Essex foodbank says demand has more than doubled

An Essex foodbank has seen a 25% rise in the number of emergency food parcels it provided in the last year.

New figures by the Trussell Trust reveals an increase for packages for both adults and children, with the total almost doubling over five years.

There were 3,121,404 parcels distributed by food banks in its network up to the end of March, made up of 1,977,308 for adults and 1,144,096 for children.

The charity said first-time users - of which there were 655,000 in that 12-month period - were down slightly on last year but up 40% from five years ago.

Parcels going to households that had someone of pension age living there were up by more than a quarter (27%) to 179,000, the organisation said, noting that older people, especially renters, were "finding themselves unable to afford essentials and facing hunger and severe hardship".

Chelmsford Foodbank found the number of emergency food parcels it provides has more than doubled in 5 years.

Project Manager, Ruth Leverett, said: “In Chelmsford, we've seen an increase from this year as compared to last year. Between this year and last year, we've seen a 25% increase in the number of parcels that we've given out from Chelmsford Foodbank. But from five years ago, it's more than doubled for us.

“We've been open nearly 12 years now and every year we've seen an increase apart from one year, in 2021 to 2022, which was great to see that there was a decrease. I think there was quite a lot of government support for people following COVID in that year. But otherwise, it's always been an increase unfortunately.”

The Trussell Trust has called on political parties to commit, ahead of a general election, to tackling the problem, urging them to back a "supportive social security system" and better support for parents, carers and people with disabilities who can face increased living costs.

Emma Revie, its chief executive, said: "It's 2024 and we're facing historically high levels of food bank need. As a society, we cannot allow this to continue. We must not let food banks become the new norm.

"As we approach the next UK General Election, we urgently need all political leaders to set out how they will build a future where no one needs a food bank to survive.

Voters want to see a change and we need cross-government action at all levels to deliver it. We know what's pushing people to food banks, so we know what needs to change."

The Government said its cost-of-living support package had prevented 1.3 million people falling into poverty in 2022-23 and reiterated that it had uprated benefits, raised the state pension and was "raising the National Living Wage, cutting taxes and driving down inflation while investing billions through our Back to Work Plan".

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