Food banks in West Yorkshire at breaking point due to low donations and high demand
Almost 1.3 million emergency parcels provided to people across UK experiencing hunger over past six months, as cost of living emergency drives ‘tsunami of need’ to food banks
New figures released today by the Trussell Trust reveal that 1.3m emergency food parcels were provided to people between April and September this year by food banks in the charity’s UK network and almost half a million of these went to children.
That’s a third more than were provided during the same period in 2021 and an increase of more than 50% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The Trussell Trust, which supports more than 1,300 food bank centres, says the cost-of-living emergency has created a ‘tsunami of need’, as people struggle to survive amidst the soaring costs of living.
The charity has already launched an emergency appeal to ensure that food banks can meet the alarming level of need in their communities.
In the first half of this financial year alone, the Trussell Trust’s food bank network provided more parcels than in a full 12-month period five years ago, when 1.2 million emergency food parcels were distributed.
Over the last six months, 320,000 people have been forced to turn to a food bank in the Trussell Trust network for the first time which represents a 40% increase compared to 2021.
The charity warns that food banks are at ‘breaking point’, both physically and mentally, and are set to face the hardest winter yet as they expect to provide more than 7,000 emergency food parcels a day on average in the next six months.
Josie Barlow, food bank manager at Bradford Foodbank said: “Someone who came to the food bank recently told me that ‘buying milk is a luxury now'. So many people are struggling with bills and food prices.
"We are fortunate to be able to help people and we work hard to support them in both the short and long term, but we are also facing challenges. We have seen a huge increase in people coming to the food bank in the last two months compared to the same period last year and our stock levels are very low for this time of the year.”
New research to be released by the charity next year, finds that one in five people referred to a food bank in the Trussell Trust network are in working households.
The charity is supporting more and more people who are working but still can’t afford the essentials which is leading to food banks having to change their opening times to make sure working people can pick up their parcels outside of work hours.