These figures do not include the more than 1,000 independent food banks across the country. The Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) found that 84% saw increased need between April and July 2023 in comparison to last year.
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Jess Holliday, deputy chief executive at the Trussell Trust’s Eastbourne Foodbank, said: “Our donations are down even as need remains very high. We are deeply concerned about the alarming rise in the number of children needing our support.
“Last month, 633 of the food parcels we provided were for children. Day after day, people tell us they simply don’t have enough money to buy the basics. A client told me, ‘I have sold my car. I have sold everything and cut everything out. But that’s still not enough. All I want is enough money to pay the basic bills and have some left to buy my own food.’”
The Trussell Trust is encouraging people to sign a petition urging UK party leaders to support the introduction of an ‘essentials guarantee’ to ensure that the basic rate of universal credit at least covers the basics people need to live.
Revie added: “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.”
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