Growing numbers of people on low incomes are turning to food banks to survive, new research has revealed.
Almost 500,000 adults and children were given three days’ food in the first six months of the current financial year – a record – the Trussell Trust reported.
The charity said the number of adults being referred to one of its 400 food banks had increased by 38% compared with the same period last year.
Problems with social security were the biggest trigger for going to a food bank, but more than a fifth blamed low income.
In the six months to September, 492,641 people were given three days’ food and support, including 176,565 children, compared with 355,982 during the same period in the previous year.
Trussell Trust chief executive David McAuley said: “Whilst the rate of new food banks opening has slowed dramatically, we’re continuing to see a significant increase in numbers helped by them.
More on this story here.
A reader comments
"We should hang our heads in shame. A First World nation, the 6th wealthiest in the world.
This truly is the worst government we've had since the Gilded Age, and they're dragging us right back to it.
A government with no mandate from the people, rushing through policies they never mentioned in their general election campaign, flying in the face of all the best advice and a mountain of very credible evidence that says they're hurting not helping, while the rich get even richer.
And to whom do the people turn? A party that allies itself with fascists and pledges to go even further even faster in dismantling the welfare state, stripping the poorest and most vulnerable of what rights they have left and handing Britain to foreign oligarchs on a plate with a nice little ribbon around it.
If we end up after May 2015 with another 5 years of this, with or without a UKIP coalition, then the poorest 50% of the UK will be well and truly f**ked."
Eddie
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