Food Banks: More Britons 'Reliant On Help'

More than half a million people in the UK are now reliant on food banks, a new report has found.

Factors behind the increase on those using emergency help include rising food prices, unemployment and energy costs, the research by Church Action On Poverty and Oxfam said.

But up to half of those seeking help were doing so as a direct result of having benefit payments delayed, reduced or withdrawn, their report said.

"There is clear evidence that the benefit sanctions regime has gone too far and is leading to destitution, hardship and hunger on a large scale," the report - Walking The Breadline - concluded.

"There is a real risk that the benefit cuts and the introduction of Universal Credit ... will lead to even larger numbers being forced to turn to food banks.

"Food banks may not have the capacity to cope with the increased level of demand."

The UK's biggest provider of food banks, the Trussell Trust , has reported a trebling of the numbers using them to more than 350,000.

But the charities said at least half as many again were receiving help from banks run by organisations other than the Trussell Trust.

The Government is also failing to properly monitor the numbers now resorting to emergency help, the report said.

Referrals to food banks by Government agencies should be recorded, monitored and published to give a clearer picture of the extent of the dramatic recent rise in use of the facilities, the report said.

Oxfam UK poverty director Chris Johns says urgent action is needed to reduce the reliance on food banks.

"Benefit cuts are only one factor but problems with the benefit systems like benefits being delayed for no good reason," he said.

"Benefit sanctions being applied inappropriately which are all show in the report are all clearly factors which is why we are calling for the government and indeed for parliament to undertake an inquiry into benefit changes."

Storehouse is a church-run food bank providing vital supplies to around 200 people every week.

The project's coordinator John Williams said: "We have seen a lot of benefit changes in terms of people getting their benefits stopped.

"Sanctions have been quite big recently and a few of the people we've been getting in, they're falling through the net."

Rosie Cooper volunteers at a food bank, but she also uses it services.

She claimed government welfare changes have made life as a single mother with two children very hard.

"It got to the stage when I said to the children 'look this is the only amount of food we have for the day, you either eat now or you eat later but you can't eat any extra'," she said.

The Government insists it is not responsible for the rise in food banks, but welcomes the role they are playing.

Charities like Storehouse say they can only provide a short-term solution to hunger.