Research: Working poor forced to use food banks

The working poor are having to resort to foodbanks to feed themselves and their families, new research suggests.

Skilled manual labourers on low wages, those who are off work for sickness or disability and claimants whose benefits have been delayed are all fuelling demand for the essentials to live.

Their use has risen a further two per cent last year, The Trussell Trust which run foodbanks across the nation said.

High living costs, zero hour contracts, low wages and problems accessing working benefits are the main factors driving people to foodbanks.

Its survey suggests benefit delays and changes remain the biggest causes of foodbank use, accounting for two in five (42%) of all referrals.

And over a quarter of referrals last year (28%) were down to benefit delay alone.

But it’s not just the unemployed who are vulnerable to food poverty as the number of those on low income referred to its centres has risen by one per cent.