Number of food parcels provided at Dacorum food banks continues to soar, new figures show

The national charity operates almost 1,700 distribution centres for people to receive nutritious emergency food.

The latest figures show 9,853 emergency food parcels were handed out to people in need across its seven locations in Dacorum in the year to March – up slightly from 9,803 the year before, and the highest since records began in 2017-18.

Of these parcels, 3,968 were delivered to support vulnerable children.

Across the UK, the number of emergency food parcels provided has nearly doubled in five years, topping 3.1 million in 2023-24.

In 2019-20, before the corona pandemic, the trust handed out 5,757 parcels – which provide food for either three or seven days - in Dacorum.

Emma Revie, Trussell Trust chief executive, said: "It’s 2024 and we’re facing historically high levels of food bank need. As a society, we cannot allow this to continue. We must not let food banks become the new norm.

"As we approach the next general election, we urgently need all political leaders to set out how they will build a future where no one needs a food bank to survive.

"Voters want to see a change and we need cross-government action at all levels to deliver it."

The Charities Aid Foundation said people donated £973million to food banks in 2023, up from £635million the previous year.

Iain Porter, at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which helps people to escape poverty, said: "This is not what an economy returning to full health looks like. The latest record-breaking emergency food parcel figures show the painful economic reality facing families with the least."

Mr Porter has urged the Government to introduce an "essentials guarantee" to ensure "everyone has a protected minimum amount of support to afford essentials".

The Government responded that its cost-of-living support package had prevented 1.3million people from falling into poverty in 2022-23.

It reiterated it had uprated benefits, raised the state pension and was "raising the National Living Wage, cutting taxes and driving down inflation while investing billions through our Back to Work Plan".