Shropshire food bank says cut in length of energy bill help will leave households worrying
A Shropshire food bank says Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's decision to cut the length of the energy price guarantee will cause concern and stress.
Mr Hunt announced on Monday he was cutting the energy price guarantee from two years to six months.
Shrewsbury Food Bank Plus, which provides a number of services, including financial advice, said that it had seen a massive upturn in the number of people needing its services in the space of 12 months.
Karen Williams, project manager at the food bank, said that September 2021 had seen them provide help to 430 people, but that last month had seen that number more than double to 934.
She said the amount of food given out had risen from 5,204 kilos, to 11,432 kilos in the same space of time, and that the charity had even reduced the size of its food packages to make sure it has enough to help all the people requiring assistance.
"Those are the numbers we are dealing with and we are just one food bank," said Ms Williams.
Feed a Family:
"Before we would have peaks and troughs but in September we were constantly busy. We are often busier at the end of the month but September is reflective of what is happening in the local and the national economy."
Ms Williams said that the type of people requiring help was also changing, with many clients in full-time work, with a mortgage.
She said: "The number of people in full-time work, on full-time contracts who are not just managing, it is significant."
She said the Chancellor's decision to cut the energy price guarantee from two years to six months would cause anxiety for hard-pressed households, while they waited to see if there will be further help. She said that the concern over energy bills is already having a major impact and that it is vital to ensure support is in place to prevent further hardship when the scheme ends.
"I think the problem is people have a little bit of stretch in their budget but that stretch has gone and people I would not expect to see run out of money before, have now run out of money," she said.
"They make sure they pay their bills, they make sure they pay their mortgage, but after that they are struggling.
"People think it is a certain type of people who use food banks but it is across the board."
She added: "With the energy price cap decision it is that sense of 'I thought I had more time'. It is like if you have a fixed-rate mortgage, it is like the fixed rate suddenly being reduced from two years to six months."
