‘Life-saving’ Worthing food bank is busier than ever

Julie Denyer, food bank manager, said: “A few years ago if we had 100 people in 
a month it would be ‘wow’. This year we haven’t been below 100.”

April’s boom in hand-outs came just after the government scrapped ‘crisis loans’ as part of its welfare changes.

Each county council now receives a set amount of money to support new local assistance networks. They are made up of organisations that help those most in need in the community by providing things such as food, furniture and transport and fuel costs.

Lee Furlong, central and south Sussex area manager for the Citizens Advice Bureau, said: “It’s very limited and we don’t know if it will meet the people’s needs. It depends how prepared people are for the changes in their benefits during the transition period.”

It is thought more than 40 per cent of the people reliant on Worthing food bank are so because of benefit delays.

For the full story see this week’s Worthing Herald, Thursday, June 6.