Food bank network The Trussell Trust has called on the government to “act decisively” in next week’s budget to tackle food poverty, saying the cost of living crisis has created an unprecedented “tsunami of need” for charities across the country.
The group has released new figures showing 1.3 million emergency food parcels were provided by the charity’s network partners to people in need between April and September – a third more than in the same period in 2021, and nearly double pre-pandemic levels.
“Over the last few years, the government has acted to protect people who are struggling, and this action has made a difference,” said Trussell Trust CEO Emma Revie.
“They must now act again, with swift support to help people through the winter, and with vision for the longer-term to ensure social security is always enough to weather challenging times.
“We are calling for the prime minister to act decisively in next week’s budget. We urge the UK government to realise their commitment of supporting people on the lowest income with a broad package of support.”
The Trussell Trust launched an emergency appeal last month to ensure local charities can meet the “alarming” level of need in their communities.
The UK’s largest food charity network warned that food banks were at a “breaking point both physically and mentally”, and were set to face their harshest winter yet as they expected to provide more than 7,000 emergency food parcels a day on average in the next six months.
In the first half of this financial year alone, its more than 1,300 food bank centres across the country provided more parcels to people in need than in a full 12-month period five years ago.
The Trussell Trust said that over the past six months, 320,000 people had been forced to turn to a food bank in its network for the first time – a 40% increase on 2021.
“We know that with the right support and a stable and sufficient income, people don’t need to turn to food banks for support,” Revie said.
Last month, The Grocer reported that the cost of living crisis had plunged millions of families into food poverty for the first time, according to shocking new figures from the UK’s biggest redistribution charity.
A survey of 9,500 charities receiving food from FareShare, which gets surplus from supermarkets and suppliers, found 90% had seen a rise in demand for their services, with almost 30% seeing it double.
More than 70% of charities attributed the surge in need to people accessing their support for the first time, and 51% said that included full-time workers.
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