Growth in UK food banks linked to welfare cuts, study finds

A clear link between the rapid expansion of food banks in the UK and cuts to welfare and other local services under the current government has been identified in an authoritative study for the British Medical Journal.

A surge in the use of free food distribution points has been one of the most controversial developments of this parliament. In the first leaders' television debate last month, prime minister David Cameron suggested the increase was because of jobcentres publicising their availability to claimants.

But researchers from Oxford university, Liverpool university and the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found the number of local authorities with food banks operated by the Trussell Trust, a non-governmental organisation that co-ordinates food banks nationwide, jumped from 29 in 2009-10 to 251 in 2013-14.

When they examined the areas with the biggest increases, the researchers found that food banks were more likely to open in local authority areas that had experienced higher unemployment and greater cuts to welfare.

For the first time, they linked information on the Trussell Trust's food bank operations to data from 375 UK local authorities, for the period 2006-7 to 2013-14.

They estimated that in a local authority that did not experience budget cuts in the previous two years, there was about a one in eight chance of a food bank opening. But where there had been spending cuts of 3 per cent, that chance increased to more than one in two.

The researchers also studied why some food banks were giving out more parcels of emergency food. The aim was to test the claim by some politicians that the increased use of food banks has been supply led, because of the larger number opening, rather than linked to a genuine rise in demand.

They found there was higher food parcel distribution in areas where food banks were more concentrated. But their research suggested that the supply of food banks was not driving their use.

Instead, after adjusting for the capacity of different areas to provide free food, the authors say they found "an independent link between sanctions or austerity and the number of emergency food assistance seekers".

Each 1 per cent cut in spending on central welfare benefits was linked to a 0.16 percentage point rise in food parcel distribution, and each 1 per cent rise in the percentage of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants sanctioned for infringements, such as failing to attend jobcentre appointments, was linked to a 0.09 percentage point rise in food parcel distribution.

Dr Rachel Loopstra of Oxford university's sociology department, the paper's lead author, said the data revealed "a picture of the UK where religious charities are trying to plug the gaps left from cuts in government support".

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