A growing menace : food insecurity in the UK through the eyes of those trying to alleviate it

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A Growing Menace:

Food Insecurity in the UK Through the Eyes of Those

Trying to Alleviate it

Master Thesis

MSc International Development Studies

Graduate School of Social Sciences

University of Amsterdam

Daniel Mason

Student ID: 12246670

daniel.mason@zoho.com

Supervisor: Dr Courtney L. Vegelin

Second Reader: Dr Nicky Pouw

August 2019

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Acknowledgements

Firstly, I would like to thank all those who contributed to the information in this thesis: all the interviewees who took their time to talk to me, and then let me use their contact lists. Without them, this entire project would be about five pages long.

Thanks to Courtney for support and guidance throughout. You never made me feel stressed, panicked or pressured – even though at many times I probably deserved some harsher words.

A big thank you to my entire family, for their reading, re-reading, and then reading again of this thesis. They probably know more about food insecurity in the UK than I do by now. Also, special thanks to my brother for conveniently arranging his wedding shortly after the thesis deadline, to give me something to look forward to.

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Abstract

Food insecurity is a growing problem in the United Kingdom. Figures from the Trussell Trust show that use of their foodbanks has risen by 73% in the last five years, with the UN estimating that as many as one in five of the reported 11.2 million severely food insecure people in Europe live in the UK (FAO 2018).1

Existing literature on food insecurity is extensive. Studies have reviewed who uses foodbanks and why (Loopstra 2015; Prayogo et al., 2018) and the experiences of those suffering from food insecurity (Cooper and Dumpleton 2013) but as of yet, no study has looked at the perspectives and opinions of those working to alleviate food insecurity. This thesis, therefore, seeks to explore the issue of food insecurity in the UK through the eyes of those trying to combat it.

It considers those seen as most at risk from food insecurity and why, before analysing the various approaches that can be taken by those working to alleviate food insecurity, including different attitudes towards food provision services, food waste, and attitudes towards policymakers.

The two main themes to arise throughout this study are: the need for the voices of those being affected by decisions to be heard by the decision makers; and how more weight needs to be given to the qualitative side of effectiveness, rather than economic efficiency, when deciding the worth of a service.

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List of Figures:

Figure One – Conceptual Scheme

Figure Two – Map of the location of interviewees

Figure Three – Base questions for semi-structured interviews

Figure Four – A mind map showing who is vulnerable to food insecurity and

what factors affect them

Figure Five – “Assessing Value for Money” diagram, sourced from the

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Introduction

Introduction and Context

On September 15th_{2015, the United Kingdom was one of the 193 UN member states that adopted the} United Nation’s ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. The Agenda consists of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that all members will strive to achieve by 2030. The second SDG, Zero Hunger, aims to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” There are eight targets as part of SDG2. The first two – end hunger, and end malnutrition – are domestic based targets, while the other six, to do with promoting sustainable agriculture, are international in focus. Through the first two targets of SDG2 the UK Government has been committed to eradicating food insecurity in British society since 2015.

Despite this, there is no Government-approved nationwide measurement and definition of food insecurity in the UK. In the Low Income Diet and Nutrition Survey, conducted between 2003 and 2005 – the last time food insecurity was measured by the UK Government – it was defined as “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways” (Food Standards Agency 2007). People who suffer from food insecurity feel its effect in a variety of ways. Children are more likely to suffer from a series of developmental conditions, with food insecurity impacting physical health, social wellbeing and mental and emotional health. A result of this is an increase in poor behaviour and a decrease in academic performance (Aveces-Martin et al 2018). Adults who are afflicted by food insecurity report higher levels of stress, experience social stigma when accessing food assistance programmes, and are more likely to fall ill (Purdam et al 2016). Food insecurity affects everyone in the UK, whether they are directly suffering from it or not, as the impacts are economic as well as social. A report by the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN UK) found that an estimated £19.6 billion was spent on malnutrition and associated diseases in England in 2011-12 (BAPEN 2015). The UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD) found that, in relation to the SDGs, “while there is an enormous amount to celebrate, the most vulnerable places and people in our society are increasingly being left behind” (UKSSD 2018). On the specific issue of achieving Zero Hunger, they found that:

“The ‘average’ situation in the UK hides large variations according to socioeconomic status, and two juxtaposed challenges: high and growing levels of obesity and diet related disease, and among the highest levels of household food insecurity in Europe. These challenges are

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underpinned by a food system which is struggling to provide healthy, sustainable, diverse diets for everyone in the UK” (UKSSD 2018).

Numerous reports indicate that there are high levels of food security in the UK. Despite the Government’s commitment to tackle the issue, the Trussell Trust reported a 79% increase in the number of people using their foodbanks between 2014 and 2019, as more families struggle to put food on the table without assistance.2_{The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation, averaging data from} 2015 to 2017, estimated that around 2.2 million people in the UK were in a state of severe food insecurity. This was the highest reported level in Europe, and means that the UK is home to one in five of the reported 11.2 million severely food insecure people throughout the continent (FAO 2018). In their response to this, the Environmental Audit Committee of the UK Parliament reported that around 19% of all under 15s live with an adult who is moderately or severely food insecure (Environmental Audit Committee 2018). From these reports, it is clear that the numbers of those vulnerable to food insecurity in UK society is very high, and is likely increasing.

Through reports like this, the issue of food insecurity is getting increased coverage in the UK. It has been picked up by major news outlets – between the start of January and the end of July 2019, the Guardian published 21 articles related to ‘food poverty’.3_{Some of the biggest organisations in the UK} have joined the End Hunger UK campaign, which has been putting pressure on the Government to do more. In February of this year they achieved an important victory: the Government announced that it will introduce an official measure of food insecurity. Questions on food insecurity were incorporated into the Family Resources Survey, collected in April 2018 and its results will be published in March 2021.4

Amidst all of these reports and increased coverage, no study has ever collected the personal opinions of those working to alleviate food insecurity in the UK. The workers for these organisations – whether fieldworkers, middle or senior managers, or a variety of different sorts of volunteers – are those who are doing the most to tackle food insecurity. They interact with all stakeholders on the issue of food insecurity: those who suffer from it, policymakers, the media and others organisations who are trying to combat the problem. The work they do is, in turn, affected by all of these stakeholders. However, no study has looked at their perspectives, and the similarities and differences that arise in their opinions.

