Nearly 1 MILLION relied on emergency food parcels last year in BRITAIN

More than 910,000 people in the UK received emergency food parcels from food bank charity Trussell Trust in 2013.

By Dave Lancaster |

14:07 16 April 2014

Britain may be the world's sixth-largest economy but a food bank charity has confirmed that it has handed out nearly a million food parcels in the last year alone. 

 

Food bank charity Trussell Trust noted that the figures tripled in a one year period from 346,992 to 913,138. Adding to the shock is that 330,205 of these emergency food parcels went to children. This is a sharp increase from the 2005-06 period in which 2,814 were given emergency food by the charity. 

 

Merseyside, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Tyne and Wear were the areas with the highest numbers using food banks. 3 new food banks are opening every week and - as of April 2014 - there were 345 active Trussell Trust food banks in the UK. 

 

Calling the figures “shocking in 21st century Britain”, Trussell Trust chairman Chris Mould said: “Perhaps most worrying of all, this figure is just the tip of the iceberg of UK food poverty. 

 

"It doesn’t include those helped by other emergency food providers, those living in towns where there is no food bank, people who are too ashamed to seek help or the large number of people who are only just coping by eating less and buying cheap food.”

 

At least 4.7 million people in the UK live in food poverty. 

 

The figures have prompted 600 religious leaders from all denominations to join forces via a letter to the government which highlights this "time of sorrowful reflection" while calling for action to tackle hunger among the poor. 

 

Comedian Eddie Izzard wrote in the Daily Mirror: "I've seen food parcels handed out many times in my work with Unicef or for Sport Relief... But I never thought I'd even hear of them handed out in my own country."

 

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions countered: “The OECD say there are fewer people struggling with food bills compared with a few years ago and benefits processing times are improving and even the Trussell Trust’s own research recognises the effect their marketing activity has on the growth of their business.”