Staffordshire foodbank sees demand soar at unprecedented pace

A foodbank in Staffordshire has revealed to us that they're dealing with spiralling demand and seeing more and more working people going through their doors.

"If I look at the last six months, we are looking at a 70-percent increase in people using the foodbank compared to the same time last year." said Jane Baker, project lead at Newcastle (Staffs) Foodbank.

"When the cost of living first started to squeeze people, energy prices going up, people switching the heating off, we've seen it accelerate since then, but it's staying at that higher level now. Last year we were feeding a hundred people a week, this year we're feeding two hundred a week."

It comes after we reported that experts are warning that soaring food costs haven't peaked yet, with figures suggesting shop prices this month are up eight-point-nine percent on last year.

It's being blamed in part on sugar becoming more expensive, as well as poor fruit and veg harvests in Europe and North Africa.

The British Retail Consortium says fresh food's risen 17-percent in 12 months.

Jane added: "I mean you've got lots of people now who are just about managing but add another 17-percent onto their food bill and some of them will fall into a category of not managing anymore.

"So, we're potentially going to see more and more people coming in but those costs are going up for our donors as well, and the cost for us on purchasing food.

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