More foodbank users in Lowestoft are requiring longer-term help from the charity, organisers have warned.

After noticing a steady and sharp annual increase in the numbers of people using the service since it was set up in the town a few years ago, the rise in total number of foodbank users has started to show signs of slowing.

However whereas previously 96 per cent of those attending only needed up to three lots of support, that figure is now down to 84 per cent.

East Suffolk Foodbank organiser Phil Riley said a number of factors had contributed to the rise in longer-term users.

For example more people are now self-employed as a result of firms making redundancies, meaning that more people are struggling financially through periods of illness as they no longer can claim sick pay.

However Mr Riley said volunteers are also seeing more people falling foul of sanctions being imposed by JobCentres, where people have benefits withheld if they are marked as arriving late for appointments.

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