People in UK rich towns rely on charity handouts

Economic woes have made a growing number of Britons living in wealthy towns to use charity handouts, anti-poverty campaigners say.

Food bank volunteers across the UK have warned that British families hit by falling incomes and benefit cuts are increasingly being forced to rely on charity help and food parcels, even in the richest areas across the country.

They cite Hart District in Hampshire, which includes three towns, as an example where over a thousand emergency packages have been given out in a relatively short period of time.

This comes as the district has been recently named by the annual Halifax quality of life survey as Britain’s most desirable area for quality of life.

“When we opened in 2011, people said, ‘Surely there’s no hardship in Hart?’, but a surprising number of people in this area are in clear need,” said Graham Bunch, acting manager of Hart Foodbank.

According to Bunch, Hart food bank users are families and single people, aged between 25 and 45, who have been hit by benefit delays, government changes to benefit and low incomes.

The British government’s welfare reforms have set off fierce reactions even from the religious authorities.

Last week, in an open letter, 27 of the 59 leading bishops of Church of England accused the coalition government of creating hardship and hunger for people.

The bishops said the welfare cuts have left so many people reliant on food banks across the UK.

The unprecedented intervention by members of the Church of England comes after Britain’s leading Catholic Archbishop Vincent Nichols described government benefit cuts as a “disgrace” for Britain.