FOI Request - Referrals to Emergency Foodbanks and Warm Banks

Request 101003877183

1.  The number of referrals made by the council (including any council services, departments, or partner agencies operating on behalf of the council) to emergency foodbanks in each of the last five winter periods (i.e. November to February for 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25).

2.  The number of referrals made by the council to warm banks or warm spaces in each of the same winter periods.

3.  Any forecast, projection, or estimate the council holds for the number of referrals expected during the upcoming 2025/26 winter period (November 2025 to February 2026).

4.  If available, please provide a short description of how the council defines or records a “referral” to an emergency foodbank or warm bank/warm space.

Response 26-11-2025

1. Referrals to food banks can be recorded; however, this information may not be complete as this would depend on the Social Worker making admin staff aware of a referral to be recorded and saved on a client file. Therefore all client files would need to be checked to see if a referral was noted; this would take many hours and is therefore exempt under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA) 2022 – Excessive cost. The requester may be able to contact Moray Food Plus directly to find out more.

2. Not held. This is not a service our teams refer to. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of FOISA - Information not held. People do not get a referral to these, but they may be sign-posted to what is available to them locally. Provisions for warm spaces mainly depend on community organisations to support these, and they may differ from year to year.  

3. Not held. Relevant teams may complete a referral form in behalf of a family, including what the Food Bank calls “supplementary food parcels” for the festive standdown period but these are normally a limited number just to cover any requests our team may receive over the period between Christmas and New Year. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.

4. A referral is when we complete the referral form and send to Moray Food Bank for a family