More than one million people people sought help from foodbank charities over the past year, according to figures released this week by the Trussell Trust.
The charity issued 1,084,604 food vouchers in the last financial year, 19 per cent rise more than the previous year, when it issued 900,000. Some 396,997 of those users were children.
But a spokeswoman for the charity said the figure is likely to be much higher on a national scale when other independent foodbanks are taken into account.
A spokeswoman from the charity told Civil Society News that “49 percent of people coming to Trussell Trust foodbanks in a year needed help once". She said: "On average people needed two foodbank vouchers in a year. Each foodbank voucher entitles people to three days’ food and support.”
The majority of those requiring help reported problems with benefit payments but an increasing number of people using the service are those in low-paid or insecure employment - a growth of 20 per cent over the past year, according to the Trust.
'Public health issue'
Dr John Middleton, vice-president of the Faculty of Public Health said the rising numbers of people seeking help was a “public health issue that we must not ignore”.
“For many people it’s not an issue of eating well and eating healthily, it is a question of not being able to afford to eat at all,” he said.
According to Middleton, UK poverty is “creating massive health issues” with the “increasing burden of managing people’s health” set to increase “if we do not address the drivers of people to foodbanks”.
The Trussell Trust said there was a 5 per cent increase in the number of foodbanks being opened across the country last year.
A spokeswoman for the charity said the number of people using foodbanks is likely to be significantly greater on a national scale.
"Trussell Trust figures cannot be used to fully explain the scale of the food poverty across the UK, because our figures only relate to Trussell Trust food banks and not to the hundreds of other independent food aid providers,” she said. “There is no official data on other food aid projects, but some people estimate that there are likely to be the same number again of non-Trussell Trust foodbank style projects in the UK.”
Adrian Curtin, foodbank director for Trussell Trust UK said: “It’s difficult to be sure of the full extent of the problem as Trussell Trust figures don’t include people who are helped by other food charities or those who feel too ashamed to seek help.”
The Trussell Trust is formed of a network of over 400 foodbanks run in partnership with churches and community groups. Some 90 per cent of foodbanks offer additional services such as debt councelling and welfare advice.
The charity's expenditure rose by £1.4m over the year – from £1.6m in 2013 to just under £3m in 2014, according to the last set of published account.
