Reducing the need for foodbanks in County Durham

Crossley, Stephen; Orton, Andrew; Corrigan, David; Davidson, Letty; Diamond, Nicki; Hall, Calvin; McGrother, Ian; Smith, Kelly; Wayte, Mark

Abstract

In recent years, foodbanks have become an increasingly common part of the voluntary sector landscape throughout the UK. It is estimated that there are over 2800 foodbanks in the UK at the current time, with the number of people using them steadily and, in some cases rapidly, increasing. The recent ‘cost-of-living crisis’ has seen more and more people needing to access emergency food support. It is estimated that 3% of all people in the UK have accessed a foodbank in the last 12 months (Frances-Devine, 2024).

As a result of the increase in foodbanks and foodbank usage, there has been more and more interest in them from politicians, policymakers, and researchers. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) began publishing data on foodbank usage in 2023 because of the increasing numbers. There is an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ending the Need for Food Banks, established in 2020. The Trussell Trust, the largest provider of foodbanks in the
UK, opened its first foodbank in 2000, and distributed emergency food parcels from 1699 locations across the UK in 2023/24 (Frances-Devine, 2024). A quick search of an academic database suggests that there have been over 150 publications on foodbanks in the UK over the last 12 years.

Durham Christian Partnership (DCP) work with the Trussell Trust to provide support for people experiencing food insecurity in the county. Following discussions with researchers in the Centre for Social Justice and Community Action (CSJCA) at Durham University, it was agreed to try and look at specific actions that could be taken locally to reduce the demand for foodbanks in County Durham. Members of the DCP Wellbeing Hub at Chester-le-Street got involved with the project, and worked together with DCP and the CSJCA, to develop and design a research project to seek the views of key professionals in County Durham. Three focus groups were held with workers involved in a range of policy areas to explore work that they were currently involved with, and barriers and challenges to extending or improving that work.

This short report is the outcome of that project. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the focus groups and who has contributed to the research in other ways. We have chosen not to include the names of people who attended the focus groups to ensure confidentiality and anonymity, and because we did not want to run the risk of missing somebody!

Citation

Crossley, S., Orton, A., Corrigan, D., Davidson, L., Diamond, N., Hall, C., McGrother, I., Smith, K., & Wayte, M. (2024). Reducing the need for foodbanks in County Durham. Centre for Social Justice and Community Action (CSJCA), Durham Christian Partnership (DCP)

• Report Type: Project Report
• Online Publication Date: Jul 17, 2024
• Publication Date: Jul 17, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jul 19, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 23, 2024
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2602390
• Publisher URL: https://www.dur.ac.uk/departments/academic/sociology/news/foodbank-report/