New statistics reveal that the issue of food insecurity in York has dramatically increased across the last five years — pushing thousands of hard-working residents below the poverty line.
The city’s Trussell Trust food distribution centre gave out twice as many food parcels last year (8,846) compared to five years ago (4,026).
Adam Raffell, the manager at the York Food Bank, said that these new figures constitute “something abnormal becoming normalised.”
The Trust define a food parcel as an emergency food instalment containing three days’ worth of nutritionally balanced food and toiletries. In York they also give out food vouchers to collect fresh and frozen food from Co-op supermarkets that have partnered with them.
The food included in the parcels is all “non-perishable” but dependent on what is made available through donations.
Those using the service must receive a referral, which often can come from any of more than 700 local officials, charities, as well as Citizens’ Advice, to benefit.
Mr Raffell did assure Your Local Link that they “don’t turn people away” however.
In York, this has all taken place whilst other usual indicators of economic hardship have remained essentially the same. In fact, only 0.5% more of the population are receiving unemployment related benefits than were in 2019.
Mr Raffell estimates that the rise can be credited to an almost perfect storm of misfortune. The uplift in Universal Credit which residents received during the pandemic was removed at the same time that the price of wholesale energy (for heating, lighting a home etc.) increased. During the winter of 2022 the energy price cap – the maximum monthly price that energy companies can charge consumers – increased by a whopping 54%. Mr Raffell suggested that the rise they’ve seen has “coincided” with these two events.
The chart above breaks down the income source of those using the foodbank. Whilst the overwhelming number of referrals is for those who do not earn and receive government benefits (making up 71% of all foodbank use) the category ‘Earning, no benefits’ should not be overlooked. This is the set of people who work full-time and yet still do not make it through the month without having to rely on the foodbank. Last year there were 130 cases in which individuals who work full-time were referred to Trussell Trust facilities.
This pattern was confirmed by Adam Raffell.
He said, “Overwhelmingly the most common reason why people would be referred is if they’re receiving benefits and are not working but there is a fairly substantial number of people coming that are either in work part or full-time.”
He says that nationally the best path forward is for Universal Credit to be set by an independent body so that it more accurately reflects the state of cost of living.
“If we put the provisions in place, people don’t need to access food banks. If we don’t, then we’re going to continue to see spiralling numbers of people accessing emergency help. That’s a choice we all have to make about what sort of society we want to live in.”
Mr Raffell added that there is still plenty that can be done to make a difference here in York.
“The first thing we want to say to anybody in the City of York is a massive thank you for the myriad of donations that have been received, not just this year, but in years gone by. We have appreciated every tin of fruit, every carton of UHT milk that has come to help our clients.
“The key items that we’re really needing at the moment are tinned fruit, tinned tomatoes, and tinned soup. The UHT milk and fruit juice are kind of the big ones, but all of the staples that we’re appealing for, we’re so grateful for. Everything makes a big difference, and we appreciate it so much.”
You can learn more about how and where to make a donation to York’s food distribution centre at york.foodbank.org.uk
As part of a feature in our August 2024 Your Local Link magazine we out together an extensive list of the community food bank programmes and support services available in York. Read about them here.
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