Lonewolfie wrote:
How many people use Foodbanks? (Rhetorical, as we don't know of course - I think they stopped counting in 2011)
Trussell Trust started auditing properly in 2011 - their figures are reasonably accurate.
913,138 parcels were distributed via their community food banks in 2013-14, nearly 3 times the figure for the year before.
Reasons for the need - Benefit delays 30.9%, Low incomes 20.29%, Benefit changes 16.97%.
TT complained when DWP removed the part of the referral form in which the person issued with the voucher put the reasons why they were asking for help; DWP issues guidance for staff in which they are ordered to "signpost" people but not "refer" them, and they are not allowed to call a "signposting slip" a food bank voucher even though that is exactly what they are.
DWP insists that food banks are not an integral part of the benefits system, despite having what they call "high level guidance" on how DWP staff must proceed when someone is due delayed benefits or refused a Short Term Benefit Advance. Jobcentres keep a tally of how many slips/vouchers they issue - DWP knows exactly how many are given out, but pretend they're not recording them.
Despite the fact that people who have issues with benefits comprise nearly half the people using the food banks, DWP insist that there is "no robust evidence" that the increased use of food banks, occurring at the same time as benefit changes, is in any way linked.
TT's latest figures combined with records from LAs and independent food banks suggest that TT supplies 29% of all emergency food aid in the UK. That does not include soup kitchens, street soup runs for homeless people, and ad-hoc things (like the Sikh gurdwaras in Birmingham who open their doors to feed people, or churches/mosques/synagogues etc. which do the same, or community services and charities which don't always keep records). Plus the Red Cross and Save the Children, providing food in the UK for the first time.
The real figure is probably closer to 2 million, if you discount the people who get help more than once. Some food banks, including TT ones, arrange for people to have a few week's worth of parcels to keep them going while they try to get help or serve out a sanction.
There are a few food banks which will not honour a voucher if they believe that the claimant has a "chaotic" lifestyle or if they have been sanctioned - presumably because they think these people are the "undeserving" and are hungry through their own actions.
Patrick Butler has some good stuff on this - he seems to be the only one who researches this issue with any accuracy.
The fact is that we DO know how many there are relying on food banks, because they are counted.
We also know who is responsible for the need.