FEARS are mounting on the pressure the cost of living crisis is putting on food bank users across Weymouth.

Weymouth Food Bank has seen a surge of 40 per cent in users from January to March this year compared to that period from the previous year.

READ MORE: How to make savings around the house in the face of cost-of-living crisis

New figures from the Trussell Trust, a charity which supports the country’s largest network of food banks, show 2,797 emergency food parcels were handed out to people in Dorset in the year to this March, which is a decrease from 3,128 parcels distributed in the year to March 2021.

Spokesman for Weymouth Foodbank, Jay Dervley said he believes the decrease of emergency food parcels this year compared to last year is due food donations going down because people cannot afford to give as much due to the cost of living crisis.

He said: "From January to March this year, we saw a 40 per cent surge in users compared to that period for 2021.

"We gave out more donations in 2021 than the previous year in 2020, which was when the pandemic was at its height.

"Unfortunately, food donations are going down because people cannot afford to give as much due to the cost of living.

"Another issue is, due to the cost of living crisis, we're seeing a surge in users."

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

Food banks handed out fewer packages in Dorset last year, according to the figures from the Trussell Trust, but demand for emergency parcels is still above pre-pandemic levels.

Although a decrease from 3,128 emergency food parcels distributed in the year to March 2021, the figures (2,797) for up to March this year - it was up 23 per cent on the 2,276 provided in the year to March 2020, before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Derveley added: "Weymouth and Portland are areas of high need for food bank donations. Dorset as a whole, there are 10 most needy places for food bank donations - and Weymouth and Portland make up most of that 10.

"To help, we're asking the public to donate as much in-date food as they can."

Energy bills are also expected to increase again in October after a 50 per cent jump for millions of households in the spring.

"We're fearful of October and autumn as the price of electricity is going up again, which our users will not be able to afford," said Mr Derveley.

To donate, visit the Weymouth Food Bank's hub at 20-22 Albany Road, Granby Estate.

Across the South West, 174,805 parcels were handed out by the region’s 154 distribution centres in the year to March.

The Trussell Trust warned that 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. That 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 that they cannot afford to stay fed, warm and dry.”

In year to March, 42% – or 1,161 – of the parcels handed out in Dorset were given to children, up from 897 in the year before the pandemic.

And across the UK at large, nearly 2.2 million parcels were distributed in the year to March 2022 – fewer than the 2.6 million 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 and the existing work of other organisations and charities, the Trussell Trust warns that its figures do not show the full extent of food poverty in the UK.

The Department for Work and Pensions said that it recognises the pressures on the cost of living and is "doing what it can" to help, such as spending £22 billion across the next financial year to support people with energy bills and fuel duty.