Off The Shelf #22: Banking Crisis

Not that sort of banking. Read time: 2.5 minutes

Photo by Claudia Raya on Unsplash

IN SUMMARY

🥫 Food banks are a way to get food to those struggling the most

📈 Living standards are being squeezed, and it’s hitting people hard

🙏🏼 Food bank demand is on the rise, and the supply of food has dropped

🛟 If you’re able to help, there are loads of easy ways to do it.

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The phrase of 2020 was ‘unprecedented times’. 2021 was all about the ‘new normal’. But it’s become increasingly clear, as we draw later into 2022, that this year will be remembered for the cost of living crisis.

One thing I’ve noticed in the last few weeks is a definite uptick in the coverage of food banks in the media. There’s obviously a crisis underway, and with energy bills set to rise and temperatures only going one way, demand for these services is on the up.

FOOD BANKS - A PRIMER

A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organisation which distributes food to those that can’t afford it. In the UK, The Trussell Trust is the largest facilitator of these services, operating around two thirds of all food banks.

Food banks are nothing new. They’ve been around for decades, with The Trussell Trust opening its first one back in 2000. There are now at least 2,500 food banks operating in the UK, and the number of parcels distributed by them has been growing each year.

This is how they work: the public donates food at collection points, which is then sorted by volunteers into parcels. These parcels are then distributed to people who are in need, having been issued a voucher by care professionals. Food banks can also help lead people to other services such as debt advice or mental health support.

FOOD BANKS ARE KEY IN A CRISIS…

We’re all feeling the pinch of higher food prices. But some people are facing particularly hard times. As of January, there had been a 22% increase in demand for food parcels compared to two years prior. As of May, more than 93% of food banks were reporting a surge in demand.

This report summarised the scale of the problem even before the pandemic and the ensuing cost of living crisis. More recently, this caught my eye: hospitals are now setting up food banks for their own nurses. We’ve obviously got a big problem, and while food banks aren’t going to be the long-term solution, they’re going to be necessary to keep people going in the short term.

…BUT THEY THEMSELVES ARE IN CRISIS

In April, the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN), another food bank facilitator, wrote to the government, ‘concerned about the scale of suffering that we are already witnessing as well as our capacity to prevent people going hungry’. So it’s not just the users of food banks struggling to sustain themselves: it’s the food banks themselves. Many providers have said they may need to turn people away, and one fifth have already had to reduce the size of their parcels.

The reason for this strain isn’t just the surge in demand: it’s coming from the supply side, too. Just search ‘food banks struggling’ on Google and look at the news stories that come up: there have been widespread reports that food donations have dropped in recent months. This makes sense, given that food costs more for everybody now, but the effects could be devastating for the most vulnerable.

HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?

It’s easy to have a direct impact - you can start by looking at your local supermarket to see whether there’s a collection point. You can add a few items to your shopping basket while you shop, and donate them as you leave.

Alternatively, you can fundraise or make a financial donation to the Trussell Trust, or IFAN. And if you have time, you can volunteer: find your local foodbank and get in touch, or even start your own.

With a difficult winter likely on the way, there’s never been a more important time to pay attention to this sort of stuff. Let me know your thoughts in the comments - are there any other ways to help? What’s the path to a longer-term solution?

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Data as of 2 October 2022. Just to keep my senior politician readership out of hot water on Sunday morning TV. Price of milk represented by the average price of comparable 2-pint bottles at 5 major retailers in the United Kingdom (Tesco, Aldi, Sainsbury’s Waitrose and Marks & Spencer). Index is equally weighted and based on online prices. Methodology is purely proprietary and utterly unscientific. For actual price data that might be remotely useful for economic analysis, try the Office for National Statistics.

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