2016 set to break records as Trussell Trust blames benefit cuts
More than half a million emergency food parcels were handed out between April and September 2016, as the charity handing them out says Britain is heading for the greatest demand for foodbanks of any year on record.
The Trussell Trust said it gave 519,342 three-day emergency food packs – up 2.6 per cent from 506,369 during the same period in 2015.
Of these, 188,584 food parcels went to children.
The charity, which runs 400 foodbanks across the country, said the financial year of 2016/7 was on course to seeing the highest number of food parcels handed out in its twelve-year history.
Welfare changes and delays are to blame for the rise of foodbanks, the Trust said, accounting for 44 per cent of all referrals. A hotline for each foodbank’s nearest Job Centre Plus would help, it added.
Chief executive David McAuley said:
“As the number of emergency food parcels provided to people by foodbanks rises once again, it’s clear that more can be done to get people back on their feet faster.
Many foodbanks now host independent welfare and debt advisers but they cannot solve all the issues.
To stop UK hunger we must make sure the welfare system works fairly and compassionately, stopping people getting to a point where they have no money to eat.”
He added:
“It feels like we could be seeing a new era at the DWP with a consultation on work capability assessments and willingness to engage in dialogue with charities working on the front line.
A telephone hotline could build on this and go a long way to improving foodbanks’ ability to help get people out of a crisis faster.”
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9 Responses to “Foodbank Britain: 500,000 food parcels in just five months”
Mick
The Conservatives are roundly blamed as this is happening on their watch.
But just remember who was in office when crunch compounded recession and the voters turned to the Tories, twice, to fix the mess.
They’ve been ruthless but the books have been balancing.
Adam Barnett
and now see the harvest.
Steve Mizzy
No one in office or out should be comfortable with this.
It shames us as that we have people relying on food handouts in a wealthy, modern country such as ours.
Everyone should be outraged that this is going on.
It is utterly disgraceful.
Mick
Cuts to the welfare budget to get it back even, before it bloated under Labour, can strike very unevenly as the scythe swings. I’m only impressed things didn’t become all the more austere, given how totally naked the economy was before the Credit Crunch even happened. Even LABOUR knew there would need to be savage cutbacks but it still splurged anyway, knowing they would lose and not wanting any further blame.
The point has been to cut as wages rise. Wages don’t always but benefit dependency does and it always tough to shift.
Carey
Pity that the Gvt is not so dilligient in cutting back the amount of tax breaks that the v wealthy have, the millions swindled by multinationals year on year – while they are happy to use natioanl resources and state services. Yes Blairism was in my opinion a significant let down, more so as it progressed, of course there are always choices to be made in managing an economy, and these last 2 Tory terms have been true Tory viciousness, Thatcher stage 2.