{"id":12505,"date":"2017-05-31T13:57:03","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T12:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12505"},"modified":"2017-06-02T10:53:04","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T09:53:04","slug":"hidden-food-banks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12505","title":{"rendered":"‘Hidden’ food banks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hundreds of \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhidden” food banks have revealed record levels of food poverty in the UK.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Research from the Independent Food Aid Network<\/a> (Ifan) indicates that the true level of food poverty is higher than previously estimated.<\/p>\n

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The findings came as TUC analysis<\/a> showed the average yearly wage is \u00c2\u01411,200 lower in real terms than it was in 2008.<\/p>\n

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Unite said a Labour government would reverse shrinking pay and rising poverty by increasing the minimum wage, banning zero hour contracts and reforming the benefit system.<\/p>\n

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Ifan mapped more than 2,000 food banks across the country, 651 of which were local organisations independent of the Trussell Trust<\/a>, the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biggest food bank operator.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In April, the Trussell Trust said the number of people using its services had increased by 7 percent during the last year. The trust provided a record 1,182,954 three-day emergency packages between April 2016 and March 2017, compared to 1,109,309 the year before and just 25,899 in 2008\/09.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, Ifan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s findings show that levels of food poverty in the UK are even higher. Alongside 1,373 Trussell Trust food banks, the network mapped 651 independent food banks \u00e2\u20ac\u201c bringing the total number of food banks operating in the UK to 2,024.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Trussell Trust have said \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsignificant problems\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 with last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s introduction of the Universal Credit<\/a> (UC) benefit system \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is used to pay all benefits and tax credits, including child tax credits, unemployment allowances and in-work benefits \u00e2\u20ac\u201c were the primary cause for the increase in food bank usage.<\/p>\n

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Food banks in areas were the system had been rolled out in full reported a 17 per cent increase in demand, compared to an average increase of 7 per cent nationally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Changes and delays to benefits<\/a> were the biggest cause for referral for food parcels, making up 43 percent of the total, while referrals due to low income increased by 3 per cent to 26 per cent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ifan researcher, Sabine Goodwin, described food bank usage as a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnational crisis that cannot be underestimated\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said<\/a>, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople arrive regularly into food banks across the country not having eaten for days while the government hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even begun to monitor food poverty.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Food banks have proliferated at the same time as wages have declined. New TUC research shows that on average workers are still \u00c2\u01411,200 worse off in real terms than they were before the 2008 crash.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bPoliticians have to explain to voters how they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll create decent jobs that people can actually live on\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Hard-working nurses shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to use food banks to get by.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Under the Tories<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Head of Unite Community, Liane Groves, said only a vote for Labour<\/a> would prevent poverty increasing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnfortunately the harsh reality of food banks are part and parcel of life under the Tories. As well as forcing some of the most vulnerable to rely on food banks through draconian welfare cuts, the Conservatives have also presided over an increase in food bank use amongst working people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe rise of insecure low paid work, a cost of living crisis and cuts to in-work benefits mean that some cannot afford to eat even if they have a job.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBy putting a stop to zero hour contracts, raising the minimum wage to \u00c2\u014110 an hour and reforming the cruellest and most damaging aspects of the benefit system, a Labour government would reverse the trend in food bank use and put a stop to what is truly a national shame.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhidden” food banks have revealed record levels of food poverty in the UK.   Research from the Independent Food Aid Network (Ifan) indicates that the true level of food poverty is higher than previously estimated.   The findings came as TUC analysis showed the average yearly wage is \u00c2\u01411,200 lower in real terms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[480,164,727,174,44],"wps_subtitle":"Food poverty higher than estimated under Tories","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12505"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12506,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12505\/revisions\/12506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}