Adrian Curtis: Emergency service that hungry mouths can bank on

Her husband had just abandoned the family, leaving her alone with the children and the bills. After sitting with a volunteer, she relaxed a little and was so appreciative of the help she received – not only the three days’ emergency food, but emotional support too. She was touched when, as she was leaving, the volunteer said she would pray for her.

There is no stereotypical food bank client. A crisis can hit anyone at any time. We’ve seen people who, in a matter of months, have gone from earning £40k to needing a food bank and have asked the Big Issue whether they can become a vendor.

Then there’s the family on a low income whose freezer broke down – their budget was too tight to replace what they had lost. Or the lady whose benefits were sanctioned because times had got so tough that she had sold everything, including her mobile phone, and the benefits office needed a number to contact her on.

In December alone, Trussell Trust food banks in Yorkshire and Humber gave three days’ worth of nutritionally balanced food to almost 6,000 local people in crisis.

Food banks have become something of a discussion point, regularly attracting debate between religious leaders and politicians. Who’s to blame for the fact that we need them? Who uses them? Do they help?

The reality as we see it is this. More people are hitting a crisis that means they cannot, in the short term, put food on the table. And more communities are standing up and saying that they don’t think this is ok, so they’re starting food banks.

Food banks are, and always should be, a short-term response to an emergency. A response that stops parents turning to payday lenders because they’re so terrified that their children will be taken into care if they cannot put enough food on the table.

A response that doesn’t just give food, but listens and signposts people to further help to address the underlying cause of the crisis.

Food banks are a local – and currently essential – response to hunger in the community. Non-perishable food is donated by local people through schools, businesses, churches and by individuals at supermarket collections. That food is then distributed to people in crisis who have been referred by local professionals.

Food banks help build a culture of compassion. The increase in people dropping off an extra tin at the supermarket, or churches partnering with local communities to start a food bank is something that should be celebrated.

They’re a grassroots movement that shows community spirit has not died, and that wakes us up to the needs of our neighbours. What we should not celebrate is the growing number of people needing emergency food.

Over 600,000 people have received three days’ worth of emergency food from Trussell Trust food banks since April, compared with 346,992 in the entire 2012-13 financial year. One UK mother in five regularly skips meals to feed her children and recent research by Tesco shows that one person in four has skipped meals, gone without food to feed his or her family, or relied on family or friends to provide food over the last year.

The increase in food bank use is undeniable, but this is not just a case of more food banks, or supply and demand. The number of new food banks opening has slowed in the last year from three a week to two, yet numbers referred to them are rising disproportionately.

Furthermore, people cannot just turn up at a food bank: everyone who comes to a Trussell Trust food bank is referred by a professional who has assessed that the need is genuine.

And support is not indefinite. The system automatically flags once a client has used the food bank three times, at which point the manager will call the referral agent to make sure a plan is in place to help that person out of crisis, rather than creating reliance on a food bank. Additional food provision is then agreed at the discretion of the food bank manager.

Rising prices, static incomes, insecure work and changes to welfare mean that more people are walking on a financial knife edge. People who would never have imagined that they’d need a food bank are turning to them. There are people in Harrogate who can’t afford to eat or heat their homes. And it is concerning that many of the causes are avoidable.

Benefit delays and changes, including sanctions, account for 51 per cent of food bank referrals, which is why we are so keen to meet with Iain Duncan Smith to find ways to reduce these numbers and make life better for people on low incomes.

That’s also why we’re calling for an inquiry into the in-depth causes of food poverty in the UK so that we can work together as a nation to stop hunger in 21st century Britain.

To find out more go to www.trusselltrust.org

• Adrian Curtis is food bank director at the Trussell Trust, which oversees community projects tackling poverty across the UK.