'In the South West, one in 120 children were fed by food banks'

By PRSD, on Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Trussell Trust runs food banks in the UK and Bulgaria. Here’s some of their findings, which includes the shock news that ‘In the South West, one in 120 children were fed by food banks’. [You might have to pop along to the Guardian site for the more interactive elements of the data.]

Powered by Guardian.co.uk This article titled “Where in the UK do people rely most heavily on food banks?” was written by John Burn-Murdoch, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 15th October 2012 23.01 UTC

109,294 adults and children in the UK received at least days of emergency food aid between April and September 2012, with the figure expected to rise to over 200,000 by April 2013.

The total number of referrals for the entire financial year 2011/12 was 128,000, meaning the projected 2012/13 total would mark a startling increase.

Figures released by the Trussel Trust, which runs 172 food banks and has an additional 91 currently under development across the UK, show that almost a third of those referred for emergency help cited a delay in access to benefits.

You can read more in our accompanying news story:

The trust’s own indicators show that the largest block of people were being left unable to feed themselves because of delays or a change in circumstances to their benefit claims

Across the UK as a whole, 0.17% of the population received emergency food in this way over the six month period, but referral rates for its constituent regions – and for children – were often considerably higher.

In the South West, one in 120 children were fed by food banks, while the rate for under-16s in Wales was only marginally better, at one in 130.

Young adults (aged 16-24) accounted for 13.3% of all people referred, while pensioners made up less than 1% of referrals.

Northern Ireland had the lowest rate, with 0.03% of adults and children referred for help. On average, each of its two food banks fed 271 people between April and September.

Food banks in the North West were the busiest, with each used by an average of 1,086 people during the six month period.

The graphic below shows a regional breakdown of food bank referral rates in terms of the number of people receiving emergency food aid out of the population as a whole.

Move your cursor over a bar for further information about what is represents, including the nominal figures from which percentages were calculated.