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Basic income could put food banks out of business

Soaring income inequality has drastically increased food poverty in the UK. UBI could be a silver bullet

By David Beck
Basic income could put food banks out of business
Volunteers sort food items in Weymouth food bank in 2023. Just under 3 million people accessed food banks in 2022-23, with charities seeing in an uptick in demand during the cost of living crisis | Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images. All rights reserved
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David Beck is a lecturer of social policy at the University of Salford, a coordinator at UBILab Manchester, and co-chair of UBILab Food. He’s interested in understanding how a universal basic income (UBI) could end the need for food banks. Here, he tells Beyond Trafficking and Slavery (BTS) that the UK anti-hunger industry has failed and it’s time for radical solutions.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Beyond Trafficking and Slavery (BTS): What do we mean by food inequality?

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0