Tesco dates for Falkirk Foodbank help

The first of three collections at Tesco takes place in the Retail Park on Thursday, followed by another at the Tesco in Redding on December 1 and a third at Camelon’s Tesco on December 2 - in each case from 9am till 5pm.

The latest collections take place against a background of recent concern about the rise in use by the “working poor” - people whose jobs do not pay a decent wage which covers the basic essentials.

A new report on food bank use also estimates that as many as 850,000 people across Britain are now using foodbanks.

It also warns that the consequences of people being forced to rely on emergency food on a regular basis could be a developing public health crisis.

Foodbank operator The Trussell Trust has said its own figures on usage are “the tip of the iceberg”, and that the true scale of hunger caused by severe poverty remains unknown.

A new worry is the expected rise in demand from areas where Universal Credit has been introduced.

Politicians in areas as diverse as the Highlands and East Dunbartonshire have repeatedly urged a halt to the roll-out of the controversial scheme, after reports of desperate people left with no money for six weeks.