The use of food banks rose last year in the UK, which is in a deep cost-of-living crisis, as more than a million parcels were distributed to children for the first time, according to the charity Wednesday.
Nearly three million emergency food parcels were distributed between April 2022 and March 2023 by the charity Trussell Trust, which operates an extensive network of food banks in the country. This is the largest number of parcels distributed by the association in one year.
sequel after announcement
Million parcels distributed to children
The number of food parcels distributed by the Trussell Trust increased by 120% over the past five years before reaching its current peak, Emma Revie, the trust’s chief executive, confirmed to The Guardian. Between 2017 and 2018, they distributed 1.4 million parcels, which was a record at the time.
Emma Revy also revealed that the use of food parcels was higher last year than it was during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, which they thought could not be outdone.
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It confirmed that more than 1.1 million of these emergency packages have been distributed to children, an increase of 36% in one year.
“These new figures are very worrying and show that an increasing number of people have no other way out but to turn to charitable institutions (…) and this is not fair.”Emma Revie’s reaction, quoted in a press release.
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Hunger and poverty worsened across the country
According to the association, more than 760,000 people used a food bank for the first time between April 2022 and March 2023. These figures, drawn from 1,646 Trussel Trust outlets, point to worsening hunger and poverty in general in the UK, although they make it clear that they are not representative of all those who struggle. to get food.
“We are seeing an unprecedented increase in the number of people coming to food banks, especially people with jobs whose income cannot keep up with the rising cost of living.”notes Brian Thomas, director of a food bank in South Tyneside in the North East, quoted in the press release.
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All regions of the UK are affected, with an increase in parcels delivered of at least 28% in each region, which reached 54% in the poorer North East.
According to The Guardian, food banks as a whole cannot fully explain the scale of hunger, with government figures indicating that only 14% of severely food insecure people use food parcels.
sequel after announcement
Social benefits are less than the cost of living
“The social benefits do not reflect the basic costs (of the house) and as a result people are pushed further into misery.”insists Emma Revy. So the association calls on the government to Act now to strengthen the social security system..
Les recherches du Trussel Trust, menées in collaboration with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, ont permis d’estimer que le montant des sociales habituelles au Royaume-Uni était inférieur d’au moins 140 livres sterling per mois (158 euros) au coût moyen de life.
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And the government issued exceptional measures in the context of the crisis, notably for this year an aid of 900 pounds (about a thousand euros) for the most modest families or a payment of 300 pounds to help retirees pay their bills.
But, according to The Guardian, data from the Trussell Trust suggests that this aid hasn’t always made a difference, with food bank use falling slightly in the weeks following payments in August and December, before rapidly increasing again.
