This week as the announcement of the relaxation of lockdown measure was made, the Oswestry & Borders Foodbank experienced levels of demand which were closer to that seen in previous years. Hopefully, this situation will continue, however, there remain concerns for the future.
On Wednesday the Food Standards Agency published a report which set out the results of monitoring the experience and behaviours of consumers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland when it comes to key food risks during the pandemic.
The full report can be accessed on the government website, some of the findings which are relevant to Foodbanks are listed below:
- Concern around both food availability and affordability remains much higher for younger age groups and for those households with children. Concern around food affordability for 16-24-year-olds is 40% compared to 9% for those aged 55-75. Households with children are significantly more worried (33%) than those without children (20%).
- Respondents were asked whether they had cut down meal sizes or indeed skipped meals during the last month. The number of people (or people in their households) who had done so due to not having enough money remained stable during April (18%) and May (16%). Age was an important factor with 33% of 16-24-year-olds reporting they had cut down meal sizes or skipped meals for at least one week in May (April 35%), with 6% reporting that they had done so every week in the last month in May (April 7%).
- Respondents were asked about their usage of emergency food providers to access food. The numbers using food banks or food charities remained relatively stable between April (8%) and May (7%). Younger groups and those with a child in their household were significantly more likely to have used food banks or food charities.
- A question was also asked around the frequency of purchasing food from a takeaway when compared to pre-lockdown. There was a marked move away from buying food from takeaways in May, with 34% reporting doing this less often, 16% more often and 25% about the same.
- People report wasting or throwing away food less often, varying their diets due to having less control over their own purchasing and to some degree, are eating together as a family more often.
- Whilst those in the shielded patient category are not more or less likely to report being worried around food availability, those with long term health conditions, are more likely to report being worried about food availability (25%) compared to people without health conditions (19%).
- Almost a quarter (23%) of people are concerned about not being able to afford food in the next month. Reported worry about affordability is correlated with age and income. Respondents aged 16-24 are more likely to be concerned about food affordability (40%) than any other age group. This generally decreases with age, with the lowest levels of concern among those aged 55-75 (9%).