Food poverty: so, which of the hungry poor most 'deserve' charity help?

The detailed testimony of UK food poverty, both from those who suffer from it and those who try to alleviate it, still retains the power to startle and dismay.

As statistical evidence of its growth mounts - and the precariousness of the charity response becomes apparent - it is difficult not to feel this a crisis that is getting out of hand.

Take some of the stories uncovered by Samir Jeraj, who researched an investigation into food poverty in the south east of England for Green MEP Keith Taylor published this week.

There are now at least 59 food banks in the south east of England, the reports found. In 2006, around 1,000 people received emergency food aid in the region. In 2012 that figure had risen to nearly 45,000 and is anticipated to rise again by 70% this year. The biggest rises in demand, it found were in wealthy counties like Surrey and Berkshire, where, it seems, the normalisation of food banks as a response to a creaking welfare system continues apace. As the report states:

The places they are opening are no longer just traditionally deprived areas, every major settlement either has or will soon have a food bank if trends continue.

Coping with this growth is throwing up practical and ethical dilemmas. In the Isle of Wight, the local food bank asked referring agencies to restrict the number of vouchers it gave out because it could not get enough donated food to meet demand for food parcels. According to Lee Hodgson, the manager of the local Citizen's Advice Bureau, his staff now have to ration the vouchers by deciding which of its hungry and penniless clients are "most deserving" of charity help. He says:

How do you make that choice? I don't think anybody should be in that position. That's how bad it's got.

In Milton Keynes, food bank manager John Marshall is predicting a 30% rise in demand this year, a level he says is "unsustainable". In Kent, Nourish food bank is thinking of extending its current limit of 12 weeks food aid per family, because social security benefit delays are now so lengthy.

Brighton Fare Share worker Nathan Au notes that in recent years the focus of its work had moved from street homeless people to low-paid working families. He reflects:

It's an extra level of demand that we never thought we would see, or hoped never to see

The manager of New Forest basics bank, Peter Bassett, points out that people were not just going without food but essential toiletries. Bassett says the price of nappies meant that "he had heard anecdotal evidence of mothers having to choose whether to regularly change babies".

The emotional impact of experiencing and bearing witness to a level of destitution many would consider unimaginable in the UK is also acknowledged. As Hodgson puts it:

It is really easy to talk about statistics and percentages but actually they are human beings and individuals. There's a huge human cost from this. I can't get across strongly enough the emotional affect this has on an individual, and our staff.

Taylor, who writes how he has visited many food banks across the region this year, notes how this explosion in emergency food aid is "shameful". It's a word which goes someway to explaining the denial and obfuscation that accompanies the government's response to growing food poverty. Ministers won't accept that benefit cuts and welfare reform play a starring role in the crisis. It is clear from this report that those closest to the food aid frontline would consider that position risible and insulting.

How far charity food can continue to meet the demand is a point acknowledged by several of the food bank volunteers interviewed for the report. As it ominously concludes:

Huge pressure is being place on an emergency food system that was never designed to take it. Many are now stretched beyond breaking point. Food banks and similar services depend on the continued good will of communities to donate food, and to volunteer, eventually the demand could prove overpowering.

And from this near-chaos, the last word must go to John Marshall of Milton Keynes Food Bank, who worries that the UK is hurtling apace down the route disastrously taken two decades ago by the US and Canada, where charity food banks are now part of the welfare mainstream:

If we are all still doing this in 20 years we will have failed. The country will have failed itself.