MORE people than ever are turning to food banks as squeezed incomes, high utility bills and delays in benefit payments take families to crisis point.

This is according to a new report from an all-party parliamentary inquiry into the scale and spread of hunger, which found that “too many people... face the choice of putting money in the gas meter or food on the table.”

They urge quicker benefit payments, the extension of free school meals and a living wage to reduce hunger.

For those helping people in need in Dorset, the situation here mirrors the national picture. Claire Matthews of Bournemouth’s Hope for Food, said: “We help all kinds of families; those waiting for benefits, people working on minimum wage and can’t cover both heating and eating. I asked one little girl ‘what do you want Santa to bring you’ and she told me ‘all I want this year is food’. She’s five. It broke my heart.”

Claire delivers food to around 30 families in need and also runs a soup kitchen three nights a week for up to 100 people a time – even families with young children are waiting in line there.

Claire said the situation was “getting worse and worse,” and supported the report’s calls for surplus food to be redistributed to food banks instead of being wasted.

A bakery and organic fruit and veg supplier already donated to her daily, she said. “If they can do it, why can’t other shops and organisations? There is too much bureaucracy.”

Dorset has seen many new food banks set up in recent years, including The Verwood Food Bank distribution centre, linked to Ringwood Food Bank set up last year.

“Only in operation since July the Verwood arm has already helped 33 adults and 35 children– and demand is increasing, said manager Dave Kratzke.

He said people tended to come for help once or twice, adding: “We try to get them to help long term – we don’t want them to become reliant on the food bank.”

The figures

  • FOUR million people at risk of going hungry
  • 272 food banks across big cities and towns
  • 500,000 children live in families that can’t afford to feed them
  • Total of 3.5million adults who cannot afford to eat properly