ORDINARY people are facing an ‘unprecedented financial squeeze’ as energy prices rise, furlough ends, and Universal Credit is slashed.

Southend’s Trussell Trust foodbank has warned of a ‘bleak winter’ ahead and expects to busier than ever as residents struggle with financial hardships.

Earlier this month the Government cut the temporary £20-a-week increase to Universal Credit (UC) payments, introduced at the start of the pandemic, while also ending the furlough scheme which saw the Government pay a proportion of workers’ wages to help keep them employed.

“We are currently at the beginning of an almost unprecedented squeeze on the finances of ordinary folk: the removal of the £20 per week UC uplift, the huge increases in energy prices, the end of the moratorium on evictions, plus the furlough scheme ending,” a spokesperson for Southend Trussell Trust Foodbank said.

“All these changes have taken place right at the start of the coldest part of the year, and it is no exaggeration to say things are looking bleak for the people in our community that are going to be choosing between heating and eating in the coming months.”

The number of users at the foodbank has increased every year and it has given out more food so far this year than in any previous year since opening in November 2013.

While it is too early for full data on the impact of cutting UC payments, the foodbank has reported a 55 per cent increase in user in the first two weeks of October compared to last year.

Labour councillor Aston Line visited the food bank last week to learn first-hand of the challenges faced its volunteers and staff.

Following the visit he Tweeted: “The use of food banks has increased exponentially over the last ten years, and this has risen even more dramatically still during the pandemic.

“It was deeply upsetting to learn the sheer scale of food poverty facing our town's most vulnerable.

“Yet it was great to discuss the fantastic work and research being done by The Trussell Trust's many volunteers and hardworking staff."

He added: “I am truly grateful for all that they do, but we must tackle food poverty at its root causes. Everybody deserves the right to feed themselves and their family with dignity.”

Figures suggest the end of the UC uplift saw nearly 20,000 people in Southend lose out on around £1,000 a year as a result.

Department for Work and Pensions figures show there were 19,926 people claiming Universal Credit in Southend in July – the latest available data. Of those, 62 per cent were not in work.

A Government spokesperson said: “We’ve always been clear that the uplift to Universal Credit and the furlough scheme were temporary.

"They were designed to help claimants through the economic shock and financial disruption of the toughest stages of the pandemic, and they have done so."