The number of people across the north and north-east using food banks has soared, a new report has shown.
Record numbers of families are turning to food banks, with the “jobs crisis” in the north being blamed for the increase.
The figures, released by the Trussell Trust today, show that in Aberdeen the number has surged by more than 38% in the past 12 months.
There has been an increase of about 19% in Aberdeenshire, during the same period.
Meanwhile, in the Western Isles, the number of people using services has soared by 67.9%.
In Orkney, there was an increase of 17.8%, and in the Highlands there was an increase of 5.8%.
Figures for Moray in 2014/15 were not included in the report.
North-East Labour candidate Lewis Macdonald said he was not surprised at the figures.
He said: “We have seen one of the biggest increases in people claiming benefits in the area so it’s no great surprise that we are seeing a jump in people using foodbanks.
“The impact of the oil and gas jobs crisis is clearly a major part of this, it’s not just about the industry itself but the knock-on effect it’s had on other areas – a lot of people have lost their jobs, or are now being paid less due to fewer hours being available.
“We also know about hundreds of people losing their jobs in Fraserburgh, who worked at Young’s, which was a lot of young people.”
The trust released figures for the whole of the UK, with Scotland second only to the north-west of England in terms of food bank referrals.
However, when the populations of both are compared, the use of food banks are disproportionately higher in Scotland than anywhere else across the UK.
The trust has attributed the national trend to a number of factors, including insecure employment, low wages, delayed wages and problems accessing working benefits.
Ewan Gurr, Scotland network manager for the Trussell Trust, said: “The figures released today highlight an alarming number of people hitting a crisis and being unable to buy food. The main increase has been to the numbers on low incomes, which is leaving people without enough to live on. In addition to that, almost half of referrals in Scotland are due to a benefit-related difficulty.”
