New figures from the Trussell Trust show that over 3.1 million emergency food parcels were given out by their food banks between April 2023 and March 2024, a record number.
Food banks have sadly become an essential part of the social safety net in the UK. More people are relying on them, but the increases are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to explaining why people are struggling to feed themselves and their families. What we’ve been seeing in Barnet is no different.
About food banks
Food banks run on the energy of volunteers and generous donations from people, businesses, and other organisations. People often visit food banks when they’re facing tough times and can’t stretch their budget enough to cover food costs. This might be due to losing a job, unexpected bills, or health issues. Besides helping with immediate needs, food banks reveal much deeper issues like poverty, low wages, and gaps in benefits, all of which can all make it hard for families and individuals to get by.
The rising cost of living is adding even more pressure on food banks, as more people are struggling to afford essential expenses.
Citizens Advice Barnet and food banks
There are hundreds of food banks across the borough, many of which are independently operated.
We’re part of the on-site support team for several food banks in Barnet. If someone has more complex issues, our advisers are available to help with matters like debt, housing, benefits, or immigration. We run regular sessions at Chipping Barnet Foodbank which is operated by the Trussell Trust.
Our presence at food banks leads to a variety of positive outcomes. We might provide advice that empowers individuals to address their problems themselves, offer appointments with specialist advisers either within our organisation or externally, or direct them to additional support services. In fact our most recent data shows that after seeing one of our food bank advisers 41% were equipped with knowledge to resolve the issue themselves.
Food banks referrals triples
Since 2020, the number of people we have referred for food bank and charitable support in Barnet has more than tripled, as shown in figure 1.
Fig.1
Figure 2 shows the month-to-month changes in the number of people being referred to food banks and for charitable support. The numbers really began to rise in December 2021, peaking in March 2023. In the chart you’ll see that we have more people being referred during the winter months, when financial pressures increase due to higher energy bills and seasonal celebrations.
The decrease in numbers in May and October 2023 align to the government’s Cost of Living payments, which provided support to eligible households. These have now ended.
Fig. 2
What issues do we help with at food banks?
People come to us for advice for many different reasons, and Figure 3 shows how this has been most recently split. Benefits, housing and debt issues are always usually the most prevalent.
In terms of who we see, most recently, the majority of people we’ve helped are unable to work due to ill health, followed by those who are unemployed, and then those who are working, as shown in figure 4.
Rising living costs are affecting more people, including those who are employed, making it hard for their income to cover essential expenses.
Fig.3
Fig. 4
Actual food bank usage in Barnet
Figure 5 shows the number of food bank recipients in Barnet, based on data from Barnet Council, *which includes only the food banks closely working with them. In 2021, there were over four times as many recipients as in 2020. The number of people using Barnet’s food banks reached a peak of 152,000 in 2023.
Fig. 5
Will the demand for food banks decrease in 2024?
Several news articles have highlighted falling inflation, sparking hopes that this might signal the end of the cost of living crisis. However, a lower inflation rate doesn’t mean prices are falling; they’re still rising, just more slowly.
The crisis will truly end when prices stabilise and wages or social security benefits increase enough to keep up. Unfortunately, this isn’t happening yet, and the need for food banks is likely to continue both across the UK and here in Barnet.
You can make a difference
Food banks provide a lifeline to those who are hungry, and we see Citizens Advice Barnet’s presence at these food banks as an additional helping hand to address some of the root causes of food bank use.
While the food bank helps us reach more people, it does stretch our service capacity further; about 36% of the people we see at the food bank need extra help and are referred to an adviser. In order to be able meet the demand we need trained advisers – this requires time, resources and funding.
You can support us by donating today. Your donation will help train our volunteers, ensuring we have a steady flow of skilled and well-prepared advisers ready to handle any issues that arise. Donate today.