DEMAND for emergency food parcels distributed by the Trussell Trust’s foodbank network has almost doubled over the past five years, the charity reports, and a record number have been handed out over the past 12 months.
The charity’s latest figures, released on Wednesday, show that its foodbanks distributed 3.1 million food parcels between April 2023 and March 2024, of which 1.1 million were for kids. About 65 per cent of the support went to families with children.
The demand has increased by 94 per cent since 2019, and by 4 per cent since last 12 months. Despite the autumn in inflation, cuts in government support meant that individuals on lowest incomes were worse off than within the previous 12 months, the charity said. The planned closure in September of the Household Support Fund, which offered crisis support with the bills for heating, food, and other essentials, can have “devastating consequences”, it warned.
The chief executive of the Trussell Trust, Emma Revie, called on political leaders to set out policies within the run-up to the General Election to make sure that foodbank use became obsolete within the UK.
She said: “We must not let foodbanks turn out to be the brand new norm. As we approach the subsequent UK General Election, we urgently need all political leaders to set out how they may construct a future where nobody needs a foodbank to survive. Voters need to see a change, and we want cross-government motion in any respect levels to deliver it. We know what’s pushing people to foodbanks; so we all know what needs to vary.
“A supportive social-security system is the bedrock on which we end hunger for good. Building on this, we want way more effective employment and financial support for fogeys, carers, and disabled people, and motion to make sure everyone can have the safety all of us must access opportunities and have hope for the longer term, through safer and versatile jobs, and investment in social housing.
“Foodbanks will not be the reply. They will likely be there to support people so long as they’re needed, but our political leaders must take daring motion to construct a future where everyone has enough money to afford life’s essentials.”
A former foodbank user, Val McKie, said that she needed to ask for support after her husband died and her landlord sold her home, leaving her sleeping on friends’ sofas. “I used to be overwhelmed with shame on the situation I used to be in. I struggled for years before I discovered the courage and strength to ask for help.”
Although the common rise in foodbank use was 4 per cent on the previous 12 months, some areas have experienced sharper demand, and from particular sections of the population. Families with children and working-age adults are amongst probably the most frequent users of foodbanks, but there was a 27-per-cent increase within the variety of pensioners needing emergency food prior to now 12 months.
In Leeds, Wendy Doyle said that the Trust had experienced a 34-per-cent increase in families, and a 27-per-cent increase in pensioners’ needing help over the past 12 months. “Our volunteers are telling us that they’re coping with pensioners who can’t afford to place food on the table as a result of having to pay higher energy costs, and that’s the alternative they’re having to make.
“A woman who got here to the foodbank recently told us that she had never had to make use of charity before. She said that she had all the time been capable of manage, even while bringing 4 children up on her own, but, when she got here to the foodbank, she was in a situation where she had to make a choice from keeping warm or eating.
“We were capable of provide her with the assistance she needed, and refer her on to an agency for extra support, nevertheless it’s not right that individuals are put in these positions. Things need to vary.”
The charity’s figures also show that 40 per cent of those looking for help with food supplies are using a foodbank for the primary time; a couple of years ago, they were capable of survive, but they at the moment are struggling.
The Trussell Trust data is drawn from its 1699 locations within the UK. There are at the least 1172 independent foodbanks, run by other organisations, reminiscent of the Salvation Army; so the dimensions of the necessity for emergency support is even greater than its own figures suggest, the Trust says.
