A food bank leader says urgent action is needed to reduce the demand for their services.
The plea comes after the Trussell Trust – which operates local facilities across Lichfield and Burntwood – said it had distributed a record number of emergency food parcels across the West Midlands region between April and September.
The figure of 132,361 represents a 12% increase on the same period in 2022 with low incomes and issues with social security payments being cited as the main reasons for users needing to turn to food banks.
The charity also revealed that 62% of all food parcels provided were for families with children.
The Trussell Trust says many food banks are now at “breaking point” as more and more people find themselves unable to afford the essentials – and has warned that it expects demand to continue to rise over the coming months.
Emma Revie, the organisation’s chief executive, said the government needed to take swift action.
“These statistics are extremely alarming. An increasing number of children are growing up in families facing hunger, forced to turn to food banks to survive.
“A generation is growing up believing that it’s normal to see a food bank in every community. This is not right.
“Rising hunger and hardship have devastating consequences for individuals and our communities, damage the nation’s health and hold back our economy. People in work, as well as people who cannot work, are increasingly being pushed into debt and forced to turn to a food bank to survive.
“That’s why the UK government must build on its work to protect people from increasingly severe hardship and commit to putting an Essentials Guarantee into legislation, to embed in our social security system the widely supported principle that, at a minimum, Universal Credit should protect people from going without essentials.
“We recognise this change cannot happen overnight, which is why we are also calling on the government to urgently confirm in the Autumn Statement that benefits will rise in line with inflation next April, and to reduce the burden of debt deductions which drive unacceptable levels of hardship.”
Emma Revie, Trussell Trust
The Trussell Trust is encouraging people to show their support by signing a petition urging political party leaders to support the introduction of an Essentials Guarantee to ensure that the basic rate of University Credit covers essentials such as food and bills. For more details on the campaign visit The Trussell Trust website.
