Food banks handed out more packages in Flintshire last year, according to new figures, but demand for emergency parcels remains below pre-pandemic levels.

The Trussell Trust, a charity tackling poverty in the UK, supports the country’s largest network of food banks.

Over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, they have seen a dramatic increase in the number of emergency food parcels handed out to those in need nationally.

But figures from the charity suggest food bank use fell below pre-pandemic levels in Flintshire last year.

READ MORE: Flintshire foodbank: How do they feed 8,000 people a year?

The Trussell Trust’s distribution centres handed out 7,813 emergency food parcels to people in Flintshire in the year to March – up from 6,756 the year before, but a decrease of 3% on the 8,072 provided in the year to March 2020, before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, due to a growing number of independent food banks and the existing work of other organisations and charities, the Trussell Trust warns that its figures do not show the full extent of food poverty in the UK.

The charity typically hands out emergency packages containing three days’ worth of food. Since the start of the pandemic, it has also started providing supplies in seven-day packages, in response to growing need and to limit the number of deliveries.

The Trussell Trust warned that food bank use has accelerated in the past six months, as the rising cost of basic amenities has hit people’s pockets.

READ MORE: 'It's only going to get worse for people' warns food bank manager

Emma Revie, chief executive of the charity, said: “People are telling us they’re skipping meals so they can feed their children. That they are turning off essential appliances so they can afford internet access for their kids to do their homework.

“How can this be right in a society like ours? And yet food banks in our network tell us this is only set to get worse as their communities are pushed deeper into financial hardship.

“No one’s income should fall so dangerously low that they cannot afford to stay fed, warm and dry.”

READ MORE: Foodbank able to pay nearly a years rent thanks to generous donation from Synthite

In year to March, 44% – or 3,422 – of the parcels handed out in Flintshire were given to children, down from 3,502 in the year before the pandemic.

The Department for Work and Pensions said that it recognises the pressures on the cost of living and is "doing what it can" to help, such as spending £22 billion across the next financial year to support people with energy bills and fuel duty.