Foodbank users report benefit delays, adverse life events

A new UCL study surveyed who uses food banks in London, and for what reasons. The study, published this week in the Journal of Public Health , found benefit-related problems were the most common reason, while recent adverse life events were also associated with food insecurity. "Our findings show how many people who use food banks are living on very marginal budgets, as financial shocks can easily tip them over the edge into not being able to feed themselves," said the study's first author Edwina Prayogo (UCL School of Pharmacy). The research is in context of a rise in foodbank use across the UK, which increased by 13% in the last year, according to the Trussell Trust. The team surveyed foodbank users as well as people who frequent advice centres, as a control group of typically low-income people, in Islington, Wandsworth and Lambeth. They found that the most common reason for foodbank referral was benefit-related problems: delays (31.9%) or changes (11. In comparison to people at advice centres, those at foodbanks reported significantly more adverse life events over the past six months - for example, illness, job loss or benefit problems.