Sir, – Regarding Gavin Engelbrecht’s article “Record numbers of people using food banks in North-east and North Yorkshire” (D&S Times, April 24), it is important to also draw your readers’ attention to the non-food poverty crisis that is, sadly, often neglected in discussions of present-day poverty in the UK.

I am CEO of In Kind Direct, one of The Prince’s charities, which has been distributing essential products to charities since it was founded by The Prince of Wales in 1996. To date, we have distributed £135m worth of products donated by 1,000 companies to more than 7,000 UK charities working at home and abroad.

The reality is that many people are turning to charities for household essentials, such as toiletries and cleaning products, long before they go to a food bank, which means that the statistics concerning food bank usage vastly underestimate the true scale of reliance on charity support in the UK at present. We also distribute laundry supplies, health and beauty items, toys, office supplies, clothing, footwear and baby items.

Our first impact study, released in 2014, showed that 56 per cent of charity respondents were giving out essentials to those struggling to afford basic supplies, and 30 per cent had seen an increase in demand for basic household provisions – all the more poignant to find out that for many of these organisations, this was not a service which had previously been provided by them.

Our survey was corroborated by research released by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation last year which showed that 4.7m households are living on incomes below the level needed for an adequate standard of living; a significantly higher number than the one million who are currently using foodbanks.

ROBIN BOLES

Chief executive, In Kind Direct,

London.