Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Steady rise in people using food banks

The rise in use of food banks has been linked to low incomes and zero hour contracts.
The rise in use of food banks has been linked to low incomes and zero hour contracts.

Low incomes and zero hour contracts have been blamed for a increase in the use of food banks across the north and north-east.

Figures released by the Trussell Trust showed 11,578 people were given an emergency supply of three days food in 2014-15 across Grampian and the Highlands and Islands, up 50% on the previous year.

The most surprising increase was in better-off Aberdeenshire, where usage shot up by 162% from 796 in 2013-14 to 2,083 last year.

Trussell Trust Scotland network manager Ewan Gurr expressed surprise that a relatively affluent county like Aberdeenshire should see such a steep rise and said it was driven by demand not increased awareness.

“Aberdeenshire is not unique in the sense we have a presence in nine of the 10 least deprived local authority areas in Scotland, in which Aberdeenshire is one,” he said.

“It is quite jarring when you consider the facts. We essentially have a paradox here. It is almost like you have austerity and prosperity residing side-by-side in certain local authorities.”

Orkney experienced a 168% increase from 195 to 522. Staff at the Kirkwall food bank said while the 2013-14 figure was low because it only opened in November 2013, there has been an general increase in demand.

The number of people helped in Highland went up by 35% from 4,504 to 6,076 while the Western Isles food bank experienced a 52% increase, up from 184 to 280.

In Aberdeen the number of people receiving emergency aid went up fro 2,059 to 2,617, a 27% increase.

Founder and organiser of the Seaton project, Paster Barry Douglas, said the main reasons for people being referred to the food bank or asking for help were low incomes and zero hour contracts.

He said even in areas like Danestone people required emergency handouts. There was also a bigger demand for family packages during the holidays when free school meals were not available.

“It is not people on benefits, it is not people with benefit delays – we still have some of them – but the number one reason for using the food bank in Aberdeen city is because people are on low incomes,” he said.

“People are struggling to make ends meet. This is an expensive city to live in. All it takes is one unexpected bill or increased electricity or gas bill and people’s budgeting is just put under immense pressure.”