A SCHEME to give people receiving emergency food in south Cumbria additional vouchers for their electricity and gas has supported 26 households so far.

READ MORE: Benefit cap fears as figures show rise in food parcel hand-outs in Barrow

The Trussell Trust opened a fuel bank at its base in Barrow Foodbank on October 21 and since then there has been a big interest in getting extra support.

Growing demand

The initiative gives people who use the food bank and have pre-payment energy meters the chance to also receive £49 fuel credit so they can repay emergency fuel usage or top up their electricity and gas meters.

It enables households that have run out of energy to get the power back on within a few hours and keep the lights and heating on for around two weeks.

Ann Mills, project manager of Barrow Foodbank, said the expansion to support people in fuel poverty as well as food poverty was an important one, especially at this time of year.

She said: "It's been very valuable to people as the cold has been biting and some people have literally run out of energy credit.

"At the end of last week we had handed out 26 fuel vouchers. It's a big help.

"When the fuel vouchers are called in the client gives permission for npower to look at their database so they can verify it's accurate and true.

"We have steps in place to prevent the wrong people applying."

Pioneering project

Following an Ofgem investigation into npower's system issues, the energy provider was required to pay £26m in compensation and charitable redress.

The company agreed to funding fuel vouchers for food bank clients, supporting thousands of people and reducing the impact of unplanned financial crisis on households which can often cause people to have their energy switched off.

Research conducted by the Citizens Advice Bureau found that nationally one in every six homes that use a prepayment meter has self disconnected, meaning up to 1.62 million people go without electricity or gas each year.

The idea of offering fuel provision to those in need of food parcels was first piloted in April 2015 by the Trussell Trust and the project has so far been rolled out to 40 areas in the country.

Barrow Foodbank: Facts and figures


• Barrow Foodbank gave away 7,251 three-day emergency food supplies in 2015/16, 18 per cent less than 2014/15.

• In 2014/15, 8,809 three-day emergency food supplies were provided in Barrow, Millom and Ulverston. Of this number, 3,798 went to children.

• The running costs for Barrow Foodbank are around £50,000 a year, all of which is raised locally. Costs include warehouse space, a van to pick up donated food and deliver to distribution centres, utilities and insurances.

• 66.67 tonnes of food were donated by the local community in 2015/16.