‘Huge worry’ of city’s child poverty figures

Dundee Foodbank manager Ken Linton said the End Child Poverty Coalition figures tally with the foodbank’s own statistics showing that of the 9,520 three-day emergency food parcels given out to referred cases in Dundee last year, more than 29% (2,500) were to feed children.

“It’s a phenomenal number of children,” he said. “It’s a huge worry. We will always feed the children, even though we have the rule of thumb of three parcels per household in six months.

“However, if there are children involved in the referral then we will always ensure that not just the child but the whole family will be fed.”

Run by 140 volunteers across five locations, Mr Linton said that from 2012-16 the main reason for people accessing Dundee Foodbank was social security benefit change or delay.

However, the biggest “step up” over the past year has been the “working poor” struggling to get by on a low income – and many families were affected.

Last summer and in the October holidays, Dundee Foodbank also supported the Dundee Bairns ‘holiday hunger’ programme. It provided cereal boxes to those children identified as missing out on meals because they were not in school.

The implications of Universal Credit is also “kicking in”, leading to periods where many people have no income through no fault of their own.

“If people are changing benefit and being put on Universal Credit – maybe because a child is leaving school – there’s this potential minimum fiveweek delay before getting any money,” he said.

Mr Linton said “stigma and shame” is still common among many claimants but the overriding sentiment is “appreciation” – and that was ultimately thanks to the generosity of Dundonians with their donations.

Dundee Foodbank manager Ken Linton.