Food banks: Number of children needing help more than doubles, Trussell Trust says

The number of children using food banks has more than doubled since this time last year, according to the the Trussell Trust.

The charity, which runs many food banks across the country, compared the number during the last two weeks of March 2020 with the same time period last year.

It said the number of emergency parcels for children was more than double the amount issued at the same time last year.

It said there was a 122% rise, from under 18,000 to more than 39,000, in the last two weeks of March.

Why is this happening?

The Trussell Trust says this is the busiest it has ever been, with the economic impact of coronavirus and lockdown one of the reasons given.

After lockdown was announced on 23 March, it said it had its busiest ever time - it issued 50,000 food parcels in the space of a week, an increase of 81%.

This is because some people have lost their jobs and others are earning less than usual.

It says the figures - which come from info from 70% of the network's 432 members - shows that people are struggling with the amount of money they were receiving from working or benefits.

"It's not right that this has meant some of us don't have enough money for essentials and are being pushed to food banks," said Trussell Trust chief executive Emma Revie.

The Trust runs more than 1,200 food banks across the UK - which is about two-thirds of the country's food banks.

Meanwhile food banks run by a different group, the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN), have also seen a big increase in the number of people using their services, even over the course of a month.

Between February and March 2020 it a reported a 59% increase - which it says means the number of people using foodbanks is 17 times higher than this time last year.

What do charities want to see change?

Lots of charities, including Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), Children's Society, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), StepChange and Turn2us, have got together to ask the government to set up a temporary Coronavirus Emergency Income Support Scheme.

The UK government has been giving special briefings every day since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis

These charities say this would given to people and families having money problems, as way to get help until they things get back to normal.

The government has already made lots of changes to try and support people better, including offering to pay 80% of their wages during the coronavirus, if their boss isn't able to pay them.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's team has also brought in rules to try to stop people losing their jobs, or being evicted from their home.

But these charities say these changes are unlikely to be enough to fully support people considering the crisis the country is being faced with.

It says many of the households who use food banks only have on average £50 per week to spend on food and other essentials.

Chief executive at charity Turn2us, Thomas Lawson said: "Foodbanks can only ever be a sticking plaster to tackle destitution [extreme poverty] - a situation as a wealthy country we must not tolerate."

The group of charities are calling for the government to change the rules and increase the amount of money that parents get to help with the cost of raising their children.

What does the government say?

In response the UK government said it was "committed to supporting all those affected by Covid-19 through these unprecedented times" and has "implemented an enormous package of measures to do so".

It added: "For those in most need, we've injected more than £6.5 billion into the welfare system."