The least Britain can do during the pandemic is feed the children who have been plunged into poverty

Editorial: New data shows that young people are relying increasingly on food banks

Many more families are turning to food banks as they wait weeks for benefit payments (AFP/Getty)

Children seem to be much less directly affected by Covid-19. Indirectly, however, it is hitting them among the hardest.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the use of food banks. As we report today, there has been a huge increase in usage in recent weeks: 59 per cent from February to March, an increase 17 times higher than the same period last year. Children, it appears, are particularly in need of this emergency support, with a 122 per cent increase in emergency food parcels being given out to children in the last two weeks of March, compared with the same period in 2019.

The research, published by the Trussell Trust and the Independent Food Aid Network, suggests that the economic upheaval of coronavirus has left many families in food poverty. Charitable appeals such as The Independent’s Help The Hungry campaign and the work of food charities such as The Felix Project have helped, but they cannot cover every shortcoming in the social security system.