According to the Trussell Trust, the UK’s largest food crisis charity the number of people getting help from their food banks tripled to 350,000 since last year and was 100,000 more than expected.

The trust, which has 345 food banks is opening another three every week but says that up to 650 more will be needed nationwide to cope with the increased demand. This commonly is coming from people who have had their benefit reduced, or cut in the government’s reforms to welfare, as well as those whose benefit payments have been delayed, and the self-employed whose businesses are in trouble because of late or non-payment by customers. According to the Dept. for Work and Pensions the increases are also due to jobcentres referring people to food banks, and the greater awareness of them due to the successful marketing of them.

The YouGov poll for the Resolution Foundation indicates that nearly 50% of the British public believe that they will be worse off in 2015 than they are now. Almost one in six expect recovery from the current recession to take a decade, or not happen at all.

Supermarket group Asda has pledged to give all its surplus food stock, created when a supplier sends it more than was ordered, to FareShare, which will then distribute it to more than 900 UK charities who then cook meals to help feed the estimated 5.8 million living in “deep poverty” in what is the seventh richest country in the World.