Demand for emergency parcels at foodbanks hits record high

A record near-three million emergency food parcels have been handed out at food banks in the year to March, with the number provided for children topping a million for the first time.

The figures from the Trussell Trust charity represent a 37% increase, compared to the year before.

A total of 2,986,203 emergency food parcels were given out between April 2022 and March this year - the most parcels food banks in the charity's UK-wide network have ever distributed in a single year.

The charity says it's more than double the amount distributed by food banks in the same period five years ago, the charity said.

Some 1,139,553 parcels were distributed for children, up from 835,879 the previous year and a rise from less than 500,000 in the 2017-2018 year.

In a sign of what the charity says is an increasing need amid the cost-of-living crisis, more than 760,000 people - more than the population of Sheffield in the last census - used a food bank in the network for the first time.

This was a 38% rise on first-time users compared to the same period last year.

Need greater than during pandemic

The charity says the level of need was greater than during the first year of the pandemic and that there was a particularly high demand in December, with a parcel being distributed by staff and volunteers across the country every eight seconds.

The Trussell Trust said the problem is "not a regionalised issue", with an increase of at least 28% in each area of the UK - with the highest being in the north east of England, with a 54% rise in the number of parcels being distributed compared to the previous year.

Chief executive at South Tyneside Foodbank, Brian Thomas, said the "unprecedented rise" in food bank users coupled with food donations not keeping up has led to a "real pressure cooker situation".

Of the four nations, Wales had the highest rise at 41%, followed by England at 37%, Scotland at 30% and Northern Ireland at 29%.

In the English regions, the east of England saw the second highest rise after the North East, at 45% followed by the South West at 42%.

Demand outstripping donations

The charity said it is the case now that the level of need across the network is "far outstripping the donations that we've been receiving", meaning food banks are having to purchase more food themselves and source more warehouse space to store it.

It said food banks are also having to extend their opening hours to accommodate employed people who need to access their emergency support around their working patterns.

Help from the Government in the form of the Cost of Living Payments - and the support provided in Northern Ireland and Scotland - did result in a temporary dip in need for food banks, the charity said, but the organisation criticised the short-term nature of support.

The charity's senior research manager, Emma Newbury, said: "We see that there is some respite with the cost of living payments but that is short-lived and shows that one-off payments are unable to make lasting difference when people's regular income from social security and work is just too low for them to be able to afford the essentials."

The charity is calling on the Government to make a long-term commitment that benefit rates will always be enough to afford the essentials, urging that the principle of a minimum Universal Credit to protect people from going without essentials be enshrined in law.

The organisation also said the Government should set out a long-term strategy for local crisis support and commit to a multi-year settlement of funding.

It referred to YouGov online polling of more than 12,000 UK adults on behalf of the Trussell Trust in August and September last year which suggested 77% of respondents think food banks should not be needed in the UK, 93% feeling everyone should be able to buy enough food for themselves and their family, and 85% thinking ensuring everyone has enough money for basic needs should be a high priority for the UK Government.

Latest figures 'extremely concerning'

The trust's chief executive, Emma Revie, said the latest figures 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".

She added: "For too long people 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."

Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said the "devastating" increase in emergency food parcels is the "price families are paying for 13 years of Tory economic failure".

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."

The cost of living crisis is affecting many people:

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