The first two weeks of the coronavirus lockdown triggered an unprecedented rise in food bank use as the economy was hit and household incomes plunged, data from hundreds of emergency food aid charities reveals.
The Trussell Trust, the UK’s biggest food bank network, said it experienced its busiest ever period after lockdown was announced on 23 March, when it issued 50,000 food parcels in the space of a week, almost double its usual volume.
A similar picture emerged from the Independent Food Aid Network (Ifan), which said its food banks recorded a 59% increase in demand for emergency food support between February and March – 17 times higher than the same period a year ago.
Labour called on the government to take urgent action through the benefits system to help families who had fallen into hardship. Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “Food banks are doing an incredible job in tough circumstances with unprecedented demand, but the government should be ensuring that people have the resources they need to stop their families going hungry.”
Food bank charities warned that the current high levels of demand for food parcels were unsustainable and called for new income support measures.
“We need emergency measures to ensure people can makes ends meet during this crisis. We have the power to come together as a country and make sure support is there to stop any of us being swept into poverty during this emergency,” said the Trussell Trust’s chief executive, Emma Revie.
She said government measures to support struggling families, such as the job retention scheme and a £20-a-week increase to universal credit, were welcome but not enough to prevent increasing numbers of people falling into hardship.
The trust called for a boost to benefit payments for families with children, and for the lifting of policies that limited the amount of benefit support families were entitled to, such as the two-child policy and the benefit cap.
Food banks across the UK – already working at maximum capacity – have struggled with food stocks as Covid-19 hit, with five Trussell Trust food banks and a handful of Ifan food banks forced to close. Staff numbers also plummeted as the predominantly older volunteer workforce self-isolated.
The Trussell Trust said overall food levels have stabilised, after help from major supermarkets. Stocks remain depleted, however, and there is concern that some volunteer teams may be close to burnout, and may face disruption again if lockdown is relaxed and volunteers return to their full-time jobs.
The dramatic recent increase in food bank reliance, which comes after years of gradually rising food bank use, were caused by people’s income dropping – often because they had lost their job – or because their benefit payments failed to keep up with the cost of living, the trust said.
Its figures, based on returns from 70% of the network’s 432 members, show demand starting to creep up in early March before exploding later in the month. The numbers of households with children helped by its food banks increased by 122%. There are as yet no April figures though the trust said food banks have been “very busy”.
Ifan’s figures, based on returns from 85 of its 252 members, found that a third saw increases of more than 100% in food parcel distribution between February and March compared with the same period last year.
Sabine Goodwin, Ifan’s coordinator, said: “The solution is not in trying to distribute more food parcels but in providing sufficient income to the huge numbers of people impacted by this crisis and the poverty that preceded it.”
A government spokesman said: “We’re committed to supporting all those affected by Covid-19 through these unprecedented times and we’ve implemented an enormous package of measures to do so, including income protection schemes and mortgage holidays.
“For those in most need, we’ve injected more than £6.5bn into the welfare system, including an increase to universal credit of up to £1,040 a year. No one has to wait five weeks for money as urgent payments are available.”