A food bank has seen the number of people using its services double this year - and has also had a rise in domestic abuse referrals. Tina Harrison MBE, volunteer lead for Trinity Foodbank Radcliffe on Westminster Avenue, says the centre has seen twice as many new referrals this year. The concerns come as fresh data from the Department of Work and Pensions shows 260 households in Bury hit the government's benefit cap and had their Universal Credit limited in May - a 61 per cent increase since February.
Tina said: "We’ve seen an increase of 50 per cent in new referrals coming through the door this year. “Most of our people that come through the door attend either because of the benefit cap or an increase in rent which has tipped them over the edge of needing assistance. “A lot of the people that we see are those that we would not normally see and a lot of working families that would normally be OK, but because of the rise in rents they're coming to us more.
“There is a lot of regeneration in Radcliffe so we’re getting a lot of people where their rents have gone up, their mortgages have gone up and they're really struggling to make ends meet.” The benefit cap was last raised in April last year, despite most benefits rising by 6.7 per cent this April.
It currently stands at £22,020 for families with children across Britain, or £25,323 for those in London. Tina added: “We have also had a rise in domestic abuse cases. "We used to get the odd referral around Christma.
