Horsham District Foodbank joins campaign to ensure everyone can afford the essentials

Horsham District Foodbank is supporting the Guarantee our Essentials campaign, calling for the UK government to reform Universal Credit to ensure that everyone can afford the essentials we all need to get by - and help end the need for food banks.

They are joining more than 1,300 food banks across the UK who are taking action to show support for an ‘Essentials Guarantee’ and calling for the basic rate of Universal Credit to cover the cost of essentials that people need such as food, household bills, and travel costs.

Amalia Lovett, Network and Campaign Lead, said: “At Horsham District Foodbank we are seeing more and more people plunged deeper into poverty and needing our support. We are providing between 700-800 individual food parcels a month to local people who can’t afford the essentials. These statistics are reflective of the picture across the UK as the Trussell Trust recently announced that their network – of which we’re a part – distributed almost three million emergency food parcels between April 2022 – March 2023 – the highest number on record”.

“The Trussell Trust estimates that to afford the core essential costs a single person should receive £120 a week, but the basic rate of Universal Credit is just £85 a week. This is already too low, yet people needing to use our food bank can have up to 25% of that deducted to repay debts, such as advance payments and budgeting loans from the Department for Work & Pensions”.

“Our aim is to end the need for food banks, but to do this people need to have enough money to afford the essentials. This is why we are standing by the Trussell Trust and Joseph Rowntree Foundation to support this campaign. We believe everyone should have enough money to be able to afford to buy food and other essentials.”

Ahead of the next general election, The Trussell Trust has released a petition, calling on UK political party leaders to make sure Universal Credit protects people from going without the essentials.

Horsham District Foodbank is asking residents to support the Guarantee our Essentials campaign and show support for their work in the community by signing the petition online. They held a Day of Action on Friday 8 September in front of their Love it Again shop to launch the campaign.

Find out more and sign the petition: https://action.trusselltrust.org/guarantee-our-essentials...