The Economics of Emergency Food Aid Provision by Martin Caraher & Sinéad Furey

Author:Martin Caraher & Sinéad Furey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Low Incomes and Food Vulnerability

More recent research (safefood et al. 2016) constructed a food basket for four household types in Northern Ireland using Consensual Budget Standards methodology. Northern Ireland is one of the most deprived areas of the UK and has an above average dependence on welfare as income: Northern Ireland , Wales and the North East of England jointly had the highest percentage of income from state support (21%) (Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) 2017). The Institute for Fiscal Studies has identified Northern Ireland along with North East England and Wales as the areas most likely to see increases in poverty in the next five years as the welfare system in the UK is reformed (Hood and Waters 2017).

This research in Northern Ireland involved conducting focus groups from a range of different socio-economic backgrounds in three different areas of urban and rural Northern Ireland representing each of the household types under focus. Participants variously discussed seven-day menus and associated shopping lists using the Consensual Budget Standards methodology that was originally developed by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at the University of Loughborough in collaboration with the Family Budget Unit, University of York (Bradshaw et al. 2006). The food items were priced in a large multi-national retailer (Tesco ) and in local shops to arrive at the total food budget. The menus were assessed for nutritional adequacy. A final discussion group was held to determine how realistic the final composition of the food basket was.

The safefood research found that a nutritionally adequate shopping basket of weekly food for a two-parent, two-child household type (primary school and secondary school-age) was £153.01, approximately £22 per day; 44% of a household income of £350.20, if dependent on social security. The total weekly cost of a minimum consensual food basket for a one-parent, two-child household type (pre-school and primary school-age) was £99.00, amounting to approximately £14 per day; 32% of household income (£308.45), again if dependent on social security. The total weekly cost of an equivalent food basket for a pensioner living alone on a state pension is £57.05; 34% of their household income of £169.08. Finally, a two-parent, two-child household (pre-school and primary school-age) dependent on state benefits would need to spend £115/33% of their weekly income (£350.20) to buy a minimum essential food basket. All this compares to an average expenditure of 11.3% across all income groups on food (DEFRA 2016). The chart, as shown in Fig. 3.2, from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (2016) shows the differences in expenditure between the lowest 20% of income earners and all households, using equivalised income. In 2014, households in the lowest 20% by equivalised income spent 16.4% on household food, 0.2 percentage points above 2007. Median income after housing costs fell 4% between 2003–2004 and 2014–2015 for low-income decile households. The dip in expenditure from 2013 can be accounted for by households economising and buying less (DEFRA 2016).

Fig. 3.2UK population’s expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages 2003–2013

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