This thesis explores how far different organisations and individuals have differing approaches and working definitions when it comes to food security; and whether and how far these differences in 2_{https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/end-year-stats/}_{<accessed 04/08/2019} 3 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/dec/19/this-is-supposed-to-be-a-rich-country-volunteers-on-the-reality-of-food-bank-britain <accessed 04/08/2019> 4_{https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/27/government-to-launch-uk-food-insecurity-index}_<accessed 04/08/2019>

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approach produce tensions. Whether dealing with a specific vulnerable group or tackling an explicit food related issue – focusing on children or asylum seekers, emergency provision or empowerment, campaigning or alleviation, and so on – the way a worker approaches food insecurity affects their view of it. As part of this research, I have interviewed 29 workers with different roles from a variety of organisations, to see what similarities and differences arise in their perspectives.

Research Questions

Drawing on the topic discussed above, this thesis addresses the following main research question:

What are the different interpretations of food insecurity amongst those trying to alleviate it in the UK? What are the implications of this for policymakers?

This will be facilitated by looking at the following four sub-questions:

1. What makes a person vulnerable to food insecurity?

2. What conflicting priorities exist between organisations with different approaches to tackling food insecurity?

3. How does a worker’s relationship with policymakers influence their opinion? 4. How does a worker’s relationship with the media influence their opinion?

Outline of Thesis

There are five chapters in this thesis. Chapter one examines the theoretical framework of this research. It defines the key concepts of food insecurity, vulnerability and social action, before looking at the existing literature on food insecurity in the UK. Chapter two then concerns research methodology, explaining what my fieldwork consisted of.

The next two chapters are then split between answering the research sub-questions. Chapter three looks at sub-question one, of what makes a person vulnerable to food insecurity?

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Chapter four then answers the next three sub-questions. It looks at how organisations with different priorities approach the issue of food insecurity differently. It then looks at how a work’s interaction with policymakers and the media may influence their opinion.

Chapter five acts as a discussion, drawing on key themes that have arisen in my research. Finally, the conclusion summarises the findings of this thesis, and makes recommendations for further research.

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Chapter One: Theoretical Framework

1.1 Epistemological stance:

This topic has been approached with an interpretivist perspective, as well as a constructivist stance. Both of these are needed to fully answer the research question.

According to the interpretivist stance, the world is purely socially constructed. This stance is therefore suitable when looking at the perspective of those trying to alleviate food insecurity; what they observe, think and feel is central to this research, as well as the connections and relationships that they build.

On the other hand, the constructivist stance maintains that there is a reality independent of the human mind, waiting to be uncovered – but truth and meaning is constructed out of an individual`s engagement with the world (Crotty 1998). This is suited to examining reports and statistics on food insecurity and issues of poverty in the UK, which are used to supplement the perspectives explored where possible.

1.2 Key Concepts:

1.2.1 Food Insecurity:

Food insecurity is a popular term in academia. Popularised in the World Food Conference of 1974; by the mid-1990s there were over 200 differing definitions of food insecurity in published academic writings (Maxwell and Smith, 1992). Since then this number will only have risen.

As a concept, it covers a wide spectrum of issues: food prices and availability; dietary needs; the food shopping habits and cooking abilities of individuals; and many more. Food insecurity can also be measured on different levels; on a national or international level, concerning food production and supply chains; and regarding an individual’s ability to access the right sort of food at an affordable price for themselves and their families.

Food insecurity therefore represents multiple ideas; it includes aspects of hunger, nutrition and undernourishment, but these terms are all too ambiguous to sufficiently capture its full meaning. For example, hunger can refer to anything between the short-term feeling of discomfort after skipping a

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meal, to chronic food shortages leading to a life-threatening lack of food. As such, there are differing definitions and various ways of examining what it means to be “food secure” – or to lack it. A 2014 Research Report for The UK Government’s Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) used the following definition when talking about food security:

“Household food security is assured when members are confident of having economic and physical access to sufficient, acceptable food for a healthy life”. (DEFRA 2014)

In a similar fashion, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation’s (FAO 1996) World Food Summit defined food security as:

“Exist[ing] when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle”.

The definition of food insecurity that I will be using was outlined in the Low Income Diet and Nutrition Survey (2007). This is:

“Limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways”.

There are two main reasons I am using this definition. First, this definition was used as part of the last official Government measure of food insecurity and has since been adopted by Food Foundation; one of the leading UK Think Tanks on food insecurity. As such, many recent reports and studies on food insecurity in the UK use this definition.

The second reason is because of the focus it puts on “socially acceptable ways”. This definition acknowledges that social norms are important in how we define and understand food insecurity. As such, we need to focus on the experience of the individual, rather than just measuring their physical health.

1.2.2 Vulnerability

Vulnerability is widely used in the social sciences and wider literature, to refer to “individuals or groups who need support with social, health or economic problems” (Virokannas et al 2018). The vulnerable are people who are in a marginalised position in society, and therefore have services directed for them.

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This is clearly a very broad definition. Brown (2017) talks about two distinct approaches when focussing on the concept of vulnerability. The first looks at natural or innate vulnerability and positions certain groups of people in permanent risk situations where they are in a constant state of being vulnerable. The second approach is situational vulnerability, where an individual or group will be classed as vulnerable due to particular circumstances. Situational vulnerability draws attention to both the potential for harm to be caused, as well as occurrences of actual harm. It describes particularly adverse experiences and transgressions, that lead people to be in circumstances of social difficulty (Mackenzie et al., 2014).

It is the latter that will be used throughout this thesis. When discussing the idea of innate vulnerability, Brown states that it “can function as an excuse for failing to tackle structural vulnerabilities” (Brown 2011). By focussing on innate vulnerability, you exclude many non-permanent factors contributing towards a person’s vulnerability. If someone is vulnerable to food insecurity, it is because it has been made that way, not because they were born that way.

