11,310 emergency food parcels provided to people facing hardship by Aylesbury Foodbank in the past 12 months
- Alarmingly more than 3,877 of the parcels were provided for children.
- The charity calls for a stronger social security system that ensures we can at least cover life’s essentials, like food, heating, and clothes.
- New annual figures from the Trussell Trust show that almost 3 million (2,986,203) food parcels were given out across the UK – more than ever before.
New figures released today by Aylesbury Foodbank have revealed that 11,310 emergency food parcels were provided to people facing hardship across Aylesbury Vale in the last year – with 3,877 of these going to children.
Aylesbury Foodbank has seen a 37% increase in the number of emergency food parcels distributed compared to last year. This is the most parcels the Foodbank has ever provided.
The levels of need were particularly acute in winter, and March was the busiest month for Aylesbury Foodbank, with 1,425 emergency food parcels provided by staff and volunteers this month.
Heather-Joy Garrett, Operations Manager at Aylesbury Foodbank said:
The cost-of-living crisis has been devasting for so many people who were already struggling to cope. Locally private rents have risen so high that there are very few properties available under the Local Housing Limit. The rise in fuel costs has also impacted our clients hard making 2022-2023 our busiest year ever.
Donations of food and money have increased due to local people’s generosity, but sadly the level of need has increased faster.
Aylesbury Foodbank is part of the Trussell Trust’s network, which reports record levels of need in the last 12 months with almost 3 million (2,986,203) emergency food parcels provided to people facing hardship between April 2022 and March 2023. More than a million of these parcels were provided for children.
Speaking about the rising need for emergency food, Emma Revie, Chief Executive at the Trussell Trust, said:
“These new statistics are extremely concerning and show that an increasing number of people are being left with no option but to turn to charitable, volunteer-run organisations to get by, and this is not right. The continued increase in parcel numbers over the last five years indicates ongoing low levels of income and a social security system that isn’t fit for the purpose that are forcing more people to need food banks, rather than just the recent cost of living crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic.
“AylesburyFoodbank was set up to provide short-term support to people in an emergency, they are not a lasting solution to hunger and poverty, and more than three-quarters of the UK population agree with us that they should not need to exist.
“The staff and volunteers at Aylesbury Foodbank are working tirelessly to ensure help continues to be available, but the current situation is not one they can solve alone.
“For too long, the people of Aylesbury have been going without because social security payments do not reflect life’s essential costs, and people are being pushed deeper into hardship. If we are to stop this continued growth and end the need for food banks, then the UK government must ensure that the standard allowance of Universal Credit is always enough to cover essential costs.”
To help ensure that everyone has the income they need to afford the essentials, the Trussell Trust has joined with Joseph Rowntree Foundation in urging the UK government to embed in law an ‘Essentials Guarantee’ that would make sure Universal Credit payments always, at a minimum, provide enough to the cover cost of essentials such as food, utilities and vital household goods.