The number of people using food banks to make end meet has tripled this year, according to new figures released today by the Trussell Trust.
The number of people using food banks to make ends meet has tripled in a year, according to new figures released today by the Trussell Trust.
355,000 people used foodbanks between April and September 2013, compared to 113,000 between April and September 2012, according to the Trust, which runs 400 food banks across the UK.
A third of those being helped were children and a third required food following a delay in the payment of their benefits.
“The level of food poverty in the UK is not acceptable,” said the Trust’s executive chairman Chris Mould.
“It’s scandalous, and it is causing deep distress to thousands of people,” he added
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that welfare reforms were pushing households into food poverty.
“One only has to look at the huge rise in foodbanks to see how little support is being given to people who fall on hard times. But instead of recognising the tremendous difficulties people are facing, ministers are blaming them for their plight.”
The government blamed the increase on a greater number of foodbanks.
However the Trussell Trust said that food poverty in the UK was getting worse.
“We’re talking about mums not eating for days because they’ve been sanctioned for seemingly illogical reasons,” said Mr Mould.
“Or people leaving hospital after a major operation to find that their benefits have been stopped or delayed.”
Food banks have risen dramatically under the coalition. 346,992 people received a minimum of three days emergency food from Trussell Trust food banks in 2012-13, compared to 128,697 in 2011-12 and 40,898 when Labour left office in 2010.
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14 Responses to “Number using food banks triples in a year”
Sparky
Note the difference in tone between our respective responses. Mine is calm and reasoned, simply raising an alternative hypothesis for the statistics. Your’s is shrill, emotional and dogmatic, neither addressing the points I raised nor adding anything to the debate.
Sparky
Just about all those people will issue vouchers if asked. I could go down to my local CAB this morning and come back with a voucher. They don’t ask for bank statements and proof of income. It’s not a screening process.
asteya
You call it calm. I call it twisting the information to fit a very narrow ideological view, you could call it delusional. And now adding a faux calm and patronising tone in the hope of coming across as superior!!
It is okay to be angry when propoganda is being used to demonise people.
asteya
Try it and see!
Also you only get theree vouchers a year. So its not realy a calm alternative interpretation you are offering is it sparky?
– despite your comments above. it more like you are determined to believe that for a section of society their sole ambition is to be in reciept of a few bags of white sliced bread, corned beef and tins of tomatoes a few times a year!
Alec
No, I call it calm as well. The first rule of argument is to assume the best possible motives in your opposite number until shown otherwise. Unless you can show that Sparky doesn’t believe claimants at foodbanks are needy and that it arises from an underlying societal problem separate (hint, you can’t unless there’s a back-story which neither you nor Kevin Leonard have referred to, leading me to conclude you can’t) I’d suggest remaining with the entirely unremarkable and inoffensive observation that potential claimants are far more likely to seek a service which they actually know about.
~alec