Record foodbank demand - and it's about to get even worse as winter arrives
Foodbanks have given out a record 1.5 million emergency parcels in just six months, grim figures reveal today.
Britain’s biggest foodbank network, the Trussell Trust, said 65% of all the aid packages it provided between April and September were for families with children. The cost-of-living crisis heartbreak means a "generation is growing up believing that it's normal to see a foodbank in every community", said charity chief executive Emma Revie.
The total of 1,496,847 parcels given out between the beginning of April and end of September is up from 1,292,621 in the same period last year, and from less than a million in those six months in 2021, the charity said. With every parcel containing enough ingredients for three meals a day for three days, it equates to 13,471,623 meals.
Trussell Trust chief executive Emma Revie (Humphrey Nemar/Daily Mirror)Ms Revie said: "Rising hunger and hardship have devastating consequences for individuals and our communities, damage the nation's health and hold back our economy. People in work, as well as people who cannot work, are increasingly being pushed into debt and forced to turn to a foodbank to survive."
Some 543,635 parcels were for children in the latest period, compared with 487,884 in the same six months last year, and 370,575 in 2021. The figure for children living in families who could not afford to put a meal on the table hit a record high, which the charity said was a reflection of the "continuing rise in need for the support provided by foodbanks".
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The Trust said 320,000 people needed to use a foodbank for the first time in the past six months, as the organisation warned outlets were "at breaking point as more and more people in communities across the UK find themselves unable to afford the essentials". The charity, which supports more than 1,300 food bank centres across the UK, had already predicted last month that centres could hand out a record more than one million emergency parcels this winter as demand continues to soar.
Describing the latest figures as “extremely alarming” Ms Revie said: “An increasing number of children are growing up in families facing hunger, forced to turn to foodbanks to survive. A generation is growing up believing that it's normal to see a food bank in every community; this is not right.”
A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spokesman said: “There are 1.7 million fewer people in absolute poverty than in 2010, but we know some families are struggling, which is why we are providing a record support package worth £3,300 per household. This includes the latest cost of living payments paid directly to over eight million households this year, our decision to raise benefits by over 10% earlier this year and our £2bn Household Support Fund which is helping people to buy essentials.
“We also know that households are at least £6,000 a year better off in full-time work than out of work on benefits, and to help people out of poverty through work we are also increasing the National Living Wage again and investing £3.5 billion to help thousands into jobs, grow the economy and bear down on inflation.”
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