‘Unsustainable’ demand for food banks, as MSPs warned of looming ‘crisis point’

Food banks have warned the rise in demand for their services is “unsustainable”, with MSPs being told of an impending “crisis point”.

Holyrood’s Social Security Committee heard how children desperate for food go through parcels as soon as they are handed over to see if there is something they can eat straight away.

One man had not eaten any food for four days before coming for an emergency package, with the committee told he had been surviving on water alone over that period.

Laura Ferguson, of the Trussell Trust charity, which has 53 food banks across Scotland, said demand increased by up to 80% at some of its centres after the rollout of Universal Credit welfare reforms.

She spoke about the “invaluable work” food banks do, telling MSPs: “There is no doubt that food banks save lives.

“They are there, they provide emotional support, they provide wraparound services to help people in their situation.”

But she added: “We can not forever rely on food banks to pick up the pieces of a failed welfare state.

“We cannot further institutionalise food banks – they do amazing work but they cannot be here forever.”

The Trussell Trust handed out more than 170,000 food parcels to those in need in Scotland last year – a rise of 17% on the previous year.

Joyce Leggate, the chairwoman of Kirkcaldy Foodbank, told MSPs about families coming to get food during the holidays.

She said: “Over the school holidays, the October holidays in particular, we had quite an increase in the number of children that are right in the parcel, in the food bank, opening stuff up to see if what they could eat on the way home, whether it is a packet of biscuits or anything.

“If we have any bread to give out, it gets eaten before they go home. It really is quite shocking to see that level of hunger in children.”

Stever Wright, of Edinburgh City Mission, said its food banks have had a 50% increase in referrals this year.

He told MSPs a number of people it helped were in jobs but had experienced problems with in-work benefits or were simply struggling to cope with rising food costs.

He said: “It’s not just a spike this year – it is a problem that has been building and now it has reached crisis point.”

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