FOOD banks handed out fewer packages in Bradford last year, according to new figures, but demand for emergency parcels is still above pre-pandemic levels.

The Trussell Trust, a charity tackling poverty in the UK, supports the country’s largest network of food banks.

Over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, they have seen a dramatic increase in the number of emergency food parcels handed out to those in need.

Figures from the charity show 19,165 emergency food parcels were handed out to people in Bradford in the year to March.

Although a decrease from 21,697 emergency food parcels distributed in the year to March 2021, it was up 49 per cent on the 12,837 provided in the year to March 2020, before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Trussell Trust said the first year of the pandemic led to exceptional demand for support.

The charity typically hands out emergency packages containing three days’ worth of food.

Since the start of the pandemic, it has also started providing supplies in seven-day packages, in response to growing need and to limit the number of deliveries.

Across Yorkshire and The Humber, 156,120 parcels were handed out by the region’s 102 distribution centres in the year to March.

The Trussell Trust warned food bank use has accelerated in the past six months, as the rising cost of basic amenities has hit people’s pockets.

Emma Revie, chief executive of the charity, said: “People are telling us they’re skipping meals so they can feed their children. They are turning off essential appliances so they can afford internet access for their kids to do their homework.

“How can this be right in a society like ours? And yet food banks in our network tell us this is only set to get worse as their communities are pushed deeper into financial hardship.

“No one’s income should fall so dangerously low they cannot afford to stay fed, warm and dry.”

In year to March, 42 per cent – or 8,023 – of the parcels handed out in Bradford were given to children, up from 5,191 in the year before the pandemic.

Across the UK, nearly 2.2 million parcels were distributed in the year to March 2022 – fewer than the 2.6 million than the year before, but a significant increase on the 1.2 million provided five years ago in the year to March 2017.

Due to a growing number of independent food banks, the Trussell Trust warns its figures do not show the full extent of food poverty.