The founder of Scotland’s first food bank says the nation is facing a troubling increase in the number of children affected by food insecurity. 

Richard Brooks started ‘TLC’ twenty-two years ago, along with his wife Amy. Since 2002, the award-winning organisation, based in Aberdeen, has reached more than 100,000 people and provided around a million meals. 

“We have seen a steady increase in the usage of foodbanks,” Brooks told The Herald. “In the last five to seven years, we have also seen an increase in child poverty. Children are coming in with their parents or carers and are obviously malnourished.”

“We believe the right people are using it, so there’s been a genuine increase,” Brooks added.

TLC operates on a referral system, working with health visitors, doctors, and social workers to ensure those who need food are taken care of. 

Over the last two decades, it is estimated that the number of people suffering from food insecurity in Scotland has risen by 24%. Recent figures suggest that more than 670,000 Scots, including 170,000 children, struggle to access food on a regular basis. 

Brooks, who was born in the Southwest of England before moving to Arbroath as a child, is keenly aware of these challenges. Settling in the North East in 1997, the chartered engineer's interest in social justice prompted him to return to university and earn a law degree. 

Richard Brooks meets King CharlesRichard Brooks meets King Charles (Image: Richard Brooks)

Former Aberdeen City Council official David Fryer was instrumental in getting TLC’s first ‘food library’ off the ground. The boffin allowed Brooks to install a food cupboard and fridge in part of a primary school located in Torry, one of the most deprived areas in Scotland.

Brooks, 55, explained how the charity got its start: “We were part of a local church that was meeting in the school,” he told The Herald. 

“We reached out to the community and realised there was a lot of deprivation. There were a lot of people who wanted more than community, they needed to feed themselves.

“We spoke to a lot of people, including local MP Anne Begg, and found out that [Torry] was a high deprivation area. It was a sudden awareness of how hard it was for people to [make ends meet].

“We let people know we were doing something and called it a food library,” Brooks said, adding: “We had never heard of a food bank back then.

“People were a bit dubious at first and there would be a lot of swapping of items. There was probably some suspicion, but once a dozen people had benefited, we started to have 50 or more [every week]. We were swamped.”

Today, TLC operates the Aberdeen South Foodbank, which delivers thousands of parcels every year, as well as the Aberdeen Befriending Project, which provides support for people struggling with loneliness and isolation in the wake of the Covid pandemic. 

Rising energy prices have been blamed for an increase in people accessing food banks, something TLC looks to alleviate through their Financial Resilience and Energy Project, launched in October 2022. 

The programme, conducted in partnership with the Citizens Advice Bureau, provides “professional financial and energy advice” for those using the charity’s food banks. Advisors also provide energy fuel vouchers and other measures to help individuals become financially resilient. 

Brooks said: “The cost of living crisis is associated with a phrase that has been bandied about: ‘heat or eat.’ 

“There’s truth to that - people with young children are having to choose between skipping a meal or switching on the fire.

“It’s a reality that people in the North East were feeling.”

Read more from Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco:

While Brooks was feted by King Charles at a Holyrood reception last month, the Aberdeen City councillor, who stepped back from chairing the charity earlier this year, says there is much more work to be done. 

“We never celebrate the need for food banks and breakfast clubs," Brooks noted, “but to be royally commended for making the much-needed effort is truly humbling.”

Brooks plans to expand the TLC model to communities in South Africa, remarking he aims to “bring relief to some of the most deprived people in the world.”

“We were asked to come across to South Africa and did some talks there about our model,” Brooks added.

“We work with local supermarkets to provide for local people,” he said, explaining how volunteers stand outside shops and encourage community members to pick up items to donate during their weekly shop. 

“People go in and buy more than one or two cans. That helps support the local supermarkets as well as people in need.

“I really want to see us leave a legacy that others can pick up.”

Back in Scotland, the rise in people accessing food banks, especially children, has led to calls for the Scottish Government to expand the social safety net.

Foodbank network The Trussell Trust, of which TLC is a member, distributed 260,000 emergency food parcels across Scotland last year, up 51% from 2017. 

Cara Hilton, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager for the organisation, told The Herald that Holyrood must provide increased support to people struggling with food insecurity. 

She said: “We welcome the Scottish Government’s ambition to end the need for food banks, but our research shows that a record number of people in Scotland now face hunger and hardship.

“If we are to shift this dial and if the Scottish Government is to achieve its own child poverty targets, then current actions to tackle hunger must be significantly scaled up and much better resourced.

Richard Brooks meets Queen CamillaRichard Brooks meets Queen Camilla (Image: Richard Brooks)

Hilton added: “In its upcoming Budget, we would urge the Scottish Government to increase the Scottish Child Payment to £40 a week and increase investment into affordable housing and into crisis support, through the Scottish Welfare Fund. 

“And with larger families most at risk of hardship, the Scottish Government should act to mitigate the two-child cap in Scotland.”

Brooks agrees, favouring a pragmatic approach for government funding. 

“If you want to increase benefits for children, that’s great," he said, “because it goes to people who need it.

“I’d like to see money spent at the root. Funding should be given to the organisations who are doing this work on the ground.”

Currently, the Scottish Government supports a “cash-first” approach to food provision.

In a report released in June 2023, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice Shirley-Anne Somerville announced a three-year strategy to respond to growing levels of financial hardship. 

She wrote: “When someone faces financial crisis and needs immediate support to access essentials like food, the response should be fast, coordinated, and meet their needs with dignity and respect.

“The actions aim to ensure cash-first support is better coordinated, more accessible, and grounded in direct experience.”

Meanwhile, UK Government Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall will travel to Scotland next month to hold talks with community organisations and frontline workers about the increase in child poverty. 

The series of meetings come ahead of an “ambitious strategy” on child poverty, which the UK government says will be revealed next spring.

Kendall said: “We will work with campaigners and experts – and struggling families across the country to deliver a bold and ambitious strategy that drives down poverty and drives up opportunity in every corner of the land.”