DEMAND FOR FOOD bank parcels in Northern Ireland has increased by 23% this year compared with last and is outstripping supply from donations, according to a network of 22 such services.

Trussel Trust’s Northern Ireland manager warned that the “cost of living crisis has pushed more and more people to food banks who never thought they would have to darken [their] doors”.

The charity, which operates food banks across the United Kingdom, handed out 39,344 food parcels for adults and children in the North between the start of April and the end of September.

This marks a 23% increase on the same period last year, and is the most the charity has ever distributed in this time period. It is also a greater increase than England, Scotland and Wales.

Close to 10,000 people in Northern Ireland used a food bank for the first time in this period.

The NGO has warned that the demand it is experiencing in Northern Ireland for food is now outstripping its supply from donations from members of the public and excess stock from supermarkets.

The NGO’s food banks operate by providing three days’ worth of nutritious food to people deemed to be in need. Referrals can be made by social workers, school staff, healthcare or other community care professionals who provide people with vouchers which can then be exchanged at local food banks. 

Commenting on the latest figures, Jonnie Currie, national lead for the NGO in Northern Ireland, said:

“At the basic level, it’s people’s income isn’t matching the cost of essentials. Food bank use isn’t about the lack of food, it’s about a lack of income.

“So certainly in the last two years coming out of the pandemic, the cost of living crisis has pushed more and more people to food banks who never thought that they would have ever have to darken the door of food banks.”

Worries for Christmas

Jonnie Currie said that all food banks in the network were “working as hard as they can to make sure they get through the winter”.

“Some will really, really struggle to stay operational in between now and January and February and that’s a practical reality. So we are really prioritising these banks to see if we can get as much support as possible,” he said.

Currie also said that the lack of a functioning Northern Ireland Assembly over the past 20 months may also be exacerbating the problem.

“So by means of comparison, Scotland is a region where food bank use has increased at the lowest rate,” he said.

And it’s hard not to look at the fact that they have a devolved government there that’s making the most of its powers with a range of cash-first interventions and long term plans to try and address food bank use. And we don’t have that here in the absence of an Executive.”

“Cash-first” refers to cases where households perceived to be in need are given direct support in the form of money, rather than in-kind support like food parcels or vouchers.

Food poverty

While the UK government has no official indicator used to measure food insecurity, a common definition is if a household cannot (or are uncertain about whether they can) acquire an adequate quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways.

Trussell Trust recently published research for Northern Ireland which found that 16% of people had experienced food poverty between 2021 and 2022, equating to an estimated 354,000 people. The research was based on two surveys: one of people using the NGO’s food banks; and another general survey.

In response to a question about whether more people were using food banks as a result of more food banks being available, Jonnie Currie said that each food bank in the charity’s network in the North had opened as a response to a perceived need in the local area.

“It takes a lot of work to run a food bank. It’s a huge, huge operation in terms of mostly volunteer time. So it’s never entered into lightly,” he said.

All the food banks in the network know their neighbourhoods very well. They sprung up in response to… a need in the neighbourhoods.”

Possible solutions

Trussell Trust has called for a number of measures to be introduced in order to help tackle the increase in food bank use. Firstly, the charity said an increase to the overall Universal Credit benefit should be introduced by the UK government.

“The UK-wide policy change that we think might make the biggest difference here is a reasonable increase in the basic level of Universal Credit, which affects all four parts of the UK,” said Currie.

However, specifically for Northern Ireland, Currie said that a proper anti-poverty strategy needed to be put in place, along with increased social supports, and that these could only be done with a return to power sharing arrangements at Stormont.

For Northern Ireland, on top of that, the thing that will make the biggest difference is a local Executive. It’s taking decisions to address poverty.”