Slough Foodbank is today publishing stats for the full year 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 in line with the Trussell Trust’s reporting schedule. It is incredibly upsetting to see that during the period there has been a 27% increase in the number of food parcels distributed compared to the same period last year. This is above the national figures published by the Trussell Trust which shows an yearly increase of 18% across their network of foodbanks.
These figures only really take in the month of March 2020 where the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic started to take effect. We have published more recent monthly statistics where you can see the impact Covid-19 is having. For the 6 months 1 Jan – 30 June 2020 there has been an increase as follows (versus the same period in 2019):
No. of vouchers: 1578, 42% increase
Number of adults: 2182, 51% increase
Number of children: 1269, 72% increase
Total number of food parcels: 3451, 58% increase
Slough Foodbank Manager, Sue Sibany-King commented: “At Slough Foodbank, every day we see the real effect the Coronavirus is having on the people of Slough and the surrounding areas. It is not just a health issue but a financial issue that has exacerbated the dire situation many of clients were already in. It is baffling that whilst the government is keen to encourage people to start eating out again with their ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme, I question whether they have forgotten that many cannot afford to eat at all and that until we all get a living wage or benefits sufficient to cover costs, sadly foodbanks will continue to pick up the pieces of a broken system.”
We support the Trussell Trust and their calls for governments at all levels to use their powers to make sure everyone can afford the essentials and end the need for foodbanks in the UK.
Notes:
The 2019-2020 top-line figures for the Trussell Trust network are as follows:
- Between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020, the Trussell Trust’s food bank network distributed a record 1.9 million three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis, a 18% increase on the previous year. More than seven hundred thousand of these went to children.
- In the last five years, food bank use in the Trussell Trust network has increased by 74%.
For more detailed figures, including a breakdown of the numbers according to nation and adults/children, and the main reasons for people needing emergency food, please see the summary PDF and visit https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/.
