Charities across Bradford anticipate more people using the food bank because of job loss from the end of furlough, higher fuel prices, and the cut to universal credit.
At the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Government introduced an uplift to universal credit and working tax credit by £20 a week to help “strengthen the safety net” for people receiving benefits.
Initially planned for a year, the scheme was extended for an extra six months, but in July 2021, it was announced that it would not be extended, and people would lose out on the extra £80 a month from October.
The cut comes at an awful time for families, with gas and electricity prices soaring because of supply issues caused by Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Furlough, the job-retention scheme that kept people employed who were unable to work during the pandemic, also came to an end in September, which means thousands of people across Britain are at risk of losing their jobs.
In July, 11,500 people in Bradford were still furloughed.
Charities across the district fear that these blows are going to increase uptake in food bank services.
Save the Mothers Trust is an international humanitarian charity set up in 2003 that has projects across the world, mainly in Pakistan, East Africa, West Africa, and at Rohingya camps in Bangladesh.
The charity was originally set up to help women in third world countries through maternity care and education for girls.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, STM amped up its aid to people in Bradford, Keighley, and even in Wakefield and Halifax. Project manager for the charity, Mohammed Shahid explained to us how food banks and hot meal provisions for people in Bradford and the surrounding areas exploded during the pandemic.
He said: “Our food bank operates on a referral basis. People in need can go through their GPs, social workers, job centres, for example, to receive a £30 food parcel from us that should last a family around a week.
“Before the pandemic hit, we were giving out about 20 food parcels a week. Since May 2020, we have been giving out around 20 food parcels a day, four days a week. We have also given out over 50,000 meals through our hot meal provisions.
“Every Friday, we also operate a soup kitchen for people without a fixed address where we give out around 50 meals per week.”
Mr Shahid explained that children across Bradford were affected the most by the pandemic. “Some families rely on breakfast clubs and Free School Meals (FSM) for two of their main meals of the day. With school buildings shut at the height of the pandemic in 2020 and into 2021, families struggled to put three meals a day on the table”, he said.
With the trio of devastating financial blows to people on benefits and low-incomes, Mr Shahid and the team at SMT is gearing up for a harsh winter, with it being a “heat or eat” situation. He said: “We work three months ahead, and we are anticipating that more people than ever will need to use food banks and receive free hot meals over the winter.”
The charity is faith-based, but it is there for everyone in need. The charity’s head office is below a mosque, and a few years ago, they used the masjid as a distribution centre for their food bank. Sharing an interesting encounter from a few years back, Mr
Shahid said: A couple of years ago we used the main hall upstairs as our foodbank. One time, a white woman came to collect a food parcel, but when she entered the room, she looked confused and was about to walk out before I went over to her.
“When I asked her if she was okay, she replied ‘I think I’ve got the wrong room – I’m here for the food bank’. I said she was in the right place, but she looked stunned. She said ‘Isn’t this food bank just for Muslims only? I thought Muslims only looked out for their own community.’
“I replied that just like Christians and people of other religions, we are here to help others, it doesn’t matter your faith or background. Her whole idea of Muslims and the Islamic faith changed that day.”
The Trussell Trust, Britain’s largest food bank network that has more than 1,200 centres in their network, three of them in Bradford, suggest that a troubling 88,000 people in the region might need to use a food bank this winter.
Garry Lemon, director of policy at the Trussell Trust, said: “The news about soaring fuel prices underlines just how devastating the £20 a week cut to Universal Credit will be for millions of families on low incomes.
“Our research shows that 82,000 people on Universal Credit in Yorkshire & the Humber already fear they’ll struggle to switch on the heating this winter because of this cut and worryingly, some 88,000 people say it’s very likely they will be forced to use a food bank.
“These numbers could be even higher when combined with rising energy costs but it’s not too late for the government to ensure our social security system provides people with enough money to cover the essentials, like food and heating.
“The new funding for the Household Support Fund is welcome for managing a one-off short-term crisis, but discretionary grants are not a solution to higher living costs, week in and week out.
“The government must now change course and do what is right. It must reverse the cut and reinstate the £20 a week lifeline to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit at the Spending Review in three weeks.”
