THE project manager of Stroud District Foodbank has called for more to be done by politicians of all parties to reduce the number of people using the service over the coming months.

Speaking to the SNJ, Will Mansell said he wanted to see more collaboration between politicians to deal with the “root causes of poverty in society.”

The number of people using the Stroud Foodbank in the year ending March 2015 was 4,093 adults and children and just over three hundred in the last month, according to research from UK’s largest food bank network The Trussell Trust.

While the figure in Stroud for the 2014/15 year was down by ten per cent since the previous year, The Trussell Trust has announced that the number of people using food banks across the UK has risen 19 per cent, with more than a million people being forced to use the service nationwide.

“While the small reduction here in Stroud is an encouraging sign, we still had over four thousand people in our community who didn’t have enough money to feed themselves,” said Mr Mansell.

“We need to see that number drastically reduced over the coming months and years, so we will be calling on politicians of all parties, not just the current government, to work together to deal with the root causes of poverty.”

He blamed delayed or non-payment of benefits, job insecurity, low wages, and staggered welfare reforms for the continued high numbers of people forced to use the food banks in Stroud.

Mr Mansell said that 42 per cent of people referred to them by a doctor, social worker or job centre staff were families.

“These are people that on one or two wages still cannot afford to feed their whole family. The benefit system needs to change, because it cannot be acceptable that people in our community do not have enough money to feed their children.”

“I am a cynic. I do think that over the next five years the bottom ten per cent of earners will remain in danger of having to use food banks, and I think the figures for usage in Stroud will remain fairly steady.

“Many people we speak to are only one or two weeks of lost wages away from being forced to use us, people need more security in their jobs and their pay.”

“Whichever party is in change, be it Labour or Conservative, the same issues face our customers. Poverty is an issue that runs deeper than just governance.

“But what this government can do now is to introduce a better system to distribute benefits and show more compassion to those who do unfortunately run into trouble.

“Parts of the media demonise those on welfare, this is an attitude that we drastically need to see change.

"We need to reconsider how we treat the most vulnerable people in our society.

“If there is one thing I’ve learned from working here is that people’s reasons and situations for having to use food banks are hugely different.

“I think there will always need to be a safety net in society. We’d like to see the government come forward and deal with the root causes and provide the service we do, but for now while people are going hungry, we will be there to feed them.”

The Stroud Foodbank, which runs centres in Stroud, Stonehouse, Nailsworth, Dursley and Wotton under Edge, has now moved to a larger premises in Brimscombe Port.