Food banks as hubs in the crisis ecosystem

This project will explore, in collaboration with the Trussell Trust and Citizens Advice, the complex landscape of inter-related needs of food bank users in the UK.

Why this project is important

Over the past five years food bank use in the UK has soared. The Trussell Trust highlights poverty, health and income shocks, benefits delays, and isolation as key factors behind food bank use. Other issues include debt, unemployment, and housing cost. Furthermore, mental health issues have begun to surface for food bank clients, workers, and volunteers.

In response to these complex needs, several major food banks have started to expand their services to include financial, housing, and health advice under a ‘hub’ model. Despite their growing importance, there is little research on food bank hubs in the UK or on the complex needs of food bank users.

What will it involve?

The research team will address this gap by answering the following questions:

1. Which types of issues tend to co-occur for food bank clients in Citizens Advice referral data?
2. How have these evolved over time and differ across populations?
3. What types of co-located services are Trussell Trust food banks currently offering?
4. How do these correspond to the issues seen co-occurring in the Citizens Advice data?
5. Can the insights from the Citizens Advice data recommend new non-food services at specific Trussell Trust food banks?

The project will be completed in three stages:

1. Cleaning and classifying Citizen Advice’s data on referrals.
2. Using cluster analysis on the cleaned dataset to detect patterns in issues experienced by food bank users, and the extent to which this varies over time and across socio-demographic characteristics.
3. Adding questions on ‘hub’ activities to Trussell Trust’s annual survey of food banks and analysing results to provide a comprehensive overview of non-food services offered by Trussell Trust food banks.

How it will make a difference

In addition to two policy reports, a policy workshop will disseminate findings to key stakeholders, including local authorities, central government, and mental health charities. Local authorities in Newcastle and Sheffield, who have been active in evaluating local hub efforts, as well as select food banks which have been key pioneers of the hub model, will be directly engaged.