Derry food bank users peak as charity calls for 'ending the need for food banks'

Foyle Foodbank had the 'busiest winter' in its history as the Trussell Trust calls on politicians to end the need for food banks in the North.

Foyle Foodbank is one of the 1,300 Trussell Trust networks in the North and Britain.

According to the latest figures, between April and September 2023, Foyle Foodbank provided 3,397 food parcels in Derry. A total of 1,357 went to children and 2,040 went to adults.

Strategic Development Manager for the food bank Karen Mullen said they anticipated the growth in demand and were able to deal with it.

“Our winter was the busiest since we were established. We were expecting that. There was a lack of government support for people this winter but they still had all of the high costs,” she said.

“Over the past 18 months, we have seen a rise in home heating, food, clothing, diesel, rent, mortgages, all of that and we didn't see that decreasing so we knew we were going into another difficult winter so we were prepared for it and that's how it worked out. Our figures were the highest that we've had since we were established.”

She said the heightened demand continued into January.

“When we came back, we were extremely busy. We have only sort of settled down into our 'normal busy’ as of last week and we think that has to do with the cost of living payments going out at the beginning of last week. So we've seen a small dip in people coming.

“When those payments are made we see fewer people needing to reach out to food banks for that extra support so we always support that cash first option.

“We were prepared for January to be very very busy and it has continued to be very cold. So we knew that people were going to continue to struggle in terms of heating their homes.”

Mid Ulster also received 4,534 food parcels from Trussell Trust between April and September 2023. A total of 2,217 went to children and 2,317 to adults.

Causeway Coast and Glens Received 3,984 food parcels in the same six-month period. Children received 1,375 of these while 2,609 went to adults.

Moving away from food banks

Jonny Currie, Network Lead for Northern Ireland at the Trussell Trust, said food banks are not supposed to be a long-term solution for food poverty.

“Food banks in Northern Ireland have faced an extremely tough winter, and one in six people in Northern Ireland are facing hunger because they don’t have enough money to live on. That’s not the kind of society we want to live in. The Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, now re-established, cannot stand by and let this continue,” he said.

“Food banks are not meant to have a permanent place in our society. They are a short-term measure but we are seeing an increasing need for emergency food parcels. It is simply not right that so many people in Northern Ireland are facing impossible decisions and are unable to afford the essentials that we all need to eat, stay warm and dry, and have access to hygiene products.

“Food banks can’t change the structural issues that are pushing so many people into poverty. Now that the Northern Ireland Executive has been reestablished, we must all work together to end hunger across Northern Ireland and ensure that no one needs a food bank to survive.”

He said the charity will ‘seek to engage with every MLA and the relevant Ministers’ to push for ending the need for food banks in the North.

“There are 49 Trussell Trust food bank centres across Northern Ireland, serving people in all 18 Assembly constituencies – so every MLA has to take responsibility for making the positive change needed to tackle hardship and poverty.”

A ‘long-term plan to address poverty in Northern Ireland’ was the Trussell Trust’s first of four recommendations for the Executive to prioritise.

“Emergency food parcels and fuel payments are not enough to eradicate hunger long-term.

“The Northern Ireland Executive has the power to eradicate poverty and can do this through the delivery of a budgeted Anti-Poverty strategy. This is an outstanding commitment agreed to by the last Northern Ireland Executive that still needs to be approved and implemented,” it said in a statement.

Its second recommendation was to ‘ensure that everyone can buy the food and essentials they need for themselves’.

“Raising income and reducing costs is always preferable to the provision of emergency food. When people in financial hardship can’t afford the essentials, they should be able to access immediate support.

Therefore recommendations from the Discretionary Support and Welfare Mitigations Reviews commissioned by the Department for Communities must be implemented.

There is also an urgent need to resolve the five-week wait in universal credit, mitigate the two-child limit, and provide support to private renters affected by the Local Housing Allowance.

“While the Northern Ireland Executive can play an important role in using existing social security powers to increase incomes and move away from a focus on short-term solutions, it should also call on the Government at Westminster to support the introduction of an Essentials Guarantee within Universal Credit to ensure that the basic rate at least covers life’s essentials, such as food and bills.”

It also called for ‘support for local services to ensure people get help at the right time’.

“Accessing emergency food should be a last resort, yet households with low incomes often face significant barriers when trying to access support. Independent advice and other related services should be properly resourced and offered in a consistent and coordinated way so people can access the support they need in one place rather than being passed from one agency to the next.”

And finally, it said the ‘experience of people with lived experience of hunger and poverty should help shape the services they need’.

“The Northern Ireland Executive should work directly with people affected by poverty to learn from their experiences and co-design better policy solutions.

“It is also important to work with food bank staff and volunteers to end the need for food banks. Food banks know and serve their communities and can support transformation to address the underlying drivers of food bank use.”

Right to Food City

In November last year, Derry and Strabane Council passed a motion to see the district move towards becoming a Right to Food City.

Cllr Catherine McDaid proposed the motion and said as of February 2024 it continues to progress.

“I’m in the process of meeting with community groups and local people in Derry to take account of their lived experiences of food poverty and how we can use that to shape policy and widen the campaign going forward,” the SDLP councillor said.

“I’m also working with SDLP colleagues like Foodstock founder Paul Doherty, Labour MP Ian Byrne and activists right across the North to shine a spotlight on this important issue and to continue the campaign to deliver real and meaningful change so that everyone has access to the food they need.”

The motion said the British Government and a restored Executive must prioritise food poverty, implementing a range of new measures including universal free school meals, support for community kitchens and enshrining the Right To Food for All through legislation.

Ms Mullen believes moving away from the need for food banks is possible.

“It's greater than Stormont. It's going to take all of us working collectively. Our benefits and welfare system is still governed from Westminster so the British government plays a key role in that,” she said.

“Collectively it's looking at ensuring people have enough to live on. We're lobbying around increasing the universal credit payment, and scrapping the five-week wait that is pushing people into poverty.

“All those measures can be taken from Westminster. Locally, we need to see the parties all working together.

“We need to see the Anti-Poverty Strategy fully funded and implemented, the Childcare Strategy funded and implemented, and then we need to look at good, well-paid, quality jobs, particularly in areas such as ourselves here in the Northwest so that people have enough, they're earning enough that they never have to go to a food bank to top that up.”