MORE hungry families are finding it hard to feed themselves since the Government introduced welfare changes.
This is the view of volunteers at Stoke-on-Trent’s Foodbank, which has fed 11,435 people across the city since it launched in May last year.One of the charity’s founders, Sue Simcoe, aged 62, said there has been an increase in the number of people seeking food donations since bedroom tax was introduced in April. Under the reforms, housing benefit claimants living in council or housing association homes could lose up to £16 a week if they have a spare bedroom.
Mrs Simcoe, of Leek Road in Bucknall, said: “The benefit changes – like the bedroom tax – are making a difference. All of the benefit changes have an impact because before they came in, people were already living on the poverty line.”
Foodbank volunteer Ruth Leigh, of Whieldon Road in Fenton, said some families are forced to choose between paying bills or buying food. The 75-year-old said: “The number of people we see varies from week to week, but there seems to be more since the bedroom tax came in. People tell us that is why they are now in need. Their benefit gets cut if they have a spare bedroom, so they are either going into debt or it’s a case of having to choose to pay for food bills or whatever else.”
Pastor Augustine Baah, of the Church of the Nazarene in Fenton, said the extra influx of people coming to the Foodbank – which now has nine distribution centres across the city – means there is less food to share around.
As part of its annual harvest celebrations, the Smithpool Road church opened its doors for two hours on Saturday to kind-hearted people responding to an urgent appeal for donations. Mr Baah said: “They have to give less food to make it last longer. To be able to cater for more people, we have to reduce how much we give.”
Mrs Simcoe said most people who visit the Foodbank live in areas near the city centre, such as Hanley and Burslem, but a high number also come from Bentilee. She added: “Harvest is a time when people like to give, and Stoke-on-Trent people love to give. Anything we receive now will build a reserve for when we tend to see a drop in donations just after Christmas, which is also when demand increases. Although we give food, we also help direct people to the agencies and services that can help them help themselves. We don’t want to create a dependency on Foodbank handouts.”
Healthcare professionals, social workers and the police refer people in need of emergency handouts to the charity, where they can exchange a voucher for a three-day supply of food.
