Cash-First: Towards Ending the Need for Food Banks in Scotland Fairer Scotland Duty Impact Assessment

Part 1 - Summary of evidence

There is strong evidence that people who experience socio-economic disadvantage have a higher prevalence of household food insecurity and food bank use. This is informed by official statistics, evidence from frontline services, research publications, and consultation responses.

Official statistics

The Scottish Health Survey^[2] and Family Resources Survey^[3] provide data on experience of household food insecurity, and this includes disaggregation by income and deprivation.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) ^[4] is an online tool which identifies areas of multiple deprivation within Scotland and measures seven domains: income, employment, education, health, access to services, crime and housing. Not all of these are measured within the Family Resources Survey, which is UK-wide, but it can be referenced against the data collected for the Scottish Health Survey.

The most recent Family Resources Survey data was published on 23 March 2023 for the financial year 2021-2022. This indicated that levels of food security rose as income levels rose:

• 17% of households with gross incomes of less than £200 per week were least likely to be food secure^[5] and
• 2% of households with gross incomes of £1,000 or more per week were most likely to be food secure^[6].

Food insecurity levels varied for households which were in receipt of state supports^[7] which included:

• 9% of all households in receipt of state support reported low or very low levels of food security.
• 22% of households receiving income-related benefits and 8% receiving non-income related benefits reported low or very low levels of food security.
• 16% of households receiving Working Tax Credit reported low or very low levels of food security.
• Households with children –
  • 12% of households in receipt of Child Benefit reported low or very low levels of food security
  • 17% of households receiving Child Tax Credit reported low or very low levels of food security
• 31% of households receiving Universal Credit reported low or very low levels of food security.
• Households with older people –
  • 2% of households receiving State Pension reported low or very low levels of food security
  • Only 1% of households claiming Attendance Allowance reported low or very low levels of food security

The most recent Scottish Health Survey highlighted the differences in food insecurity in the link between income levels and areas of deprivation:

• 18% of adults in the most deprived areas worried about running out of food or money due to lack of resources compared to 2% in the least deprived areas in the last 12 months^[8];
• 15% of adults in the most deprived areas ate less because of a lack of money or resources compared to 1% in the least deprived areas in the last 12 months^[9] ; and
• 9% of adults in the most deprived areas ran out of food because of a lack of money or resources compared to none in the least deprived area.^[10]