Matthew's story

"I am writing in complaint of the way The British Gas electric service has for the second time debited a much larger sum than agreed/used on a plan, causing again worry, despair and shock. The first time they sent a very sorry, pitiful apology and credited our account with them, no refund! This time they have done the same, the bill has the wrong meter no. on it and they have taken nearly 5 times the monthly amount. This has wiped out my spare money for food and living. I am currently in the process of fighting it yet again, hard to with no cash. Disgusting and shameless way of running a business."

Thank you to Matthew for sharing his experience.

Rachel's Story

"Benefits delayed - Child tax credits not come through. Washing machine broken leading to extra costs so money tight, too tight to pay for everything. Energy costs are too much."

Our thanks to Rachel for sharing this with us.

Stephen's Story

"I got out of prison 18 months ago and have been unable to find work. My job seekers allowance should be £69 a week. I am getting deductions taken out of this for council tax arrears, water rates and budgeting loans leaving me about £55 a week. Then I'm on prepayment meters for gas and electric at £2 charge each, and I'm in debt on the gas for £75, so when I put £5 on the gas, £3 is taken straight away for debt. I normally find it a struggle to cope, but everything seemed to go wrong at once this week."

Thanks to Stephen for sharing his story with us.

John's Story

"I'm only receiving benefits at present and find myself in debt with heating bills for my house, and struggling to buy food. I'm seeking full-time employment and possible chance of a factory job in the local area waiting for contact from employers". 

Thanks to John for sharing his situation with us.

Jessica's Story

"We're paying pack a loan from the DWP of £48 a fortnight and we are struggling. I had to come here [Foodbank] today because of that and on top of this our Child Tax Credits have stopped. They said I hadn't got in touch with them, but I had. My 17 year old son is at college. My husband has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and I have Diabetes and we can't go without heating and hot water, so we spent all our money on gas and electric and then we had nothing left for food. Many thanks for having this place open, we would be without food for another week if this place wasn't here." 

Our thanks to Jessica, who shared this while visiting one of our Foodbank centres.

More people receiving emergency food!

Since November 2012, the number of people receiving emergency food from us in Chester and Ellesmere Port has increased dramatically. We are now helping over 400 people every month. This trend is in line with other local Foodbanks, some of whom have witnessed a tenfold increase in visitors as reported recently in The Leader.

Nationally, the numbers of people receiving three days’ emergency food from Trussell Trust foodbanks has also increased sharply. Between April and September 2013, Foodbanks helped over 350 000 people, triple the number helped in the same period last year. The Trussell Trust says that UK hunger is getting worse and the charity is calling for an inquiry into the causes of UK food poverty and the consequent surge in foodbank usage.

Chris Mould, Executive Chairman of The Trussell Trust says: ‘We said in April that the increasing numbers of people turning to foodbanks should be a wake-up call to the nation, but there has been no policy response and the situation is getting worse. The level of food poverty in the UK is not acceptable. It’s scandalous and it is causing deep distress to thousands of people. The time has come for an official and in depth inquiry into the causes of food poverty and the consequent rise in the usage of foodbanks. As a nation we need to accept that something is wrong and that we need to act now to stop UK hunger getting worse.’