THOUSANDS of people are being forced to turn to charities just to feed their families as some warn they just "can't afford to live".
And the situation is set to worsen for Surrey families according to the Citizens Advice Bureau and food-bank bosses, who have warned that low wages and changes to benefits could plunge hundreds more into despair in the coming years.
The warning comes following a report presented to Surrey County Council reviewing the use of the county's 26 independent food banks and the eight run by charity the Trussell Trust.
According to the report, Trussell Trust food banks recorded a 227 per cent increase in usage with 6,787 people in Surrey – including 2,783 children – requiring their services for basic food items compared to 2,073 in 2012/13. It found that the majority of users – 1,774 – had been forced to turn to food banks for meals because of benefit payment delays caused by the Government's changes to the welfare system.
Another 1,442 used food banks because they were on a low income while 998 were suffering as a result of their benefits being reduced.
Jonathan Lees, who runs one of the busiest food banks in the county, said the figures weren't surprising and added there was potential for the situation to get worse.
"We've seen quite a big increase from our first year and since we started we've fed just over 4,000 people," he said.
"I think there's potential for it to increase because there's still people who don't know about the service and I still meet people who are in a desperate situation who are struggling badly.
"There are also some people who don't like going to food banks because they get embarrassed. I've had people waiting in the car for over an hour plucking up the courage because they don't want people to recognise them and they're mortified at being in that situation."
And Paul Clark, who is both deputy manager at the Leatherhead and Dorking Citizens Advice Bureau and a supervisor at Redhill Citizens Advice Bureau, added that clients were not the "stereotypical" food bank user but in many cases were working families on low incomes.
He said: "We're helping all kinds of people who simply can't afford the cost of living at the moment and that's down to debts or something else.
"It's a pretty grim picture out there. We get a lot of single people with children coming in but it's a variety of people and I can't see it getting any better."
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