Cost of living: Record one million emergency food bank parcels expected to be handed out this winter
More than one million emergency parcels are expected to be distributed by food banks this winter due to an “unprecedented need” for help, a charity has warned.
The Trussell Trust network, which supports more than 1,300 food bank centres across the UK, has forecast that more than 600,000 people will rely on food banks from December this year until next February.
That will mean almost 100,000 more emergency food parcels are required compared to the same period last year, when a total of 904,000 were handed out.
Last winter saw 220,000 children supported by emergency meals from the Trussell Trust network, with 225,000 people using a food bank for the first time.
And the charity believes the numbers will continue to rise in the run up to Christmas and into early next year, as many people hit crisis point.
One in seven people in the UK are forced to go hungry because they don’t have enough money to feed themselves, Trussell Trust chief executive, Emma Revie, said.
“We don’t want to spend every winter saying things are getting worse, but they are,” she warned.
Food is desperately needed to make up the emergency parcels, together with money to pay for a shortfall in donations, Ms Revie said.
“Every year we are seeing more and more people needing food banks, and that is just not right,” she added, vowing: “We won’t stand by and let this continue.”
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Universities operating food banks
“Together, we have roots into hundreds of communities and while someone facing hunger can’t change the structural issues driving the need for food banks on their own, thousands of us coming together can,” Ms Revie said.
“We must end hunger across the UK so that no one needs a food bank to survive.”
A survey of 282 Trussell Trust food banks over the last three months showed 93% had to buy extra food to meet demand.
Almost a third (32%) admitted they were worried about maintaining their current service levels as winter approaches.
Warehouse staff at a Trussell Trust foodbank in Southend, Essex
Natasha Copus, project manager at the Southend foodbank, said they were experiencing ‘unprecedented’ demand
‘We face winter with trepidation’
Natasha Copus, project manager at the Trussell Trust food bank in Southend, Essex, said their centres were experiencing “unprecedented need”.
“We have had to buy around half the food we give out already this year and that is not even with the added pressure of heating and energy that people will face this winter.
“It is with trepidation that we face the next six months of being there for people,” she added, as she called on the local community to offer their support.
Warehouse manager of the Trussell Trust Southend foodbank, Simon Carter
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Meanwhile Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union, reiterated calls for free school meals to be extended to all pupils to fight poverty and child hunger, which have “tremendous social and moral costs”.
Food banks preparing to support bigger numbers of people is a “damning sign” of the government’s failure to support people during the cost-of-living crisis, he said.
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‘Why are four million children now in poverty?’
‘Poverty does not discriminate’
Trussell Trust food banks provided a lifeline for education worker Aneita after a problem with her tax credits saw her “suddenly plunged into a financial nightmare”.
“I remember sitting in the waiting room, with my daughter, waiting to be given a food parcel,” she said.
“I was holding back my tears, not wanting my daughter to see me upset, and thinking, ‘how has it got to this?’.”
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Now Aneita is calling for an end to food banks.
“We need change – a real living wage, benefits that reflect the cost of living, more social housing.
“Poverty does not discriminate – it can and will single you out through no fault of your own.”
Fresh appeals have been made for information on what would have been the 20th birthday of Ellis Cox, who was shot dead in Liverpool last June.
A number of people have been arrested in connection with the murder at Liver Industrial Estate, but no one has been charged yet.
The 19-year-old’s family and police have paid tribute to him and called for those with information to come forward.
He was shot in the back after a confrontation between his friends and another group of up to three males on Sunday 23 June.
Ellis Cox who was shot dead in June 2024. Pic: Merseyside Police
His mother Carolyn paid tribute in an appeal to coincide with what would have been his 20th birthday.
“He was so kind… so laid back, so calm, so mature for his age. And he was just funny. Very funny.
“He was my baby… no mum should have to bury a child. He was my life. And I don’t know what to do without him.”
Mum Carolyn Cox (left) and aunt Julie O’Toole (right) are looking for answers
Meanwhile, his aunt Julie O’Toole said he was “the sort of person I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone to say anything negative about. He was loyal, fiercely loyal… everything was about his family”.
To pay tribute to Ellis, Liverpool City Council will be lighting up the Cunard Building and Liverpool Town Hall in orange on Saturday.
DCI Steve McGrath does not believe Ellis was involved in criminality
Detective Chief Inspector Steve McGrath, the senior investigating officer, spoke about the information gathered so far, six months on from Mr Cox’s murder.
“I’m satisfied that the group that he was with was probably the target… and I would say that’s got something in relation to do with localised drug dealing in that area. But Ellis had no involvement in that whatsoever,” he said.