1.2.3 Social Action

One of the key concepts of this thesis concerns the actions taken by groups and individuals to bring about social inclusion. There are many different terms that can refer to this – social action, community action and community engagement all involve the idea of “putting communities at the heart of their own local services”.5

Though these terms are often used interchangeably, there are distinct differences between them. The Local Government Association defined community action as “any activity that increases the understanding, engagement and empowerment of communities in the design and delivery of local services”.6_{This idea involves talking about action in its organisational form, with external actors} facilitating action in local communities. Social action, on the other hand, was defined by the UK Government as “people coming together to help improve their lives and solve the problems that are important in their communities” (Office for Civil Society 2016). This sort of action can come from any level of society. It focuses on the activities taken by, not just in, local communities.

This thesis is interested in any form of activity taken to alleviate food insecurity, formal or informal. The perspectives sought include those in the private and public sectors, as well as those on a local and

5

https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/guidance-and-resources/community-action/community-action-overview/what-community-action <accessed 05/08/2019>

6

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national level in civil society. Because of this, the term social action, when looking at the activities taking place, seems most fitting.

1.3 Literature Review

Food insecurity in the UK is a well explored topic in literature, with academics looking at the issue from a variety of different approaches.

One of the main ways in which food insecurity in the UK features in literature is through the study of foodbanks, and of those accessing them. Foodbanks have been studied in various ways. Lambie-Mumford (2013) details the rise in the number of Trussell Trust foodbanks in the 21st century, as the number of people accessing foodbanks continues to rise. Numerous other studies have looked into who is accessing foodbank services and why (Loopstra 2015; Loopstra 2018; Prayogo et al 2018). All of these studies find a link between benefit usage and foodbank usage. Firstly, those accessing foodbanks are likely to be receiving benefits. And secondly, the reason that they need to access a foodbank is often to do with a benefit sanction (a loss of some or all of a benefit as a penalty for transgression), delay in payment or change.

Other studies have looked at the effects of foodbanks. Purdam et all (2015) looked at the social repercussions for adults accessing foodbanks. It reported social stigma and increased stress among foodbank users. Garthwaite, Collins and Bambra (2015) undertook an ethnographic study on the health of foodbank users, in which they questioned the suitability of foodbank emergency packages for those with health problems.

Though foodbanks feature heavily in academic literature looking at food insecurity, other studies have focused on other aspects of the issue. They have considered specific groups more likely to be at risk of suffering from food insecurity. A study into refugee families in East London (Sellen et., 2006) found that all refugee families surveyed were in a state of food insecurity; a study into children (Aceves-Martins et al., 2018) observed the detrimental effects that food insecurity had on those who suffered from it; and a study looking at migrant women (Power et al., 2018)) found that migrant women were much less likely to access a foodbank or other forms of support than other people, even if they were in need. Other studies have attempted to share the perspectives and stories of those suffering from food insecurity, and make the voices of the vulnerable heard (Cooper and Dumpleton 2013) – a vital contribution, as these are the people most affected by the decisions of policymakers. However, there is one group whose voices are yet to be studied – the voices of those working to alleviate food insecurity.

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Not only do they interact with those in a position of food insecurity every day, but they are on the front lines of the efforts to try to counter it. Any decisions made by policymakers also affects the way in which they operate. In this way, this study hopes to contribute to the literature by sharing the perspectives of those who may ordinarily be passed over.

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Chapter Two: Methodology

2.1 Conceptual Scheme

Figure One shows my conceptual scheme. This shows how the concepts have been applied during this research, as well as the unit analysis. This thesis is looking at the perspectives of those trying to alleviate food insecurity – shown through the orange arrows. These show their views on the causes and effects of food insecurity in the UK; who they see as vulnerable to food insecurity; and their views on the social action being taken to it.

The grey circles show factors that may influence their perspectives. These include their role; who they interact with; and whether they work on a local, regional or national level. These are topics covered in my interviews in order both to understand what their views were, and why they held them.

2.2 Research Location

The location for my fieldwork was the United Kingdom – with a particular focus on England. The United Kingdom is particularly affected by food insecurity, with the UN estimating that one in five of severely food insecure people in Europe live in the UK (FAO 2018). I was based for most of the fieldwork near Birmingham, in the centre of England, and spent a week in London as well as four

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days in Manchester – the three largest urban areas by population in the country. I travelled around these areas to wherever my interviewees were based.

2.3 Unit of Analysis

The unit of analysis for this research will be the perspectives of those working to alleviate the problem of food insecurity in the UK. I was looking to find out about their experiences, roles and professional relationships, as they go about doing their work.

2.4 Sampling method

My sampling for interviews was a mixture of purposive sampling and snowball sampling. There were three things I took into account: the purpose of the organisation, the scope of the organisation’s operations, and the role of the individual. In this way, I used purposive sampling to obtain a variety of opinions. Once contact had been made with the first few interviewees, snowball sampling was then used as I used their contacts to find further relevant interviewees. This proved to be a much more effective strategy, as snowball sampling had a much higher successful response rate than purposive sampling.

Figure Two shows where my interviewees were based, and the scale on which they operated. A red dot represents an organisation operating on a national level; a blue dot a regional level; and a purple dot a local organisation. I also continued to filter organisations based on their purpose, ensuring a mix of think tanks, food provision services, community centres and many more, to give a wide variety of respondents.

2.5 Research Methods

This research made use of qualitative research methods. The collection of data took place over a four-month period in early 2019, during which I was based in both the UK and in Amsterdam.

Figure Two: the location of organisations interviewed

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My main research method was a semi structured interview. In total, I conducted 29 such interviews. The majority of these took place in person, in which I travelled to where the interviewee was based. Six interviews were conducted over the phone or by skype, and one was by email correspondence. I was looking to find the perspectives of those working to alleviate food insecurity.

The interviews included questions about the personal experiences and opinions of the interviewee, in relation to food insecurity. All of the questions were aimed at finding out what

the interviewee did to alleviate food insecurity; who they helped; what they found helped/hindered them in their job; and anything they found important on the topic and wanted to share (Figure Three). At times, I also used observation. In one of my early interviews at a foodbank, the interviewee gave me a tour of their warehouse, and I observed volunteers going about their routines. This was useful, as it gave me an insight into how foodbanks work behind closed doors, in a way that would have been hard to achieve just through interviews or articles.

