could mean that they will have to go without food. The money just does not stretch enough to cover it all, and for some, after the bills are paid there’s often nothing left.
Blessed then are those who get the magical food voucher to collect their meals from the food banks, because these are not available to everyone either. To get your three-day-worth-of-food pack, you need to get a referral from a frontline care professional such as a doctor or social worker.
But let’s take a step back and pretend everyone going hungry in this country has the golden ticket to these modern versions of Charlie’s Chocolate Factory. The reality isn’t as peachy, and it’s needless to say that a visit to the local food bank is far from being as glamourous. Additionally, if being on a low income and struggling to get by is not having an impact on people’s health itself, the fact of their having to rely on charity to eat probably will. A study carried out in the Netherlands about the emotions of users of food banks revealed that most feel ashamed to even go into one.
It is with lowered heads and slumped shoulders that people walk into a food bank, not with smiles on their faces, ready for heart-warming chats with volunteers over cups of tea. This is not to say that some volunteers do not help by listening to their problems, but simply that people would rather not have a reason to use food banks in the first place. The food voucher is closer to a ticket to hell than a ticket to the Chocolate Factory, considering the social and psychological impact it has on those who are already struggling. It is, however, a very necessary hell when their users have nowhere else to turn.
The Trussell Trust’s report shows that around 61,000 people were given three days’ emergency food by their food banks in 2010-2011, but in the following year, that number had nearly doubled to over 120,000. In the 2012-2013 report, the number had sky-rocketed to nearly 350,000, but it still managed to almost triple to more than 900,000 in 2013-2014.
In 2015, food banks fed over one million people and from them, nearly 400,000 were children.
The rate at which the number of people needing food banks is growing should be concerning enough for politicians to take action. But why would they, when the food banks are doing such a good job of taking care of a problem they’re brushing aside?
As the right to food is a Human Right, it is therefore the government’s job to protect people from hunger when the reasons for their hunger are beyond their control, as is the case with most people going to food banks.
Governments have an obligation to look out for their people themselves, and to not put the burden on charities to do this as they turn a blind eye to what is going on in their country.
So no, I’m not suggesting that the government put an end to food banks, as there are 13 million people in this country in dire need of them, but that they should stop treating them as the single solution to hunger in this country. They are not the solution; they only put a plaster on the actual problem. It’s about time that MPs open their eyes to the fact that the country is failing its citizens in providing social security. We need to do better than food banks. We need to see real solutions to help those struggling to make ends meet. |
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