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When the Bank of England’s Chief Economist  wanted to find out about hardship in the UK at first hand, his first tour was to Wales (see  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/29/bank-chief-tours-wales-help-make-policies-for-hardest-hit). Wales has some of the poorest areas of the UK and this includes west Wales, one of the sites for my research on food poverty in the UK.

We’re almost at the end of the school holidays and there have been reports in the national media that many food banks have run out of food. One reason for this is that children who get free school meals in term time are not getting them now which increases demand on food banks (see http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-banks-hungry-children-summer-holidays-no-free-school-lunches-trussel-trust-low-supplies-a7870546.html).

Here in west Wales, where I’ve been researching food poverty for three years now, the story is no different. One food bank manager told me that there had definitely been a rise in demand over the school holidays. I have noticed that unlike the situation in some other parts of the UK, where there are volunteer-run (usually church-led) lunch clubs for the school holidays (see for example https://www.makelunch.org.uk/ – see photo) , these seem to be lacking here. A report in a national paper today suggests that a child not getting his or her school meals costs the parents £30-40 per week per child and that there is a proposal for a bill in the next Parliament for schools to continue providing free lunches even in the holidays (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/aug/30/high-profile-tories-back-labour-bill-on-free-meals-in-school-holidays).

But there are other reasons why food banks are running out and one is the continued impact of austerity policies, including benefit sanctions and the roll-out of Universal Credit (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/16/austerity-causing-suffering-record-number-food-banks-stock-shortage). The Pembrokeshire Herald newspaper for July 21^st reported that a PATCH (Pembrokeshire Action to Combat Poverty) food bank had run out of stock. The PATCH manager did not mince her words: ‘There are people here in Pembrokeshire who haven’t eaten for days (yes days) as they wait for their benefits to arrive. One client lost their job and went straight on to Universal Credit, with a six to eight-week wait for any money.’

At another food bank, the manager tells a similar story: ‘There has definitely been a rise in demand because of the caps on benefits’ and goes on to remark ‘I notice they are trying to put more people onto PIP (Personal Independence Allowance)  as it will decrease costs and also make it appear that unemployment has fallen but it’s just massaging the figures’.

During a visit to a Pembrokeshire food bank last April, I bumped into a worker from another agency who was collecting some food for her own clients. She looked exhausted and despairing: ’I’m fire-fighting, yet if I can’t write up reports on my increasing number of cases, they will cut the funding further’.  She goes on to explain that many people have turned to her agency because they have had their disability allowances stopped while their entitlement is assessed:  ‘They should employ proper doctors for the ESA (assessment for disability) not people who just tick boxes. So clients end up having to go for mandatory reconsideration.’ The result of this situation is that for frontline agencies like hers ‘There is absolutely no wriggle room’.

Four months later, the situation had become so bad that Citizens Advice Bureau Pembrokeshire called publicly upon the (Westminster) government to fix the many problems already evident with its new Universal Credit scheme before rolling it out to all claimants from 2018. Pembrokeshire’s chief executive of CAB warned: ‘Many families across Pembrokeshire may be put at financial risk, which in turn can put huge pressure on other local services such as food banks, health, housing and social care’ (County Echo 18/8/17 p. 7). Such concerns were shared by every food bank manager to whom I have talked over the last few months.