Food insecurity is a topic that is often reported on in the UK, and several relevant studies and articles were published while I was undertaking my fieldwork. I collected and reviewed these reports to keep myself and my research up to date, and to supplement the information I obtained through the interviews.

2.6 Methodological Reflection

My epistemological stance, acknowledging that multiple realities exist and should be given equal weight, means that it would not be suitable to attempt to generalise my findings across the wider social situation in the UK. As such, I will be reflecting on my methodology using the alternative criteria for evaluating qualitative data set out by Lincoln and Guba, as outlined in Bryman (2012), looking at credibility, dependability, confirmability and authenticity.

In order to ensure credibility in my research, several of the interviewees have been sent interview transcripts, to make sure I have their approval. By getting respondent validation, I can be sure their views are not being misrepresented or misinterpreted. I have received no negative responses. Secondly, in collecting relevant reports on food insecurity as they are released, I have established another source of data against which my findings can be triangulated, so ensuring that the information I have obtained through interviews is relevant and situated within the wider context of food insecurity

What is it that this organisation does? What is your role here?

Who do you interact with as part of that? How long have you been doing this for?

Have there been changes in the way you operate? Have there been changes in the support you’re required to give?

What do you attribute those changes to? What more can be done to help you? Is there anything else you see as important?

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in the UK. Through triangulation I have also discerned patterns – looking at what is consistent across interviews and reports, and what is not. These inconsistencies do not make some results more relevant than others, but rather allowed me to explore why differences in opinions exist.

To ensure dependability, I have been very open with my research process, before, during and after the fieldwork. Before making any decision, I have interacted with my supervisor or my peers, to make sure that my research ideas and conduct have been proper throughout. This does not amount to a formal auditing process, but it has nonetheless helped me to keep my research on track, relevant and dependable.

In terms of confirmability, true objectivity is hard to achieve when dealing with an emotive issue, such as food insecurity in a rich country. However, my research has not involved trying to find “the truth”; I was after the individual opinion of each interviewee, asking them to comment on the issue of food insecurity based on their own experiences. I would state statistics and facts released in well-known reports and ask them to comment on those, rather than putting forwards my own opinions. Respondent validation and triangulation have also helped to ensure data is interpreted as closely as possible to the speaker’s intention.

In terms of authenticity, within the study scope I have attempted to secure as wide a variety of views as possible. I included voices from local, regional and national organisations; organisations that deal directly with the issue of food insecurity; and others dealing with general social welfare. Specific groups targeted by these organisations include asylum seekers, children, homeless, teenage mothers and many others. I have interviewed businesses, charities, and a policymaker. By having such a wide variety of voices in the research, the study is designed to show fairly how food insecurity is seen by the multitude of people trying to alleviate it.

It is too soon to judge what the impact of my research by be. However, I intend that my research will act as a mouthpiece for those working to alleviate food insecurity with groups often overlooked; shining a light on those in UK society most marginalised, and the voices of those trying to help them

2.7 Ethical reflections

During the fieldwork, I took several steps to ensure that it was held to the high ethical standards. I ensured that all participation in this study was voluntary by contacting each of my interviewees via email or phone beforehand. I made it very clear in the initial message that they were free to say no, and many did so. With people who gave me positive responses, I let them choose the time and place of the interview, to ensure that they would feel comfortable. For interviewees identified through

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snowball sampling, I would send the same message as for the original contacts. I asked the permission of each interviewee to record their interview so that I could transcribe it later. Only one respondent had an issue with this, and I then did not record that interview, instead making detailed notes.

In terms of informed consent, each interviewee was clear that this was a Masters study and that I was a Masters student, who was studying the issue of food insecurity in the UK. I stated that I was seeking their perspectives on certain issues. Once this was done, I asked permission to proceed with the interview. All said yes, with verbal confirmation recorded at the start of each interview.

In respect of safety in participation, there were no physical dangers specifically associated with the research method. The only issue of this kind that might have arisen would be where an interviewee criticised their superiors on an attributed basis. and get in trouble for it. To avoid this, I kept all interviewees anonymous (except the one policymaker). Where someone has said something that could potentially get them into trouble, I have taken the extra precaution of being vague in describing their role and organisation, so their identity could not be worked out.

During my research I was always transparent right from the start in terms of voluntary participation, informed consent and confidentiality, and have since not done anything with the recordings, transcripts or preliminary findings that I told them I would not do.

2.8 Limitations

A limitation of my research is its scope. Due to time and financial constraints, though the focus of my thesis is food insecurity in the UK, my interviewees were all based in England. This may not matter for organisations operating on a national level, but my fieldwork did not involve sufficient

interviewees with local organisations to fully examine regional differences.

In a similar fashion, though I got as wide a range of voices as possible in the three-month window for interviewing, this is more limited than I intended. Though I have over 20 interviews with a wider variety of charities, in other areas voices are lacking – there are two interviews from businesses, and just one from a policymaker.

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Chapter Three: What makes a person vulnerable to food insecurity?

This chapter identifies the categories of people who are particularly at risk of suffering from food insecurity in the UK, and explores some of the issues that they are facing. The information presented in this chapter draws on the opinions of those working in the field, and where possible has been supplemented by current numerical data. An interviewee summarised the main causes of food insecurity as “a combination of the chronic and the acute”.7_{One potential cause of the “acute” crisis} has been well documented by organisations including the Trussell Trust, reporting that the main causes of the rise in reliance on foodbanks are to do with welfare benefits: a change in benefits; a delay in benefits; or a benefits sanction.8_{This chapter examines these, and other reasons that have led} to the rise in food insecurity. It starts by describing the ‘failure of the safety net’ and the erosion of the welfare state, with a specific focus on those relying on access to support services. It then discusses the issues of low-income, a rising cost of living and people’s relationship with food. It then looks at some groups who were specifically identified as being at risk from food insecurity: children; asylum seekers and migrants; and young men, with a particular focus on rough sleepers and those suffering from mental health issues.

