FAMILIES in Tendring are increasingly struggling to put food on the table - but a council boss believes "we didn't need to have foodbanks". 

The Trussell Trust has revealed 1,386 food parcels were handed out to residents at two foodbanks in the district in the six months to the end of September.

The latest figures to be published by the charity show an 18 per cent increase when compared to the same period in 2021, when 1,173 supply packages were required.

Heartbreakingly, 507 of the parcels handed out in Tendring between this April and September were given to children – a 21 per cent rise on the 418 the year before.

Gazette:

Neil Stock OBE, leader of Tendring Council, has now praised foodbanks, but questioned whether they should have ever been introduced.

He said: “The Trussell Trust and other charities in Tendring do a fantastic job in helping vulnerable people and residents.

“It has been a very tough year, with the economic situation facing the country and the entire world, but it is great to hear they are doing their bit.

“They are at the cutting edge because they are handing out parcels to those most in need of them and they should be applauded.

“But we did not have to have foodbanks – I understand people fall on hard times but we live in a very civilised society now with lots of support and benefits.

“There were more people starving when there was no welfare state and no benefits – if you were unemployed, you would starve.

“In Colchester in the 1930s, my grandad used to walk over the bodies of people who had starved to death every morning.”

Gazette:

Emma Revie, chief executive at the Trussell Trust, however, believes this winter will be "the hardest yet" for food banks and those they support.

“We know with the right support and a stable and sufficient income, people don’t need to turn to food banks for support," she said.

"Over the last few years, the Government has acted to protect people who are struggling, and this action has had made a difference – they must now act again.”

In the last six months, nearly 330,000 people have been referred to a food bank for the first time, with one in five food bank users being from working households.

A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions said: “We are directly supporting households in need.”