It has now been reported that half a million people in the UK are going hungry. They are struggling to feed themselves as unemployment, rising food prices and, in particular, benefit cutbacks bite hard.
350,000 people – including 126,000 children – have now received at least three days’ help from the Trussell Trust, which runs food banks across the country. This was 100,000 more than expected, up 170 per cent on the previous year and more than 13 times as many as the 26,000 in 2008-2009.
The Department for Work and Pensions are still insisting: ‘Our welfare reforms will improve the lives of some of the poorest families in our communities, with the universal credit simplifying the complex myriad of benefits and making 3million households better off.’