3.1 The erosion of the welfare state:

“When I started, food banks were getting busier but there was still a good support system in place in terms of welfare. One big change is the welfare system used to be a good safety net for people; it is now often the cause [of poverty]. The safety net has failed and we are seeing a lot of people coming to foodbanks”.9

These are the words of a coordinator of a network of 20 or so foodbanks in the West Midlands. The erosion of the welfare state was most commonly blamed for the rise in foodbank use over the last decade. This section, looking at the changes in the welfare state, looks at the effects of these, as well as the wider effects of the Government’s programme of cuts to public expenditure – usually known as “austerity” in the UK; and the reduction in support services.

7_P22

8_{https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/end-year-stats/}_{<accessed 14/08/2019>} 9_P24

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3.1.1 Benefit Changes:

Universal Credit was identified by interviewees as one of the main reasons why people have been accessing food providing services. The gradual introduction of Universal Credit is one of the biggest changes in the UK welfare system in recent decades. Universal Credit combines six previously separate benefits into one monthly payment: Jobseekers Allowance, Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance and Working Tax Credit. Universal Credit has been rolled out in stages across different region and cities of the UK – and the Trussell Trust has reported an average 52% rise in foodbank use in areas where Universal Credit was rolled out in the year previously; compared to a 13% increase in areas where Universal Credit is yet to be implemented (Trussell Trust 2019).

Interviewees suggested that the main concern about Universal Credit is the implementation delay. When a recipient is first put on Universal Credit and so has any of the six individual benefits stopped, it takes up to five weeks for the first payment to come through. This is designed to mirror the effect of taking on new employment – where staff have to wait for the first month’s payment. This delay was an issue raised by every interviewee when Universal Credit was discussed. According to one development worker in the West Midlands, 55% of people in that area have less than £100 worth of savings.10_{For people with so little savings, going five weeks without income puts them in an} incredibly vulnerable position. Foodbanks are only meant to provide emergency coverage – four packages provided a month, with three days of food in each one, totalling 12 days of food provided a month. This is clearly insufficient to cover a period of six weeks.

Additionally, changes to reduce entitlement to Child Tax Credit, implemented through Universal Credit have hit families particularly hard. A money advisor explained how “If it’s a family with three or more children, under Universal Credit, the rule is you only pay two children. That in itself is a huge loss of income”.11_{Instead of receiving weekly allowances for all children, when families were first} put on Universal Credit, they receive monthly support for up to two of them (with some exceptions, for example with disabled children). This cap has since been removed for families where the child was born before the system was implemented in 2017, but families with children born after 2017 will receive considerably less support.

This leads on to another way in which Universal Credit has impacted upon people. A different money advisor said how “benefits used to be paid weekly or fortnightly. Now it is paid monthly; these people are not used to being paid monthly”.12_{This can be a big adjustment for those not used to dealing with}

10_P15 11_P27 12_P13

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monthly budgets. A foodbank volunteer identified the confusion of budgeting between weekly/monthly income and bills as a major reason why people may need emergency support packages. “If your housing benefit comes in every two weeks, and your rent is every month, your two weeks income will not pay that rent – you need to wait for the next month”. The timings of these mean that “it can be very difficult for a lot of people, especially those who are not able to budget”.13 In February 2019, the Work and Pensions Secretary, Amber Rudd confirmed that Universal Credit had led to a rise in foodbank use, stating that “the main issue which led to an increase in foodbank use could have been the fact that people had difficultly accessing their money early enough”.14

3.1.2 Accessing benefits:

One of the services provided at many of the community centres I visited was offering advice on and help with claiming benefits: both explaining what people are eligible for, then helping them fill in the correct forms. One of the budget advisors I talked to brings in around £750,000 a year in unclaimed benefits.15

As one advisor explained, there were two core reasons why people may have trouble accessing benefits:

“A lot of people lack computer skills, or language skills, especially in this area with the Asian and [Eastern] European community. It’s helping them firstly advise them on their entitlement and helping them with the claim applications, making sure all the necessary things are done for benefits”.16

Most forms and applications for benefits have to be filled out and sent off online. As a result, three different community centres that I visited had a cyber suite for general use, as well as an IT workshop once a week to try and educate people on basic computer skills. Many places also offer English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses, to help people in the community improve their language skills.

These may not be issues directly related to food insecurity. However, computer and language skills contribute to the condition of “chronic” poverty, that an acute crisis will then push into a state of food insecurity. 13_P5 14_{https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47203389}_{<accessed 14/08/2019>} 15_P10 16_P27

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3.1.3 Benefit sanctions:

One interviewee noted that the trend of making benefits harder to access was nothing new; it is a culture that started under New Labour in the 1990s. Benefits were no longer an automatic right – they came with a responsibility. It was thought that “people needed to have their they behaviour changed, that the reason they were on benefits was because they weren’t actually seeking work so there were sanctions introduced”.17_{Benefit sanctioning is, according to a 2018 study, “closely linked with rising} food bank use” (Loopstra et al 2018).

The implications of this can be depicted in the case of Stephen Smith, a man with multiple debilitating illnesses, who was left in hospital, weighing six stone and barely able to walk after catching pneumonia. However, he had failed the DWP’s work capability assessment, meaning he had to visit his local job centre once a week to continue receiving benefits. When he was unable to, his benefits were frozen. His initial appeal was rejected – despite having two written accounts by doctors confirming his poor physical condition – and it was not until 12 months later, when a judge saw his condition in person, that his benefits were reinstated, and the DWP gave him an official apology. Stephen died in April 2019.18

Stephen’s case is an extreme one, but it shows how it is the most vulnerable being hit by the changes in the UK’s welfare system. These changes have more to do with direct benefits, however – austerity has meant that the wider support services that many rely on have also been starved of public funding.

