As you maybe aware, Cobham Area Foodbank is part of The Trussell Trust. As the cost of essentials continue to dramatically rise and impact the lives of people on the lowest incomes, The Trussell Trust’s latest statistics lay bare the alarming increase in hunger in the UK.
Food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network provided over 2.1m food parcels across the UK from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. This is the first time our network has provided more than 2 million parcels, outside of 2020, at the height of the pandemic. Alarmingly, more than 830,000 parcels were provided for children, this represents a 15% increase from 2019/20.
They report that their network has experienced its busiest winter outside of the pandemic year with January – February 22 seeing a 22% increase in comparison to the same period in 2020.
The Trussell Trust acknowledge that whilst Food bank staff and volunteers will always do all they can to help people in their communities, they cannot and should not be picking up the pieces of government inaction, particularly with a crisis of this scale.
