Latest news with #SumiRabindrakumar
Daily Mirror
22-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Keir Starmer issued 'crossroads' warning after food bank use skyrockets
Food bank charity the Trussell Trust joined The Division Bell podcast to emphasise the urgent need for the government to act in response to increasing levels of poverty Food bank charity the Trussell Trust joined The Division Bell podcast to emphasise the urgent need for the government to act in response to increasing levels of poverty The government is at 'a crossroads' as food bank provision has skyrocketed over the last five years, according to the leading food poverty charity. The Trussell Trust has provided 2.9 million emergency food parcels in the last year - a 51% increase since 2020. Since Labour slashed the welfare budget in March, 250,000 people in the UK risk being pushed into poverty including 50,000 children. Sumi Rabindrakumar, Head of Policy at Trussell, knows this far too well as in the past 12 months alone over one million parcels have been provided for children. Ms Rabindrakumar said: 'The Government needs to choose now to decide whether it's going to change course because otherwise by the end of this parliament realistically we're going to see food need rising. If you look at the cuts on the horizon in social security, inflation and high costs not really showing signs of easing, we can't see that this situation is going to get better.' Speaking on the Division Bell podcast, the policy expert emphasised the charity's 'priority [is] for the government to pause and reflect and rethink on the cuts to disability support.' 'Three in four people who come to Trussell food banks are disabled or who live with someone who is, there isn't a situation where these cuts are anything other than devastating," she said. After Keir Starmer 's U-turn yesterday regarding making more pensioners eligible for winter fuel payments, Ms Rabindrakumar said: 'They have to make a decision about which way they go down because the decisions they make over the next year are the ones that will have an effect by the end of this parliament. You can't turn it around overnight. They need to start making a change now.' The welfare bill is expected to be cut by approximately £5billion a year. Around 370,000 people currently receiving welfare could lose out after changes to Personal Independence Payments (PIP). 'PIP isn't an out-of-work benefit,' Ms Rabindrakumar explained, 'work isn't at the moment a reliable enough route out of hunger and hardship.' 'About one in five people who are referred to Trussell food banks are in work. We know that that in itself isn't going to be enough to move people out of deep poverty. That's the reason why the social security system is so vital. It provides protection for people who have to take lower-paid work to afford the essentials, put food on the table, afford clothes, afford their energy bills and so on.' Ms Rabindrakumar emphasised that the welfare cuts 'affect us all' because severe levels of hardship have many impacts including 'driving up negative impacts on people's health, by pushing people further from work, that affects our public services, it affects our economy, it affects public finances. These cuts don't just have a cost to people, it affects us and costs us all.' To hear more about the UK's reliance on food banks, Mr Starmer's U-turn and the inside scoop on Westminster, be sure to listen to this episode of The Division Bell wherever you get your podcasts.
BBC News
21-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Food bank increase 'should be a wake-up call', warns charity
A 56% increase in the number of food parcels provided to families with children in the South East over five years should be a "wake-up call", said the Trussell food bank charity warned that planned welfare changes and the failure to end the two child limit would make the situation even worse. Sumi Rabindrakumar, head of policy at Trussell Trust, said under-fives faced the highest risk of any age group, adding: "The issue particularly affects young children."The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said: "This Government is determined to change people's lives for the better, helping them out of poverty and tackling the unacceptable rise in food bank dependence in recent years." The DWP spokesperson added: "As part of our Plan for Change we are extending the Household Support Fund, launching 750 breakfast clubs across the country and making changes to Universal Credit to give a £420 boost to over one million households."The Trussell Trust said it provided more than 310,000 emergency food parcels across the South East between April 2024 and March 2025, compared with 119,519 from April 2019 to March 2020. Mike Barlow, from East Grinstead Foodbank, said they were seeing "far too many people who are forced to need our help".He said: "Food donations are not keeping up with the level of need we are seeing, and this is putting us under a lot of strain."It's not right that anyone should be forced to turn to charity for emergency food." 'Deepening hardship' Ms Rabindrakumar said: "The long-term trend is things are likely to get worse before they get better."If the UK government doesn't change course it will see increasing levels of food bank need and deepening hardship."They need to rethink cuts, lift the two child limit and update universal credit so people can afford the increase."This is something Rebecca, from Worthing, agrees with. Having used food banks before, she said she would "probably" become more reliant on them when the welfare changes come and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced plans designed to bring down the spend on sickness and disability benefits, which has massively increased over the last few years and is forecast to hit £70bn a year by the end of the measures are expected to reduce this spending by more than £5bn a year by said the changes would make her "more dependent" on food banks, adding: "I probably would have to go every week." 'Fewer repeat visits' Julie Coates, manager of the Trussell Trust's Hailsham food bank, said they had seen a positive impact from their financial inclusion facilities. She told BBC Radio Surrey that over the past three years the trust has funded extra services where people on site offer things such as debt advice or benefits information. She said: "It shortens the time they need to use our services and hopefully they won't need to come back to us longer term."Ms Coates said they had seen a reduction in people using their food bank as people were being helped "much quicker". She said: "We are not seeing so many repeat visits. "We are still seeing lots of new people but the people who are coming are not having to visit us so many times." Mr Barlow encouraged people to donate food or funds to their local food banks "to help make sure everyone in our community can access support in times of hardship".People can use the free app BanktheFood to find out which items food banks Barlow said: "It's vital we get the food we need when we need it."