3.1.4 Erosion of Support Services:

A manager of a charity specialising in helping young mothers outlined the effect austerity has had. In Staffordshire ten years ago, there were nine children’s centres hosting and providing parents’ and toddlers’ groups; now there are two. Most groups would provide their members with a breakfast or lunch, and healthy snacks to take home. Not only are there now far fewer of them but the vast majority of groups are now run by private organisations that charge £3- £4 a session. The cost of £4 a day will build up for poorer families with multiple children. Although that may not be so expensive that they could never go, the interviewee explained how many of the young mothers she works with

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would feel judged and stigmatised for turning up with anything but the most expensive prams and baby clothes, and so they stay away from these services altogether.19

The effect that the changes in the welfare system have had was succinctly summarised by Philip Alston. “The bottom line is that much of the glue that has held British society together since the Second World War has been deliberately removed and replaced with a harsh and uncaring ethos” (Alston, 2019).

Alongside the undercutting of support services and trouble in the welfare system, there are three other areas that were specifically identified as being behind the rise in food insecurity: low income work, a rising cost of living, and people’s relationship with food.

3.2 Low Wage Jobs:

While an immediate crisis, like a sudden benefit sanction or issues in someone’s personal life may be the “acute” that drives them into food insecurity and foodbank use, this happens over the backdrop of the “chronic” – most commonly identified as stagnant wages and a rising cost of living. A fieldworker outlined their experiences of this to me:

“I think the climate has changed. Look at the jobs – it’s a lot more difficult for students after university to get a job. Wages aren’t increasing like they used to. Cost of living is increasing, but wages aren’t going in the same way, so people are struggling to pay their bills – even people who are in working environments, in full time professional roles, and they have to go to foodbanks. The climate is just difficult for a lot of people”.20

Statistics released by the Government show that the employment rate of 76.1% is the highest since records began in 1971, with 32.7 million people in employment (Office for National Statistics, 2019). However, Government figures also show that child poverty is around four million: an all-time high. Though these two statistics may seem to be opposed; 70% of children in poverty have at least one parent who is working.21_{The ‘employment’ that millions find themselves in clearly does not provide} enough income to support them and their families in times of crisis. Frank Fields MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger, explained how:

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“The increase in the number of insecure jobs and zero-hours contracts is one such trend which, certainly in Birkenhead, accounts for a large part of the need for food banks”.22

A report looking into who uses foodbanks stated that “foodbank users have a dynamic and sometimes unclear work status, including unstable or temporary work, part-time work [formal or informal] or insecure self-employment” (Child Poverty Action Group et al 2019). Many interviewees agreed with this, with zero hours contracts talked about regularly as leading to financial insecurity. As one explained,:

“That’s what it is – people who have insecure jobs, zero hours contracts, when you don’t know how much you’re going to have at the end of the week so you cannot budget”.23

This system of insecurity is known as colloquially as the “gig economy” – temporary work, offering short term pay but no long-term stability. According to the Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, the rise of insecure work fuelled a “lost decade” in wage growth, as incomes have been stagnant since 2008.24

This insecurity has happened in spite of several economic reforms designed to improve wages for the least well off. Frank Fields described how he campaigned for three decades for a national minimum wage, and then a national living wage, believing that these would counter in-work poverty. He explains:

“Yet here we are, following both reforms, with bogus self-employment, zero-hours contracts, and all sorts of other techniques being used to depress wages at the bottom end of the labour market”.25

Despite the introduction of the National Living Wage in 2016, employers have used other techniques to undercut wages and keep those on the bottom end of the labour market in a state of insecurity.

3.3 Cost of living:

In contrast to wages, living costs have been rising over the past decade. The UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that living costs for the poorest tenth of households in Britain had risen, on average, 2.7% a year between 2006 and 2018. Cumulatively since 2005, the ONS reports that the 22_P29 23_P5 24 https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/oct/10/gig-economy-fuelled-lost-decade-in-wage-growth-bank-economist-andy-haldane <accessed 14/08/2019> 25_P29

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costs facing low-income households have risen by 41%, compared to 35% for high-income households (ONS 2019).

When it comes to allocating money for food, a money advisor outlined what usually happens:

“So they are managing the money, their priorities are set very early but food is not there. It is always the cost of where you live, gas and electric, because they are basic needs, if those basic need’s costs have gone up, which they have, but the income hasn’t gone [up] with it income has actually come down with it, so everybody’s belt has tightened by more than one notch”26_.

Interviewees dealing with helping people budget all agreed: when incomes are low and bills are high, food will always come last.

3.4 People’s relationship with food:

One interviewee admitted they were exaggerating to make a point when they claimed that:

“The sad reality is that half the world is hungry, the other half is obese”,

but did so anyway to raise the issue of people’s relationship with food.27_{Being in a state of food} insecurity is more than just being able to access food – it involves being able to access nutritious, healthy food.

Interviewees pointed to those who are socially isolated and those who are either unable to cook, or do not have cooking facilities, as groups that are particularly vulnerable to not accessing healthy food. One interviewee explained:

“If you live on your own you can easily become malnourished and eat the wrong foods, so [we] give skills to people to know how to prepare food”.28

Another talked about the trouble providing food for someone with no cooking skills or facilities, saying:

“There are problems when a person has no cooking facilities, for instance if they have no kettle, no microwave or cooker, so it’s not always that easy to provide for them”.29

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The Food Research and Actions Centre (FRAC) in the USA reports that low-income people are much more likely to have unhealthy relationships with food. Reasons for this include a greater exposure to marketing of obesity-promoting products, higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression, and the limited resources and access to healthy, affordable foods (FRAC, 2015). In this way, food insecurity involves an individual’s relationship with food as much as ability to afford it. Unhealthy “fast” food tends to be easier to make with little skill and is cheaper, and therefore issues having to do with lack of nutrition are more likely to affect those with low-incomes.

These matters affect some groups more than others. The next section will highlight some groups that as particularly vulnerable to suffering from food insecurity.

