Cllr Alison Inglis-Jones is a councillor in Clapham Common & Abbeville ward.
The rising cost of living, food, housing, energy, and travel is hitting people on the lowest income as they spend a higher proportion of their incomes than those with more financial resilience.
At the Lambeth Foodbank Partnership, encompassing Brixton & West Norwood, Waterloo, Clapham Park and Vauxhall Foodbanks, volunteers have fed over 11,000 people since April, a third of whom are children. People are being forced to turn to the Foodbank for food for the first time, with one in five people being referred to us being from working households.
In one of the Partnerships’ face-to-face hubs at Emmanuel Church on Clive Road, I met Claire*. She has responsibility for a child with a disability, and is his sole carer, supporting him on a carers allowance as well as universal credit. She applied for fuel voucher support from Lambeth Council’s Household Support Fund, as energy prices have risen she is unable to keep the house warm and feed her and her son. Another guest at one of our sister foodbanks told the manager that “buying milk is a luxury now.”
We are fortunate to be able to help people and support them in both the short and long term, but we are also facing challenges and this winter is set to be our busiest yet. The level of need is continuing to rise, with the demand for accessing our support up by 20%. But as things currently are, we are struggling to meet that rise in demand because donations have dropped as people who were able to donate before are struggling themselves.
Short-term interventions are neither sustainable for government nor dignified for people who are struggling, and they don’t solve the longer-term problem of people having to rely on foodbanks. We need long-term solutions to the rising cost of living and the poverty that exists in our community – including increasing child benefit payments, feeding more children through free school meals, and long-term funding for local crisis support.
With the right support and a stable and sufficient income, people won’t need to turn to foodbanks. Until that arrives, our dedicated volunteers will keep phoning, packing, driving and welcoming donations.
To donate: www.norwoodbrixton.foodbank.org.uk/ or www.bankuet.co.uk/
For support with the cost of living crisis: www.lambeth.gov.uk/community-solutions/cost-living-money-debt
Cllr Alison Inglis-Jones
*Name changed for privacy