Southend Foodbank Meets Local MPs to Urge Action on Universal Credit Ahead of Crucial Vote

Ahead of a critical parliamentary vote on proposed cuts to health and disability benefits, Southend Foodbank representatives Cass Francis and Jemma Walsh travelled to Westminster to meet Southend’s MPs, David Burton-Sampson and Bayo Alaba, during Trussell’s national Lobby Day.

While in Parliament, Cass and Jemma discussed the growing hardships faced by people on the lowest incomes and urged both MPs to support the Guarantee Our Essentials campaign, led by Trussell and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).

At the heart of the campaign is a call for an independent review to determine the true cost of covering life’s essentials in the UK today. 

Currently, the basic rate of Universal Credit has no link to actual living costs (excluding rent and council tax) and falls far short of what people need to survive. 

The cross-party Work and Pensions Committee found that, even with recent increases, we are spending the same amount on benefits for working-aged people as we were in 2007.

Cass and Jemma urged MPs to advocate for increasing the basic rate of Universal Credit to £120 per week for a single adult and £205 per week for a couple. While upcoming changes in the Benefits Reform Bill promise incremental increases to Universal Credit, these won’t be fully implemented until 2029/30 and will still lack any tie to the actual cost of living.

They also raised concerns about deductions from Universal Credit payments, highlighting the importance of a Minimum Income Floor - a limit on how much the government can deduct from payments. While the maximum deduction rate has recently been reduced from 25% to 15%, Southend Foodbank supports going further, again in line with evidence from an independent review.

In response to the upcoming second reading in parliament for the UC & PIP Bill, Cass Francis, Comms & Campaigns Coordinator at Southend Foodbank, told That's Food and Drink: “It was a real privilege to speak face to face with both of Southend’s MPs and to hear their thoughts on the Essentials Guarantee. No one should be forced to go without the basics they need to survive. Universal Credit must reflect the true cost of living.

“As you can imagine, we at the Foodbank, Trussell, JRF and many other organisations are extremely concerned about the proposed £5 billion in welfare cuts aimed at the benefits received by people with disabilities. We are urging everyone to write or email their MP and ask them to vote against these reforms.

“Trussell’s analysis shows that 440,000 disabled people and their families will be forced into severe hardship by the proposed cuts, which will be devastating for them, and push many more people to the doors of food banks like ours.”

Nearly 20k emergency food parcels provided to people facing hunger by Southend Foodbank in the past 12 months

Stock footage

18,854 emergency food parcels provided to people facing hunger by Southend Foodbank in the past 12 months  

Alarmingly over 7,000 of the parcels were provided for children in the last year

The Foodbank has had to spend £145,000 on topping up food donations

This announcement comes as new annual figures from Trussell show that 2,885,086 food parcels were given out across the UK.

Anti-poverty charity Trussell, says this should be a 'wake-up call’ for the UK government to strengthen the social security system and re-think cuts to welfare that risk forcing more people to rely on food banks

Nearly 19,000 emergency food parcels were provided to people facing hardship between April 2024 and March 2025, with 7,263 of these provided for children, according to new figures Southend Foodbank released today.

Southend Foodbank has seen a slight reduction of 8% in the number of emergency food parcels distributed compared to last year. 

However, despite this slight dip, the area the Foodbank covers across Southend City and Rochford has seen persistently high levels of need over the past five years, which is an overall increase of 188% on the figures from 5 years ago.

Cass Francis, Comms & Campaigns Coordinator at Southend Foodbank told That's Food and Drink: “We are pleased the initiatives we’ve put in place in the last few years, such as Citizens Advice Advisors in most of our distribution sessions, have helped our guests maximise the support they are able to receive. 

"While these new figures seem like a moment of good news, with a small decrease in the amount of food parcels we’ve given out, they are still indicative of the continuing high level of financial insecurity in Southend and Rochford that bring people to the doors of our food bank.

“Five years ago, the food parcels we gave out were almost entirely made up of donations from the public, but as the need for emergency food has increased we had to start buying provisions each month – and in the past year we have had to spend £145,072 just to make sure we can keep up with the need we see in our community.”

Southend Foodbank is part of the Trussell community of food banks, which has reported persistently high levels of need in the last year, with nearly 3 million (2,885,086) emergency food parcels provided to people facing hardship across the UK between April 2024 and March 2025. Over a million of these parcels were provided for children.

Southend Foodbank believes everybody should have enough money in their pockets to put food on the table and is calling on the community to play their part to help end the need for emergency food in the UK.

Until then, the public can help make sure Southend Foodbank continues to provide warm, compassionate, practical support and advice in the year ahead by donating food or funds at southend.foodbank.org.uk

Emma Revie, CEO at Trussell, said: “Far too many children, families, disabled people, working people, and elderly people from across Southend needed to access food banks for emergency food in the past year. This should be a wake-up call to government and a stark reminder of their responsibilities to the people of Southend.

“A whole generation has now grown up in Southend and Rochford where sustained high levels of food bank need feel like the norm. The community has teachers, doctors, and healthcare professionals now routinely referring people to food banks as part of their day to day jobs, showing how emergency food has sadly become a fixture. If you can, please play your part and help change this.”

19,280 emergency food parcels provided by Southend Foodbank in 2024, as people continue to struggle on low incomes

Cass Francis of Southend Foodbank

New figures released by Southend Foodbank have revealed 19,280 emergency food parcels were provided to people facing hardship across Southend City and Rochford in the last year – with 7,440 of these parcels going to children.

Southend Foodbank has seen a minor decrease in the amount of people needing emergency food parcels, but the levels remain 50% higher than they were two years ago, which illustrates that the Cost-of-Living crisis is far from over.

The levels of need were particularly acute in December 2024, which was the busiest month for the Foodbank, with 2,008 emergency food parcels provided by staff and volunteers.

Cass Francis, Comms & Campaigns Coordinator at Southend Foodbank said: “The level of need we saw in 2024 has remained very high, with our resources, staff and volunteers being stretched to their limits yet again. 

"The inflation rate may have slowed down, and last April saw some benefits being slightly increased, but families on low incomes are still disproportionately spending most of their incomes on essentials, es pecially food, energy and transport. So, when prices rise and incomes don’t keep pace, many are left cutting back on essentials – missing meals so their children can eat."

She went on to say: “The support of our community is vital in ensuring Southend Foodbank can be there for anyone who turns to them for help. Unfortunately, the rising levels of need have had a significant impact on stock levels, and we are having to purchase half of the food we now give out. If people are able, we’d ask that they consider donating food to us on a regular basis.”

Alongside the provision of emergency food, Southend Foodbank offers people who are referred to them a warm welcome, as well as connections to advice and support, which means someone will be less likely to need the food bank again in the future. They have Citizens Advice provision in six of their Distribution Centres and the foodbank also campaigns locally and nationally to end the need for food banks.

A typical 3-day emergency food parcel consists of items such as cereal, tinned fruit and vegetables, tinned meat (chilli, curry, chicken in sauce) and fish, tea, squash, biscuits, UHT milk, pasta, rice, and much more.

To find out more about how to support Southend Foodbank, visit their website: southend.foodbank.org.uk/support-us

Anyone that would like a referral to the foodbank can use the Citizens Advice Southend drop-in service located at 1 Church Road, Southend-on-Sea.