3.5 Children:

Children are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. One of the main issues associated with children is holiday hunger. The CEO of a charity providing school meals outlined the issue:

“Not everybody is entitled to a plate of food at school […] in many cases it is means tested and only very poor children get access to a free plate of food [… and] schools only run for little over half a year. If you are means tested and very poor [in order to] to receive a free school meal, the logical extension of that is if they are so poor, what do they do when there is no school meal?”.30

Children are required to be at school for 190 days a year – that means that there are 175 days of weekend and holiday, when a hot meal is not guaranteed for them. A report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hunger found that up to three million children in the UK are at risk of going hungry over the holidays. Of these, two million would not have been eligible for free school meals in term time (Forsey, 2014). Foodbank volunteers also confirmed that they tend to have more visits from families in holiday times than in term time.

There are four potential manifestations of holiday hunger. First, children go hungry from lack of food. Secondly, parents go hungry, skipping meals as a last resort to try to feed their children. Thirdly, children suffer from social isolation. The lack of food will restrict opportunities to go out and enjoy themselves, while the lack of meals means a family will struggle to settle into a routine. And finally, families may not go hungry but may eat cheap, unhealthy yet filling food, meaning that children do not get the necessary nutrition. In this case, a child may not go hungry, but will still suffer from malnutrition (Forsey 2014).

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Nutrition in schools is another issue that was raised in interviews.

“If you have bangers and mash [sausage and mashed potato] and you are sitting in a classroom there is a good chance you might fall asleep, but if you have a nice soup, stew or a wholemeal pasta dish with some fresh vegetables there is a good chance you will be awake and alert in the classroom”.31

A survey from the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) found that one in four secondary school children started the day with no breakfast, while 65% of children aged 5-16 were not drinking enough (BNF 2015). If a child has had no breakfast and then had an unhealthy hot meal in school, their education suffers as well as their health.

3.6 Asylum Seekers and Migrants:

Asylum seekers and migrants in the UK face very specific struggles in day to day life that increase their likelihood of suffering from food insecurity.

The issues asylum seekers face come against the backdrop of the ‘Hostile Environment’ policy.32_This was a deliberate attempt to ensure that asylum seekers face a “harsh environment” – for example, deliberately poor housing and very little revenue income – when arriving in the UK. The policy was never scrutinised in Parliament and, arguably, was promoted as much to prove to the indigenous population that asylum seekers don’t get an “easy ride” in the UK. The policy has been at the heart of Government immigration policy since 2010. It particularly came to light recently with the much publicised “Windrush Scandal”. The reference to Windrush is to the name of the ship that carried the first post-war Jamaican immigrants to Britain. It transpired that some who arrived on the Windrush as babies or young children had never obtained documented UK citizenship and people were wrongly detained, lost houses and jobs, and in at least 83 cases were wrongly deported from the UK, as the Home Office had doubts about their legal status.33

Asylum seekers in the process of applying for asylum are given Government support of £37.75 a week, known as Section 95 support. During their process of asylum, they are not allowed to work. As the worker at a community centre for asylum seekers explained, this has complications:

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“Often the solution [to escaping poverty] is we will get you into work. That is fine for the larger proportion of the population, but where work is prohibited because of immigration status there is never going to be a solution for that, and if you have taken away all the other welfare benefit safety net for that group of people it becomes problematic”.34

Asylum seekers are therefore expected to live off around £5.40 a day for food, clothing and transport, and have no other way of accessing funds. As the worker went on to explain:

“For some of my clients there is a choice of do I spend £5 a day on a bus ticket to get to Brushstrokes to do ESOL or do I eat?”.35

Applications are meant to take around six months to be resolved, but in reality, most take much longer. If asylum seekers have not been seen within the six months, they are meant to be able to get a job – but as one asylum seeker centre manager explained:

“In practice, there are very few careers they can apply for, such as belly dancers or nuclear physicists”36_.

As a result, people working with asylum seekers are very involved in the “Lift the Ban” campaign, attempting to give asylum seekers and refugees the right to work.37

Between 2010 and 2014, Government statistics show that, 32% of asylum applications were initially successful; 46% were successful after an appeal.38_{That means that over half of asylum applicants} will go for well over six months while being expected to survive on around £5 a day, only to have their application rejected, at which point they lose their daily income while still being unable to work. As a result, community centres that care for asylum seekers and refugees are:

“Seeing an increasing number of individuals, generally women with kids, who don’t have recourse to public funds”.39

When people in are this position, one interviewee described how destitute asylum seekers:

“Have no recourse to public funds and have nothing, no benefits. They don’t exist” and are “the poorest people I have ever known. Of all the people I have dealt with, I have never met this kind of poverty”.40

34_P7 35_P7 36_P14 37_{https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/lift-the-ban/}_{<accessed 16/08/2019>} 38 https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/insights/migration-statistics-how-many-asylum-seekers-and-refugees-are-there-in-the-uk/ <accessed 16/08/2019> 39_P7 40_P14

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Immigrants also can face issues to do with immigration status affecting work, which will place them in a position of financial precarity when they become reliant on foodbanks.41_{Language and struggling} to access benefits are also issues that immigrants are likely to face, as has previously been outlined. Both asylum seekers and immigrants also experience prejudice when it comes to media coverage and public perception of their situations. One foodbank coordinator described how they had noticed acts of racism on the rise, with some members of the public saying “I won’t give to you because you give to non-white people”. The same worker told me:

“I was talking to a taxi driver who mentioned a programme he was watching about a Romanian family who had been given a house and £40,000 a year and was sending it back to Romania and was still going to the foodbank”.42

However, not a single foodbank worker interviewed ever mentioned anything like this taking place, all stating that the people coming to get emergency food packages were in dire need of them. According to one interviewee, the negative press:

“Has caused so much damage, and they [the media] have a lot of things to answer for” when it comes to people’s attitudes towards asylum seekers and migrants, and their ability to integrate successfully.43_{It all contributed to a feeling of “not being in control of your own} destiny. Not being able to work, … [and] not feeling that you contribute to the community”.44 A final issue that was raised specifically in relation to immigrants was Brexit. No one interviewed claimed that they knew how Brexit was going to affect people with any certainty, but according to one worker:

“There have been anecdotal reports it has been harder for people to access accommodation. Landlords have been worried about ‘if I rent to you and Brexit happens, what happens there?’ We see some issues in terms of the impact around accessing things like bank accounts for migrants which is problematic”.45

Without anyone knowing exactly how Brexit is going to affect people, the uncertainty around it has contributed to a general sense of insecurity around the position and place of immigrants in the UK.

