Aberdeen food banks are braced for an influx of jobless oil and gas workers seeking food parcels as thousands of jobs are lost in the north east.
The chief executive of Community Food Initiatives North East (CFINE), which is lead partner in the Aberdeen Food Banks partnership, said previously highly-paid oil workers were now seeking support to help put food on the table.
Dave Simmers said the oil rich city, which has enjoyed a long-term reputation as an affluent region with ultra-low unemployment, was facing up to a grim new reality brought about by the collapse in the oil price.
Simmers said: “We already have people coming in who have lost their jobs in the oil industry. These are people who had been used to earning good money.
“A lot of people are only ever a couple of pay cheques away from disaster and if wages stop, they’re on their uppers.”
The Food Banks Partnership Aberdeen has 37 member organisations have signed up so far – including Instant Neighbour and the Cyrenians – committed to supporting people in need. In the run-up to Christmas 2015, the partnership gave out nearly 300 parcels
The partnership does not keep a data-base of clients, but Simmers said anecdotal information suggested the oil downturn is beginning to bite.
Simmers said: “One gentleman came to us, suited and booted and driving an expensive car. He also had a welfare grant and had come to spend it on food.
“He told us he had been on a very good salary in the oil industry but had lost his job, had a very high mortgage, was in the process of losing his house and was about to lose the car.
“Another man said he needed the food bank in the final week before pay day to see him through until the end of the month. People are stretched and it doesn’t take much to put them over the edge.”
“We have seen a steady rise in users since the Food Banks Partnership started in 2012 and in 2015 we saw a marked increase. This is due to a number of factors including Government welfare reform and delays in benefit payments.”
Simmers said: “But with oil companies cutting their workforces, people’s circumstances can change very quickly indeed. We have been used to seeing big money and plenty work in Aberdeen but that is changing.
“I am sure we will see a substantial increase [in people using food banks] in 2016. We are braced, I think this is going to be a very bad year.”
Simmers said around 30,000 food parcels were handed out in 2015.
He added: “Food banks are for everyone who need them, we are here to ensure that no one goes hungry. If people find themselves on benefits there can be a delays in receiving payments and that’s where we can help.”
“Most of our clients are on benefits, we have the low-waged but we are now also starting to see people who would never have thought they would have been in need of food parcels.”
In December, the Trussell Trust, which also runs a food bank in Aberdeen, said there had been a 53% increase in demand for its food banks across Scotland between December 2013 and December 2014.
Its figures from the different council areas showed Aberdeen was up by 28%, from 221 to 283 referrals, while Aberdeenshire had shot up 261% from 123 to 444.
The Trussell Trust confirmed that more than 1,000 children across the north-east were referred to a foodbank between April and September in 2015.
There were 1,535 referrals in that period for Aberdeen and 1,155 for Aberdeenshire.
Benefit delays are usually the biggest cause of food bank use in Scotland, followed by low income and benefit changes.
Dave Simmers said support from the local community and from businesses, including the oil industry, had been “phenomenal” in the past 12 months.
“Some of the corporates and people in general have been phenomenal. Technip has raised £20,000 through a sponsored cycle and Nexen has raised £2,000. Individuals have raised thousands of pounds too. We have received donations of food from the general public. I think it is remarkable how people have helped.”
The Fare Share initiative costs around £100,000 to run, and includes support and training for volunteers who help run the CFINE’s food bank in the city’s Poynernook Road and who help deliver food parcels throughout the Aberdeen area.
More information about the work of Aberdeen Foodbank Partnership can be found here.
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