Over 1 million UK children receiving food aid
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According to the latest numbers released Wednesday, more than a million children in the United Kingdom received food help in the previous year, an increase of 300,000 from the previous year, as the country grapples with a cost-of-living problem.
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Staff organizes food donations for vulnerable families at the Cooking Champions food bank in Grang Park, London. (AFP)
According to the latest numbers released Wednesday, more than a million children in the United Kingdom received food help in the previous year, an increase of 300,000 from the year before, as the country grapples with a cost-of-living problem.
According to the Trussell Trust charity, which supports 1,200 food banks throughout the country, more than 1.1 million of the over three million food packages supplied in the year ending March 2023 went to children.
Read more: Dependence of British households on food banks rising: Study
The report details that over 800,000 emergency supplies were distributed to youngsters the previous year. In 2017-18, the number was less than 500,000. The findings come as the United Kingdom, a G7 member and one of the world's richest countries, faces the greatest price increase in decades, with gasoline, heating, food, and housing costs all skyrocketing.
Food banks have grown commonplace as rising expenses and salary stagnation have forced many people, including those who work, to seek assistance for the first time.
Brian Thomas, chief executive of South Tyneside food bank in northeast England says that an "unprecedented rise" in the numbers of people going to food banks is happening, particularly with those who are earning low incomes.
"We're also seeing a really high number of families needing support as people struggle to afford the essentials," he stated.
In the last year, the cost-of-living problem has caused strikes in industries ranging from physicians, nurses, and teachers to dock workers and attorneys.
Thomas said that the crisis has impacted contributions as more individuals battled to cover their basic needs.
"Food donation levels are not keeping up with the significant increase in need, and this is putting us under a lot of strain, it's a real pressure cooker situation for food banks," he continued.
Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, says food banks were established to give short-term assistance to individuals in need, but they have now become the standard for low-wage employees and people receiving welfare benefits.
"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," she believes.
The Trussell Trust is encouraging the Conservative administration to boost welfare payments to a more realistic amount that covers critical needs.
Lee Anderson, the current chairman of the Conservative Party, provoked uproar by remarking that individuals dealing with rising prices should budget better and questioned whether food poverty existed.
According to the charity's numbers, over 760,000 individuals used a food bank for the first time in the previous year, a 38 percent rise from the previous year.
