Food bank 'crisis' continues
Tens of thousands of families have relied on emergency food parcels to survive during the past 12 months, new figures reveal.
The number of people turning to food banks for help is continuing to rise across the Black Country, Staffordshire and Wyre Forest.
Benefit delays and changes remain the biggest cause of someone being referred to a food bank by a doctor, social worker or jobcentre.
Overall, Trussell Trust charity food banks in Walsall North, Great Barr, Smethwick, Quinton and Oldbury, Cannock and District, Rugeley and Kidderminster saw an 11 per cent increase in visitors in 2016/17.
They have been inundated with requests for supplies by people struggling to make ends in meet and in total 17,800 three-day boxes of food were given out during the period up from 15,998 in 2015/16.
Nationally Trussell Trust's network of food banks handed out a record number of almost 1.2 million emergency supplies to people ‘in crisis’ in the year to March.
Walsall North food bank, which is based at Pelsall Methodist Church, helped more than 450 extra people in 2016/17. The number of three-day supplies handed out rose from 943 to 1,397.
Chairman Val Asprey said: "The figures are devastating. It's outrageous that there are so many people struggling. The Trussell Trust publishes its figures but there are hundreds of food banks out there that do not so there could be millions of other people in similar circumstances. It's heart-breaking.
"It's really bad how many children are caught up in this. They are innocent victims of the social-economic situation and Government cuts.
"The benefits process is getting too long. Some people are waiting for up to 13 weeks for it to go through - that's a long time to be without money.
"We fear it's just going to get worse with the new Universal Credit (UC) benefit which is proving difficult to navigate."
Cannock and District also saw an increase, helping 3,634 people in 2016/17, up from 2,676 in 2015/16. At Great Barr, numbers also rose with 1,547 people fed during the past 12 months, compared with 1,052 previously. There was also an increase at Quinton and Oldbury with total visitors rising from 1,258 to 1,632 during the year and numbers visit Rugeley rose from 1,448 to 1,484. While numbers going the doors of the food banks in Smethwick and Kidderminster fell during the period to 2,673 and 2,766 respectively.
Staff and volunteers at the separate Black Country Food Bank, which has 19 distribution centres across Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall, said it had seen a 'slight' increase with 17,000 visits in total in 2016.
They said colder weather at the start of last year had possibly led to more people facing a choice around heating or eating.
While The Well (The Home of Wolverhampton Food Bank) has fed 7,770 people during the past 12 months, which project leaders Caroline and Gary Price said was about the same as the previous year.
