An on the ground report about the cost of living.

The majority of inHope’s work is on the front line, helping people who turn to us when they are in crisis and have nowhere else to go. One project in particular has been experiencing a startling increase in people needing help: South and East Bristol Food Bank. The fallout from Brexit, the pandemic, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is causing a cost of living crisis. Here is what our two Food Bank Empowerment and Support Workers, Beth and Sabrina, had to share about what they are seeing on the ground.

No power, no heating, not enough money for food

Increasingly, clients have become anxious and desperate about the cost of living, especially the price of gas and electricity. A large percentage of clients we speak to report that they are out of their depth with the cost of energy, and as the weather has gotten colder, people are struggling to heat their homes, cook food, and use electricity for lighting. In particular, clients on pre-payment meters are suffering; the top up amounts are being used up within days, and often they simply have no power and no heating. This situation has forced many people to come more frequently to food bank, not only for food parcels, but for fuel vouchers. The rising costs in supermarkets has also contributed to our client numbers increasing at a much higher rate than usual, with most people reporting the increased cost of living as the main reason they are coming to us.

Never before have we seen people struggling so much to heat their homes and feed their families.

People who have never used a food bank before

The advice and support team has seen an increase in first time clients from across the board; working people, families, older people, and single people, who have suddenly found themselves out of their depth with rising costs, and getting into debt very quickly. Many people who say that they never dreamed they would need to come to a food bank, have suddenly been put in the position where they have no choice.

Bills, budgeting, and clothes

We have been helping more and more people reduce their bills, whether it be by water bill reduction applications, providing fuel vouchers, assisting with budgeting, and signposting to debt agencies. Although this has always been a large part of what we help with, it has become more frequent in the last few months.

Increasingly, people have been asking for clothes, especially as the colder months have arrived. Not only have we had the usual requests for baby and children’s clothes, we have had more adults asking for clothing as well.

Some client stories over the past few months

Client M – a widowed pensioner attended food bank for several weeks, struggling to meet rising costs on his pension payment. We helped him apply for pension credit, which added substantially to his monthly income. We provided him with a fuel voucher, which gave him £49 on his prepayment meter. We also able to obtained a water bill reduction, which reduced his monthly bill to £1.00.

Client R – a single mother of four, struggling on a low income and unable to meet extra costs incurred by the family, due to increased food and energy bills. We issued her with a fuel voucher for £49.00, obtained two grants for a microwave and a bed. We also signposted her to mental health organisations, for herself and her son. To assist her in the coming months, we added her to our one voucher a month scheme, and will review her situation early next year.

Client D – a young man suffering from severe social anxiety and depression, is someone we supported over several months. Although he was open to help, his anxiety and depression meant that he struggled to provide information and take steps to make changes. The first few months were building trust and establishing a relationship with him and as he opened up more he expressed a desire to work on bikes, which was one of his passions. We sourced some second hand bikes for him to work on, and this gave him a feeling of accomplishment. We also encouraged him to seek professional help for his mental health, and made appointments for him with his GP and the mental health team. This led to his acceptance for us to apply for PIP benefit (Personal Independence Payment). This was a lengthy process, but he was eventually awarded the benefit, which provided him with £240 per month. He now sees his mental health Nurse regularly, and is attending appointments with a Psychologist.

How to get help

If you live in South or East Bristol and are struggling with the cost of living, find out what help our food bank can provide: https://eastbristol.foodbank.org.uk/get-help/

This report was featured in the current edition of inHope’s Streetwise magazine. You can sign up to receive the quarterly magazine here.