COLCHESTER Foodbank is the busiest in Essex with demand soaring by almost 50 per cent compared to last year.

The shocking figures, released by the Trussell Trust, show between April and September this year, Colchester Foodbank distributed 6,001 food parcels to residents.

This is up from 4,073 during the same period in 2019, an increase of about 47 per cent.

Of those given out in 2020, 2,456 were given out to children, up from 1,532.

Colchester Foodbank distributed more than five per cent of the total amount of food parcels distributed over this period in the east of England, where a total of 115,380 were given out.

Over the same period Tendring Foodbank gave out 1,599 parcels, Braintree Foodbank 2,900 and Chelmsford 3,406.

The Trussell Trust says April to September was its busiest ever half-year period, with 1.2 million parcels distributed across its network.

Mike Beckett, chief officer of Colchester Foodbank, said demand was increasing partly due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

He said: “The figures don’t surprise me as we see it every day. At the start of the pandemic we had 150 volunteers, we lost 100 as they had to shield but now we have 250 trained up.

“We are seeing people who have been let go or been placed on furlough leave and there are people who have had relationships break down because of lockdown coming to us for help.

“But over a third of the people we feed are children. The free school meals debacle hasn’t helped.

“The Government reversing its decision is no doubt welcome, but it didn’t need to happen like that.”

Mr Beckett said the foodbank always did its best to provide longer term help and not just offer a “quick fix”.

He said: “We are a social welfare accident and emergency department. Hopefully people do not need to come back to us, but sadly more and more people are.

“The big thing we are about is helping people out of the position where they need to use foodbanks so signposting them to different services.

“We are in an economic downturn and whether we will have a recession or bounce straight back I am not sure.

“What we can safety say is there will be a need whatever happens. We have planned for the worst and as always we hope for the best.”

“If things get worse we will be there as we have been for over a decade. We won’t stop working, we are committed to being part of the solution.”

“We are not partisan or party political, but we are political with a small p.

“We believe the five week wait for universal credit is too long and the two child limit on child benefit is not right. There are policies which we would like to see changed.

“We will work with politicians of all parties if they will listen to us.”

Colchester Foodbank is always in need of donations. Visit facebook.com/FoodBankColchester.

The Trussell Trust has warned its new figures do not include the number of people helped by the countless new community organisations, independent food banks and local authorities, which have stepped up during the pandemic to support their communities. 

Anyone who wants to ‘end the injustice of people needing food banks’ is being urged to join the campaign for a Hunger Free Future at trusselltrust.org/hungerfreefuture. 

The Trussell Trust has welcomed recent steps made by the government to prevent people from falling into destitution – including the announcement of the £170m Covid Winter Grant Scheme for England which is an important boost for local welfare assistance the charity has campaigned for.  

But the charity is concerned that food banks in its network may still see high levels of need over the winter and beyond – particularly as redundancies recently hit a record high, doubling since the previous quarter. 

It’s asking the government to ensure money is kept in the pockets of people who need it most by: 

• Locking in the £20 rise to Universal Credit, brought in at the start of the pandemic, and making sure that people currently excluded, such as people receiving payments through the legacy system, get this money too  

• Helping people hold on to more of their benefits by suspending benefit debt deductions until a fairer approach to repayments can be introduced