Food bank warns of near double rise in demand

Knowsley Foodbank said more families would struggle over the six-week summer holidays

A Merseyside food bank has warned it expects to see demand almost double over the summer holidays.

Knowsley Foodbank said more families would struggle over the six-week holidays due to missing out on free school meals and subsidised breakfast clubs.

Trustee Joe Goulding likened the situation to something "harking back to the Victorian age" and said a 40% increase was expected.

He backed calls for the two-child benefit cap to be lifted to help families living below the poverty line.

'Investment in children'

Mr Goulding said the number of children and young people the food bank was supporting was increasing year on year as a result of the benefits cap.

He said the charity expected a repeat of the "stark increase" of demand it had seen in July, August and September 2023, compared to the previous three months.

All this came on the back of an "exponential" rise in demand on the charity's services during the Covid pandemic and due to the cost of living crisis, Mr Goulding added.

"The only thing that would immediately help would be the abolition of that two child benefit cap which would lift 300,000 children over the poverty line," he told BBC Radio Merseyside.

Calls for the benefit cap to be lifted are set to be debated in the Commons later, after speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle selected an amendment calling for this which was put forward by the Scottish National Party.

Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson's amendment on the same issue was not put forward.

Mr Goulding said: "That money doesn't just disappear into the ether - it's an investment in the children and young people of our future.

"Numerous studies have shown the relationship between full bellies and attainment in school."

Pressure

Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC she could not pledge to reverse the two-child benefit cap, introduced under the Conservatives in 2017, without saying where the £3bn annual cost "is going to come from".

Her comments come despite pressure from Labour MPs to scrap the policy.

Mr Goulding added: "We're committed to feeding the hungry people of Knowsley and will continue to do that and as much support in terms of food donations as people can provide is massively appreciated."

The BBC has approached Knowsley MP Anneliese Midgley for a comment.