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Food vouchers are a "last chance saloon" for families

3 Mawrth 2014

BBC's Panorama is tonight to reveal that more than a third of all local councils in England and Wales are subsidising food banks, with almost £3 million set aside to fund them in recent years. 'Hungry Britain? will be broadcast at 8.30pm tonight on BBC One.

Citizens Advice Chief Executive, Gillian Guy, said:

"The rising need for foodbanks is completely unacceptable in modern Britain. In the past year Citizens Advice Bureaux have given out 100,000 food vouchers to people with nowhere else to turn to put food on the table.

"The disturbing rise in need for emergency food is driven by a vicious combination of failing policies and unmanageable economic pressure on family budgets. A tough and harshly applied sanctions regime is made even worse by slow and sloppy administration, leaving many people without the money they need to make ends meet. Being in work is no longer a guarantee of stability, and we see many people in employment turn to us for help when low wages and high energy, food and travels costs leave them unable to feed their family.

"Parents don't want to have to rely on emergency food vouchers to support their family but many just don't have a choice. Emergency food vouchers are not a soft option, but a last chance saloon for hundreds of thousands of families. Foodbanks are not a cure to the problems people have in making ends meet, but a symptom of the overwhelming challenge of coming to terms with the upheaval and financial pressure of recent years."

Notes to editors:

  1. The Citizens Advice service comprises a network of local bureaux, all of which are independent charities, the Citizens Advice consumer service and national charity Citizens Advice. Together we help people resolve their money, legal and other problems by providing information and advice and by influencing policymakers. For more see the Citizens Advice website.
  2. The advice provided by the Citizens Advice service is free, independent, confidential, and impartial, and available to everyone regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age or nationality.
  3. To find your local bureau in England and Wales, visit citizensadvice.org.uk. You can also get advice online at adviceguide.org.uk
  4. You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 03454 04 05 06 or 03454 04 05 05 for Welsh language speakers
  5. Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales advised 2.3 million clients on 5.4 million problems from October 2013 to September 2014. For full 2013/2014  service statistics see our quarterly publication Advice trends
  6. Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 21,000 trained volunteers, working at over 3,000 service outlets across England and Wales.