Abstract
In this chapter, the issues related to how food banks both save and cost the broader welfare system are set out. Food banks are not stand-alone organisations and depend on their operation for failures and gaps in the welfare system, both are intertwined. The overall spend on welfare budget is set out and the proportion of this allocated to social welfare is estimated. This is then related to commonly held attitudes, myths and opinions about welfare budgets and allocations with the implications for food provision. The calculations developed in Chapter 3 of the diversion or savings afforded by food banks are set out. The discussion asks key questions related to the equity of charity-based food bank provision vis-à-vis provision through the state, as a right.
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Notes
- 1.
See http://www.frankfield.co.uk/campaigns/feeding-birkenhead.aspx, accessed 6 April, 2018.
- 2.
See http://www.cancook.co.uk, accessed 6 April, 2018.
- 3.
See http://www.sufra-nwlondon.org.uk/about/sufra-nw-london/, accessed 6 April, 2018.
- 4.
Our argument and costs here relate to those using food banks and other charity provision not to the wider group who are suffering from food poverty and do not access food banks, see Chapter 1 for a full discussion of this.
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Caraher, M., Furey, S. (2018). Food Banks and Their Contribution/Detraction from Welfare Budgets. In: The Economics of Emergency Food Aid Provision. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78506-6_4
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