U.K. Food-Bank Users More Than Doubled to 913,000 in 2013

Britain’s biggest operator of food banks said the number of people it helped rose 163 percent last year, as people on low incomes and dependent on welfare benefits suffered under the government’s austerity program.

The Trussell Trust helped 913,138 people in the year to April 5, compared with 346,992 in 2012-13, the charity said today. About 47 percent of referrals to the trust, which runs more than 400 food banks across the U.K., were the result of changes to benefits or delays in payments, according to data it collects from users.