3.7 Young men:

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“She now has her own home, completed a course and is employed. When his nan

[grandmother] dies, he will be on the street. That’s the same child, the same set of

circumstances, but the difference in what happens between male and female”.46

When interviewing the manager of a mother and baby home for teenage girls, she took the time to outline the issues that young men are facing and how they are not getting the required support. Four employees of this organisation were interviewed; though they all work with young women, three identified young men as a group who are particularly vulnerable. They were aware that the support they were offering to young women was not on offer to young men facing the same issues.47

For example, the Crime survey for England and Wales estimated that, in the year ending March 2018, around two million adults had experienced domestic abuse in the previous 12 months. Of these, over one third were estimated to be men.48_{However, the charity ManKind Initiative reported that only} around 0.8% of refuge beds were reserved for men (ManKind Initiative 2018). This message was repeated across multiple interviews: young men were not seen to have the same support services in place for them that women in a similar situation do. There were two specific groups that were consistently mentioned in interviews that were much more likely to be men: rough sleepers, and those with mental health issues.

3.8 Rough Sleepers:

Government statistics show that in England, around 84% of rough sleepers are men. The same report estimated that the number of rough sleepers in England on a single night in Autumn 2018 was 4,677.49_{However, figures from Crisis, a specialist homelessness charity, suggest that this is a vast} underestimate: Crisis estimated that over Christmas 2018, around 12,300 people were sleeping rough on the streets, while a further 12,000 spent the night in tents, cars, sheds, bins or on night buses. The number of people sleeping rough, including these “hidden” homeless people, had increased by around 98% since 2010.50 46_P10 47_{P9, P10, P11, P12} 48 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/781567/Roug h_Sleeping_Statistics_2018_release.pdf <accessed 14/08/2019> 49 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/781567/Roug h_Sleeping_Statistics_2018_release.pdf <accessed 14/08/2019> 50 https://www.crisis.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/more-than-24-000-people-facing-christmas-sleeping-rough-or-in-cars-trains-buses-and-tents-crisis-warns/ <accessed 14/08/2019>

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Homelessness was an issue raised in many interviews, with several different organisations specialising in providing services to the homeless. Many of the issues already outlined have contributed to the rise in rough sleeping – rising cost of living; insecure working conditions; as well as deficiencies in the benefits system. One interviewee explained how many people in the charity sector have responded to these issues:

“Last year I went to a conference at Birmingham University. The West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street was bringing together people […] There was quite a lot of anger at that meeting because it was felt that the homelessness was caused by a lot of central Government policies, such as Universal Credit, the spare room taxes etc. All those things have driven people into poverty and food poverty. If you gather together with other people who are trying to serve people on the margins in different ways, I don’t think there is any doubt that that [homelessness] is on the increase”.51

One worker at a charity providing meals on the street described how, generally the clientele coming are:

“The same people, people in hostels who are on benefits, very low income, no work, some of them can’t even afford transport, they walk a good four or five miles to get to the point just to get a bit of food”.52

3.9 People with Mental Health Issues and Addiction Problems:

One group particularly hard-hit by the cutting of support services is of people suffering from mental ill health. Those suffering from food insecurity are already reported to be more likely to suffer from mental health issues (Purdam et al 2016). Interviewees described how people needing help often suffered from depression and anxiety, feeling ashamed that they needed help while experiencing the stress of not being able to feed their children.53

In a similar way, there are a number of people suffering from drug, alcohol or gambling addictions, whose lifestyles place them in a state of financial precarity. One worker described how hard it is to reach these people, as:

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“the people themselves need to be willing to give accessing support services a try […] it’s about them being willing to sort their problems out”.54

One foodbank coordinator told me how:

“The main group of people who use foodbanks that we have seen are single men 25 – 55 ages […] The problems within that group have increased. We are now seeing a lot more mental health and addiction problems”.55

The few services that were there to help those suffering from mental health issues have been starved of funding because of austerity. Men have always been seen as “very vulnerable in once sense because they couldn’t access a lot of help like young women and families could access”, and now as a result of austerity, “that group has become even harder to help”.56

3.10 Closing Remarks

This chapter has attempted to outline who is vulnerable to food insecurity, and to explain the challenges that they face. The reasons someone would be likely to suffer from food insecurity can be said to be a combination of the chronic and the acute. This means an individual or household would be in a state of chronic poverty, with an acute crisis throwing them into severe precarity.

Figure Four summarises these results. Groups and individuals more likely to suffer from food insecurity are shown in black, while the reasons likely to be affecting them are shown in white. This shows intersectionality between different groups, and how specific issues will affect different types of people.

The erosion of support services affects anyone who needs outside support. This includes those suffering from mental health issues; homeless people; those suffering from addictions (all of whom are more likely to be young men); as well as anyone reliant on the welfare system. Of those receiving welfare, families with multiple children have been particularly hard hit by the roll out of Universal Credit including the two-child limit described earlier. The majority of those using foodbank services report that the reason for their ‘acute’ crisis is benefit related – be it a delay, a change or a sanction. Migrants and asylum seekers are likely to face some of the same sorts of issues, including struggles with language – particularly hard when applying for a job or Government support – as well as an uncertain legal status. The uncertainty around Brexit has also led to uncertainty around the status of

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migrants in the UK, and the hostile environment implemented by the UK Government has greatly limited the ability of asylum seekers to contribute and integrate into society.

People’s relationship with food, either preferring food that does not have enough nutrition, or not having the skills to cook healthy food, is a factor that can affect everyone – but people on a low income are more likely to have an unhealthy relationship with food. All of this happens amid a backdrop of the last ten years, when average cost of living have been rising higher than the average level of income. Bills are mounting, and the low paying jobs offer little security in the event of an acute crisis.

This chapter has looked at who is vulnerable to food insecurity, with the information sourced by those working to help them. The next chapter looks at the ways in which they go about trying to alleviate poverty, and the how differing priorities and objectives may result in different opinions.