ATHERTON and Leigh Foodbank is bracing itself for a surge in service-users after the full rollout of the new benefit system, Universal Credit.

Figures released this week have found that the organisation, which has four bases in the borough, has had an 18 per cent increase from 4,146 to 4,909 three-day emergency food supplies in the last year.

The number of children that have been given supplies has also risen by 12 per cent from 1,490 to 1,676.

And them figures could shoot up now that Universal Credit has been enforced due to the delay in claimants receiving their first payment.

Universal Credit is a monthly payment scheme brought in by central government to help with living costs and replaces existing benefits such as child tax credit, income support and working tax credit.

Atherton and Leigh Foodbank manager Warren Done said: “The amount of people that are coming to us in the last few years has carried on increasing but it seems to be falling on deaf ears when we report it.

“There are five main reasons why people are asking us for supplies and the top two are the change and delays of benefits.

“I went to a meeting a couple of months ago with foodbanks across Greater Manchester and some of them said they had experienced an increase of 80 per cent since full Universal Credit was introduced.

“In the last couple of months we have been preparing for more people using the foodbank by building our stocks to get ready for that.

“I think we will see an increase of service-users in the next week or two with there being a five to six week wait to access Universal Credit payments for the first time."

Statistics also found that around 34 per cent of Atherton and Leigh Foodbank's new clients had never used a foodbank last year- similar to the 36 per cent the 12-month period before then.

The average increase on the amount of people using foodbanks where full Universal Credit has been introduced is 50 per cent.

The foodbank is part of national organisation, The Trussell Trust, which has just revealed that emergency supplies in the UK have hiked up to more than 1.3 million in the last year- nearly 150,000 more than the previous period.

Low income, debt and homelessness are three other major reasons for people being forced to use the foodbank.

Warren added: “Everyone at the foodbank are grateful to the community who keep helping us.

“We could not keep going without the support of people’s donations and the local supermarkets who we cannot thank enough.”

The foodbank is also inviting people to volunteer for collections at supermarkets.

To find out more information about the foodbank and volunteering contact Warren on 07980 881925.