Massive increase in new foodbanks for the hungry is a shocking wake up call for politicians

The shocking rise in people claiming help from foodbanks is exposed today (Wednesday) in a report from the Salisbury-based Trussell Trust, the biggest food bank charity in the country, which has established foodbanks in Marlborough and Devizes.

Inflation may be down and some wages rising, but that hasn’t stopped the stupendous growth of foodbanks in a time of austerity with the number of people helped by them in the past 12 months rising by a colossal 170 per cent.

That gives a figure of 930,000 hungry people being given emergency food, at least 100,000 higher now than anticipated, according to the latest statistics released by the Trussell Trust.

It has seen a 76 per cent rise in the number of foodbanks launched since April 2012 and it is now creating three new foodbanks every week to help meet demand, having launched a total of 345 UK foodbanks in partnership with churches and communities to date.

 “The sheer volume of people who are turning to foodbanks because they can’t afford food is a wake-up call to the nation that we cannot ignore the hunger on our doorstep,” Chris Mould, executive chairman of the trust, told Marlborough News Online.

“Politicians across the political spectrum urgently need to recognise the real extent of UK food poverty and create fresh policies that better address its underlying causes.

“This is more important than ever as the impact of the biggest reforms to the welfare state since it began start to take effect.

“Since the beginning of April we have already seen increasing numbers of people in crisis being sent to foodbanks – with nowhere else to go.”

And he added:”Last year The Trussell Trust estimated that our foodbanks would help 250,000 people in 2012-13. We’ve helped 100,000 more than that. 2012-13 was much tougher for people than many anticipated.

“Incomes are being squeezed to breaking point. We’re seeing people from all kinds of backgrounds turning to foodbanks — working people coming in on their lunch-breaks, mums who are going hungry to feed their children, people whose benefits have been delayed and people who are struggling to find enough work.

“It’s shocking that people are going hungry in 21st century Britain.”

The report coincides with 600 church leaders from all the main denominations, among them 36 Anglican bishops, writing to the government calling for urgent action to address poverty and hunger.

The trust’s statistics show that only four per cent of people turned to foodbanks due to homelessness, 30 per cent were referred due to benefit delay, 18 per cent on low incomes and 15 per cent due to benefit changes – up from 11 per cent on the previous year.

Other reasons included domestic violence, sickness, refused crisis loans, debt and unemployment, the majority of people turning to foodbanks being working age families.

More than 15,000 frontline care professionals such as doctors, social workers, schools liaison officers and Jobcentre Plus staff referred their clients to foodbanks in last year.  Community driven foodbanks have seen an estimated 30,000 volunteers giving their time across the UK.

And during the year more than 3,400 tonnes of food was donated by the public at a variety of centres such as Waitrose in Marlborough.

“Whilst it’s deeply concerning that so many people are facing hunger in the UK, the evident willingness of the public to help their neighbours through foodbanks has prevented thousands of crises escalating into disaster,” said Mr Mould. “We regularly hear people say that ‘the foodbank saved my life’ and it’s local communities that make that possible.”