He added that police are looking for “really significant pieces of evidence now”, including “trying to recover the firearm that was used in relation to this, looking to recover the bikes that were used by the offenders”.
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Mrs Cox also appealed for people to come forward with information.
“If you know anything, don’t let us get to [his] next birthday and still know nothing.
“We need to get justice for Ellis. And we need to get the people who took him from us off the streets.”
UK
Reward of £20,000 offered to identify parents of three siblings abandoned as babies over eight years
A £20,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to the identification of the parents of three siblings found abandoned in London over eight years.
The Metropolitan Police said that despite more than 450 hours of CCTV being reviewed, the parents of the three children, known as Elsa, Roman and Harry, remain unidentified.
However, it is believed their mother has lived in an area of east London “over the past six years”.
Elsa was believed to be less than an hour old when she was found by a dog walker on 18 January last year, in East Ham, east London.
In the months that followed it was found that she had two siblings who were also abandoned in similar circumstances, in the same area of London, in 2017 and 2019.
On Saturday, police said the independent group Crimestoppers had offered a £20,000 reward for information passed to the charity, which will expire on 18 April.
Detective Inspector Jamie Humm, of the Met’s child abuse investigation team, said: “We have carried out extensive inquiries over the past year to try and locate Elsa’s parents.
Baby Roman. Pic: Met Police/PA
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“This has involved reviewing over 450 hours of CCTV and completing a full DNA structure of the mother.
“We have serious concerns for the wellbeing of the parents, especially the mother, and are continuing to work closely with Newham Council and appeal for the public’s help for information.
“I believe that someone in the area will have been aware of the mother’s pregnancies and that within the community there may be (or) have been concerns for this mother’s welfare.
“Thanks to the DNA work of forensic colleagues, police will be able to eliminate any unconnected person quickly and easily, as such I would ask you to contact police with confidence.”
The baby was found at the junction of Greenway and High Street South in Newham. Pic: PA
Elsa was found wrapped in a towel in a reusable shopping bag, of which police have also released a new image, and was kept warm by the dog walker. She was uninjured.
Police said at the time that it was “highly likely” that she was born after a “concealed pregnancy”.
The Boots bag in which Baby Elsa was found abandoned by a dog walker in Newham on 18 January 2024. Pic: Met Police/PA
The BBC reported that at an initial court hearing, East London Family Court was told it took doctors three hours to record Elsa’s temperature because of the cold, and the Met Office said that temperatures dropped to as low as -4C on the night she was found.
Hospital staff named her Elsa in a reference to the character from the film Frozen.
The police investigation into the identity of the children’s parents continues, and anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or post @MetCC ref Operation Wolcott.
People can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously at any time on 0800 555 111 or via Crimestoppers-uk.org.
Fresh appeals have been made for information on what would have been the 20th birthday of Ellis Cox, who was shot dead in Liverpool last June.
A number of people have been arrested in connection with the murder at Liver Industrial Estate, but no one has been charged yet.
The 19-year-old’s family and police have paid tribute to him and called for those with information to come forward.
He was shot in the back after a confrontation between his friends and another group of up to three males on Sunday 23 June.
Ellis Cox who was shot dead in June 2024. Pic: Merseyside Police
His mother Carolyn paid tribute in an appeal to coincide with what would have been his 20th birthday.
“He was so kind… so laid back, so calm, so mature for his age. And he was just funny. Very funny.
“He was my baby… no mum should have to bury a child. He was my life. And I don’t know what to do without him.”
Mum Carolyn Cox (left) and aunt Julie O’Toole (right) are looking for answers
Ellis’ mum described him as ‘kind” and “funny. Pic: Merseyside Police
Meanwhile, his aunt Julie O’Toole said he was “the sort of person I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone to say anything negative about. He was loyal, fiercely loyal… everything was about his family”.
To pay tribute to Ellis, Liverpool City Council will be lighting up the Cunard Building and Liverpool Town Hall in orange on Saturday.
DCI Steve McGrath does not believe Ellis was involved in criminality
Detective Chief Inspector Steve McGrath, the senior investigating officer, spoke about the information gathered so far, six months on from Mr Cox’s murder.
“I’m satisfied that the group that he was with was probably the target… and I would say that’s got something in relation to do with localised drug dealing in that area. But Ellis had no involvement in that whatsoever,” he said.
He added that police are looking for “really significant pieces of evidence now”, including “trying to recover the firearm that was used in relation to this, looking to recover the bikes that were used by the offenders”.
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Mrs Cox also appealed for people to come forward with information.
“If you know anything, don’t let us get to [his] next birthday and still know nothing.
“We need to get justice for Ellis. And we need to get the people who took him from us off the streets.”
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