Over 1700 people in Wrexham given emergency food supplies over six month period

More than 1,770 people across Wrexham have required emergency food supplies in the last six months, new figures have revealed.

Foodbank usage in the county borough also remains the second highest in North Wales, with anti-poverty charity The Trussell Trust providing three day emergency food supplies to 1,778 people between April 1st – September 30th 2017.

A breakdown of the figures show that of the 1,778 who required emergency food supplies, 1,249 were adults and 529 were children.

In North Wales only Flintshire has a higher foodbank usage, with 2,624 people requiring emergency food supplies within the period listed above. Across Wales, Wrexham fares better and has the twelfth lowest foodbank usage out of the 22 local authorities.

The figures have been released today by the Trussell Trust charity, who are calling on UK policy-makers for urgent changes after seeing a 4% rise in foodbank usage in Wales. 43,059 three day emergency food supplies were given to people in crisis during the above timeframe.

The charity says it is concerned the situation will worsen in the months leading to Christmas when demand for food traditionally spikes, and when the number of foodbanks in areas of full Universal Credit service will increase across Wales.

The Trust also state that its data shows: 

– Of people referred due to a benefit delay, 45% of referrals made due to a wait for a first payment were related to Universal Credit and 36% of referrals made because a new claim had not yet been awarded were related to Universal Credit.

– Of people referred due to a benefit change, 38% of referrals made due to a change to a different benefit were related to Universal Credit.

Tony Graham, Wales Director at The Trussell Trust, said: “We are still seeing increasing demand at foodbanks across Wales driven by the inadequacy of income levels and issues with benefit payments, and this is ahead of the acceleration of full Universal Credit rollout.

“Foodbanks in Scotland and England already experiencing full rollout are sharing serious concerns about the effect of the six week wait, poor administration and inability of the advance payment system to support everyone on no income. We must act on these insights now to ensure the story is different in Wales.

“Our network is working hard to stop people going hungry but the simple truth is that even with the enormous generosity of our donors and volunteers, we’re concerned Welsh foodbanks could struggle to meet demand if we see the scale of increased foodbank use seen in full Universal Credit areas elsewhere.

“People cannot be left for weeks without any income, and when that income does come, it must keep pace with living costs – foodbanks cannot be relied upon to pick up the pieces.”