Food bank admits its million users a year claim was false
CLAIMS by the country’s biggest food bank network that it served a million hungry people in a year were exposed as false yesterday.
After the Labour Party and Trades Union Congress seized on the figure, with shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves describing it as ‘shocking’, the Trussell Trust admitted in a climbdown that ‘these are not all unique users’.
It emerged last night that its true number of users is likely to be no more than half a million – and possibly lower still.
The claim was widely reported by newspapers, while the BBC ran a headline on its website stating: ‘Food banks used by “more than one million people”.’ But the Corporation also retreated yesterday, toning down its coverage as the one million figure unravelled.
In the announcement of its food bank users,
‘Irresponsible and borders
on scaremongering’
the Trussell Trust – which has 445 food banks run in its name – declared that ‘more than one million people received three days’ food’.
However the Trust has now acknowledged that the claim was based on the number of food parcels given out, and not the number of individuals asking for help.
It admitted that fewer than half its claimants come forward only once, and 15 per cent make more than three visits to a food bank in a year. It said that the average claimant uses two of the vouchers that entitle them to a food parcel in a year.
The Trust, a charity which has expanded rapidly in recent years and which aspires to run a food bank in every town, found itself under fire from Tories over its claims.
Charlie Elphicke, the Conservative candidate for Dover and Deal, said: ‘ Their use of unverified figures is irresponsible and borders on scaremongering. Food bank usage is a serious issue – not something that should be used and misused for PR purposes. What the Trussell Trust would do better to highlight is that the best route out of poverty is to get a good job that gives you a regular pay packet.’
One fact- checking think tank, Full Fact, said last night: ‘The claim that over a million people are using Trussell Trust food banks is inaccurate. It comes from confusing the number of different people using Trussell Trust food banks in a year with the number of times they use the food banks.’
Full Fact said that even Trussell Trust’s figures for the number of food parcels handed out – from 913,138 in the 2013/14 financial year to 1,084,604 in the financial year which ended in March – did not mean that demand for free food was going up.
It said the increase may reflect that more people are becoming aware of food banks, or people who were already in need have taken advantage of the opening of a new food bank in their neighbourhood.
Trussell Trust chairman Chris Mould said: ‘The number of times people were given three days of emergency food rose over a million during the year.
‘Some of those people have eaten that food on more than one occasion during the year. We should not lose sight of the fact that a large and increasing number of people have been referred to food banks.’
Mr Mould added that the charity would review the way its publishes its figures in future.
himself as a Lib Dem. The internet expert, who has served in the Royal Naval Reserve, has been a Wikipedia volunteer since 2004 and became an administrator for the website in 2007. Responding to the criticism yesterday, Mr Symonds insisted he was not a Lib Dem activist and would never let his political views interfere with his Wikipedia role.
Mr Symonds initially claimed Mr Shapps ran the Contribsx account either directly or indirectly, but later he changed this to suggest simply that the account was run by a user linked to the Tory chairman’s office by the Guardian in 2012.
Mr Shapps said: ‘It’s absolutely nothing to do with me. It’s just ridiculous. It looks like an extreme dirty tricks campaign designed to do anything but talk about policies.’