Food banks running out of food, says Wiltshire Council Leader
Councillors debated about the council's approach to the cost-of-living crisis
Food banks are running out of food because of the number of people who are using them according to Wiltshire Councillors.
This came out during a debate about the council’s approach to the cost-of-living crisis, at a Full Council meeting held last week (18 October).
Wiltshire Council Leader, Richard Clewer, said:
“Food banks are of great concern. We are hearing more and more that there are food banks talking about potentially running out of food. That is new. It’s not happened in the I don’t know how many years that we’ve been involved with food banks.
“We’ve got to make sure that support is in place because food banks cannot be running out of food over the course of the winter particularly when more people are needing them.”
Councillor for Bowerhill Nick Holder went on to explain that food banks are under stress "because of the number of people who are wanting to use them".
Mr Holder added that food banks should not rely on public donations alone and the council should consider using the charitable food organisation FareShare to help supplies.
Leader of the Wiltshire Council Liberal Democrats, Ian Thorn, criticized the council for using the word challenge rather than crisis when discussing the cost-of-living:
“We’re talking about the fact there isn’t even enough food to go into the food banks. If that’s not a crisis I don’t know what is.”
People who have never used social care who might now need help had to be considered too, said councillors.
Councillor Clewer said:
“Two adults earning £20,000 a year each may well now find themselves in a degree of difficulty that they’ve not experienced before, and they don’t really know the appropriate routes to take to look for support.”
Councillors went on to say more needs to be done to show people where to get help without making them feel ashamed for asking.
A dedicated web page has been created on Wiltshire Council's website to help residents who are finding themselves in difficulty, to see all the areas they can possibly look for support.