Council spends £12,000 a week on emergency parcels and supporting food banks in Sheffield

In a response to questions asked during a private councillors’ meeting, the Labour council said after six-and-a-half weeks operating its coronavirus helpline, it was averaging about £12,000 a week supporting people with essentials.

Of that, it said £4,000 per week is spent on emergency parcels delivered to those self isolating or who are unable to access food and £8,000 a week is spent on supporting foodbanks.

It comes after foodbank volunteers spoke out about about the significant rises in the number of people using their services.

Andru Keel, of Spires Foodbank, said there had been a 1,000 per cent rise in the number of people using their service since lockdown began.

While S2 Foodbank said in January, February and March combined it handed out seven tonnes of food to 1,021 people - but in April alone it supported 1,970 people with 15 tonnes of food.

Coun Shaffaq Mohammed, Liberal Democrats group leader, said: "Clearly there are still people out there who need our help.

“There’s also been phenomenal support from communities for food banks and a lot of volunteers.

“All the predictions are that a third of the economy has shrunk, so clearly there is going to be a downturn in the world's economy coupled with uncertainty over our future relationship with Europe.

“We're going to have some very difficult times ahead and we're going to have to pull together as a society and a city, so we really need to support food banks and other projects to make sure that after Covid-19 when the economic downturn will hit us all there are still these safety nets in place for people to be able to go to get help.”

The council has urged people to call its helpline on 0114 273 4567 to get support with things like food deliveries, medicine or mental and emotional wellbeing.

The council said so far, 16 per cent of calls to the helpline which resulted in referrals were for people requesting food parcels and 14 per cent was people asking for help with shopping, collecting medication or social support.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to The Star website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.

Visit https://www.thestar.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.