'You're not even living, you're only existing': Local foodbanks have busiest year on record
1,310 emergency food parcels provided to people facing hardship by Aylesbury Foodbank in the past 12 months.
Last updated 26th Apr 2023
New figures released today by Aylesbury Foodbank have revealed that 11,310 emergency food parcels were provided to people facing hardship across Aylesbury Vale in the last year – with 3,877 of these going to children.
Aylesbury Foodbank has seen a 37% increase in the number of emergency food parcels distributed compared to last year. This is the most parcels the Foodbank has ever provided.
The levels of need were particularly acute in winter, and March was the busiest month for Aylesbury Foodbank, with 1,425 emergency food parcels provided by staff and volunteers this month.
Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire have all seen huge increases - with almost 23 thousand emergency food parcels handed out in Buckinghamshire. That's up from around 4,000 just five years ago.
Bedford alone saw almost 22,000 food parcels given out, compared to 7,000 in 2017-2018.
While in Hertsmere, there was an increase from 3,282 to 11,512.
Heather-Joy Garrett, Operations Manager at Aylesbury Foodbank said: "The cost-of-living crisis has been devasting for so many people who were already struggling to cope. Locally private rents have risen so high that there are very few properties available under the Local Housing Limit. The rise in fuel costs has also impacted our clients hard making 2022-2023 our busiest year ever.
"Donations of food and money have increased due to local people’s generosity but sadly the level of need has increased faster.
"Aylesbury Foodbank is part of the Trussell Trust’s network, which reports record levels of need in the last 12 months with almost 3 million (2,986,203) emergency food parcels provided to people facing hardship between April 2022 and March 2023. More than a million of these parcels were provided for children."
Speaking about the rising need for emergency food, Emma Revie, Chief Executive at the Trussell Trust, said:
“These new statistics are extremely concerning and show that an increasing number of people are being left with no option but to turn to charitable, volunteer-run organisations to get by and this is not right. The continued increase in parcel numbers over the last five years indicates that it is ongoing low levels of income and a social security system that isn’t fit for purpose that are forcing more people to need food banks, rather than just the recent cost of living crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic.
“AylesburyFoodbank was set up to provide short-term support to people in an emergency, they are not a lasting solution to hunger and poverty, and more than three quarters of the UK population agree with us that they should not need to exist.
“The staff and volunteers at Aylesbury Foodbank are working tirelessly to ensure help continues to be available, but the current situation is not one they can solve alone.
“For too long, the people of Aylesbury have been going without because social security payments do not reflect life’s essential costs and people are being pushed deeper into hardship as a result. If we are to stop this continued growth and end the need for food banks then the UK government must ensure that the standard allowance of Universal Credit is always enough to cover essential costs.”
The rise in the need for foodbanks across the United Kingdom
Director of Policy, Research and Impact at the Trussell Trust Network, Helen Barnard, said a rise in the demand for foodbanks across the UK isn't just a pandemic or cost-of-living related issue.
"We've seen it's more than a one-third increase in a year. But actually, I also think it's important that we look at the longer-term trend, this isn't just a pandemic effect or a cost-of-living effect."
“We looked back over the last five years and the need has been climbing steeply over that time.”
Helen added that 'most people turning to foodbanks had exhausted all other options, such as help from friends and family.'
The Trussell Trust doesn't just offer food, Helen said: “They will try and help people look at the root causes. There will be advisors there so you can get advice on whether you are getting the right benefits, for instance.”
But, people are finding that they still need foodbanks: “What we're finding is, even when people have been helped to get everything they should, the actual amount you're getting in social security doesn't cover the cost of essentials. It's not linked to the real cost of life.”
'Universal credit isn't covering the cost of essentials'
Helen told us that a single person needs £120 per week to cover the cost of essentials, but Universal Credit is only offering £85, resulting in a shortfall of £35.
Asked how The Trussell Trust were tackling this problem, Helen called on the government to put an essentials guarantee into Universal Credit:
“When we think about this number of people who are living in destitution, the effect on people's health, is just appalling. The effect on your mental health, if you are living hand to mouth, if you're lying awake, worrying about debts, if you can't eat properly or stay warm, the effect on your mental health and your physical health is tremendous.
“The NHS is under enormous strain, we are piling pressure on it by allowing people to have to live like this, so it feels as if we are fuelling some of our other big national challenges by not dealing with this fundamental problem.”
A Government spokesperson said: "We are committed to eradicating poverty and we recognise the pressures of the rising cost of living which is why we have uprated benefits by 10.1% as well as making an unprecedented increase to the National Living Wage this month.
"This is on top of changes already made to Universal Credit which mean claimants can keep more of their hard-earned money - a boost worth £1,000 a year on average.
"We are also providing record levels of direct financial support for the most vulnerable - £1,200 last year and a further £1,350 in 2023/24, with over eight million families starting to receive their first £301 Cost of Living instalment from yesterday - while the Household Support Fund is helping people with essential costs."