More people than ever are being forced to turn to food banks, after welfare problems over the last six months have led to the steepest increase in emergency food parcel handouts in five years, according to the anti-poverty campaign the Trussell Trust.

The trust, which runs two-thirds of the UK’s food banks, said it distributed a record 823,145 food parcels between April and September, including 301,653 that went to children. This was a 23% increase on the same period last year, representing the steepest rise the charity has witnessed since its network of food banks was fully established.

The top three reasons cited by people needing emergency food were insufficient benefit income, at 36%, followed by delays in benefit payments at 18% and changes to benefit at 16%.

The latest six-month statistics on food bank use underline research released last week, which found that welfare changes such as universal credit and the bedroom tax were driving the increased use of food banks. The Trussell Trust’s State of Hunger report estimated that one in 50 UK households used a food bank in 2018-19 and at least 3m food parcels were given out.

This week’s statistics, which come a month before the general election, have also thrust the issue of hunger into the election campaign.

The links between welfare changes, food bank use and destitution are fiercely contested. Ministers have largely refused to acknowledge clear evidence of any association between extreme poverty and welfare policies that have cut tens of billions of pounds from the benefits budget. But Labour accused the government of pushing people into destitution. Read more

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