22 Apr 2015

Food banks: over one million seek emergency help

The number of people using food banks has reached a record one million, despite signs that the economy is improving, new figures reveal.

The Trussell Trust, which runs 445 food banks across the UK, said 1,084,604 people received supplies in the last financial year – an increase of 19 per cent on the previous years – and that 400,000 of them were children.

Everyone who receives food from Trussell Trust food banks is referred by a professional, such as a social worker or school liaison officer.

Read more: FactCheck - are a million people using foodbanks?

Delays in receiving benefits were the main reason for referrals to food banks, but the Trussell Trust said there was an increase in referrals of workers on low income.

And the figures will not tell the whole story as many smaller charities and churches also run food bank schemes.

People in work who use food banks were reported to be struggling with insecure income, low wages and high living costs.

The shocking rise in the number of people relying on Trussell Trust food banks since 2010 shows the Tory plan is failing. Rachel Reeves

Sue, a qualified teacher and mother of two, told the charity: “I have an 18 month old son and an eight year old stepson, I work part time as a teacher and my husband has an insecure agency contract.

“There are times when he doesn’t get enough hours of work, and we really struggle to afford food and pay the bills. The food bank meant we could put food on the table.”

Food banks have figured prominently in the 2015 election campaign, with Labour arguing that the rise in food bank use is a sign that the economic recovery under the coalition is not benefiting everybody.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves said: “The shocking rise in the number of people relying on Trussell Trust food banks since 2010 shows the Tory plan is failing.

“David Cameron’s failure to tackle low pay, the bedroom tax and delays in benefit payments have led to over a million people depending on emergency food aid.”

We want a strong, balanced recovery that benefits everyone – but we will take no lectures from Ed Miliband. Conservative spokesman

Green Party Deputy Leader Amelia Womack said: “Britain is divided. Those at the top flourish while over one million people are relying on emergency food handouts to feed themselves and their families.”

During the Election 2015 leaders interviews Jeremy Paxman grilled David Cameron over the rise in food banks, saying it was a sign that Britain is “more broken than it was”. Mr Cameron responded by saying there are 1.89m more people in work since he came to power.

Responding to the Trussell Trust figures, a Conservative spokesman said: “We want a strong, balanced recovery that benefits everyone – but we will take no lectures from Ed Miliband. He leads a party who presided over the deepest recession in living memory, whose incompetent economic policies hit the poorest harder than anyone.

Whoever forms the next government can’t ignore the fact that people in the seventh richest country in world are going hungry every day. Rachel Orr, Oxfam head of UK poverty

“Increased use of food banks is partially because the last Labour government didn’t let Jobcentres direct people to them when they were in need of food. But of course we acknowledge there is still more to do – one family failing to make ends meet each month is a family too many.”

The claim over Jobcentres directing people to food banks, and the extent to which this impacts on numbers, was analysed by FactCheck.

Oxfam head of UK poverty Rachael Orr said: “It’s extremely worrying to see yet another rise in the number of people being forced to visit foodbanks in the UK. “Whilst these figures reveal that over a million people are using Trussell Trust foodbanks, we know there are many more out there who are using independent ones, not to mention the people who don’t go to foodbanks and are literally going without enough food.

“Whoever forms the next government can’t ignore the fact that people in the seventh richest country in world are going hungry every day.”