The number of struggling families relying on food banks in North Lanarkshire is on the increase.
Basics Food Bank has seen a 28 per cent rise in the amount of food parcels being given out to those living on the breadline through their distribution outlets in Airdrie, Wishaw and Motherwell.
When comparing year-on-year figures from April 2017-February 2018 with statistics from April 2018-February 2019, Basics Food Bank manager David Shaw said they have handed out 400 additional parcels.
He added: “The reality of what we are doing at Basics is just sticking a plaster over a gaping wound.
“Foodbanks are not the answer to food poverty, it’s just a stop-gap.
“Giving people adequate finance to feed themselves is the answer, also not constructing barriers for them getting the finance they need.
“Examples would be removing the five-week waiting period associated with Universal Credit and sanctions which remove the finance they need to feed themselves and push them into debt which compounds their situation even further.”
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For the first time, researchers recently combined figures from the UK’s largest foodbank provider, The Trussell Trust, with independent community food banks.
The research was aided by A Menu For Change, a project managed by groups including Oxfam and the Poverty Alliance.
The findings show they have handed out twice as many parcels as previously thought to desperate Scots.
The report also stated the UK benefits system is a “key driver” of foodbank use.
Over the last year, 27,267 parcels were given out in North Lanarkshire.
Dr Mary Anne MacLeod, of A Menu For Change, said: “These figures are truly shameful in rich Scotland and they should make for deeply uncomfortable reading for our political leaders.
“The problem of rising levels of hunger in Scotland is much worse than previously known.”
