'SOCIAL supermarkets' which help thousands of people on the poverty line feed their families are set to be another casualty of Northern Ireland's looming benefits `cliff edge', it has been warned.
The Department for Communities (DfC) provides around £70,000 for each of five shops run by community organisations in Derry, Belfast, Coleraine, Lisburn and Strabane.
The supermarkets allow people receiving welfare payments and tax credits to buy food at cut prices every week.
Unlike official foodbanks, which can only be used a limited number of times, they can continue to use the service week after week for as long as they need it.
Members pay £5 each week and receive £25-£30 worth of food.
They choose from a range of cheaper products including fresh and frozen food, dried goods and fruit and vegetables.
However, with funding for the `mitigation package' - secured by Stormont to shield the poorest in the north from welfare reforms - due to run out in the absence of an assembly to legislate for an extension, the stores will close in March 2020.
Alliance councillor Amanda Grehan warned that staff at the stores will also be hit by the cuts.
"These schemes are run by full-time staff who will lose their jobs, resulting in closure, if funding is not continued," she said.
"The programme involves providing support to individuals and families in, or at risk of, poverty. The department already had evidence that there is a need for such a model of food aid."
Ms Grehan said the support goes even further than just providing affordable food, with users committing to wraparound advice services aimed at addressing the causes of their financial situation.
"Members are given financial advice on budgeting to help them maximise whatever income they have. They will also be taught cooking skills to help them prepare fresh meals from the food purchased from the Social Supermarket. Parenting and mentoring classes are also provided," she said.
"The typical member of the Social Supermarket may be a single parent on benefits or a working family on low income. They may already have had to access emergency help from a food bank."
The Lisburn Social Supermarket has had 176 members since January 2018.
Ms Grehan said one member of the city's scheme was a retired widower with no kitchen skills who "was struggling to look after himself".
"His pension didn't stretch too far and eventually he sought help from the Social Supermarket. After taking part in the advice sessions he is better able to manage his money, buys and cooks fresh food and enjoys the company as he was very lonely."
She added that there will be more need than ever for the Social Supermarket if the mitigations programme is not extended and more people are plunged into food poverty.
