Edinburgh school closures result in increased food bank usage

The discovery of structural faults at 17 schools in Edinburgh has resulted in closures across the city; with thousands of pupils unable to return to class after the Easter break.

This has resulted in obvious widespread disruption for children, parents, and teachers. However, one disturbing consequence, which was probably not in the minds of most as this crisis unfolds, has been an increase in food bank usage.

Parents across Edinburgh are budgeting to the penny to get by, and anticipating that their children would receive a hot meal at school this week, have had to turn to foodbanks to plug the gap.

It is stories such as this that reveal the extent to which families are struggling to put food on the table. At Nourish, we are concerned that we don’t know how many people are food insecure in Scotland, we do not monitor this at all. We don’t think its good enough for a country as wealthy as Scotland (or any country in fact) to have people so close to the breadline.

We are campaigning for the right to food in Scotland; we believe that everybody should be able to access sufficient, nutritious food with dignity. This means having adequate social security so that children spending a few extra days at home will not burden household budgets to the point of needing charity.