My constituent, Andrew, has a part-time low-paid delivery job and works 364 days of the year.

He also receives Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) to top up his income, but to qualify for this the Job Centre says he has to apply for ten jobs a week. He is dyslexic and struggles to use a computer to apply for jobs online. 

One week he only managed to apply for nine of the ten jobs and his benefit was “sanctioned”. This means his JSA was taken away for a month. His housing benefit was also stopped and he was forced to go to the Salvation Army for food parcels. 

Patrick, who also lives in York and worked in a bar, had his hours reduced to a zero hours contract, which meant that he was no longer guaranteed enough hours of work to live on.

When he applied for benefits the Job Centre wrote to his employer to ask when he left his job. His employer said he didn’t know he had left and sacked him. The Job Centre then sanctioned him because they said he had left his job voluntarily.

Anyone who can work should do all they can to get a job, but sanctions must be applied fairly, and job seekers should get help to find work.

Many people like Andrew and Patrick have contacted me after being sanctioned by the Job Centre, or because of a delay in getting their benefit paid.

More and more frequently they are forced to turn to food banks because they cannot afford to feed themselves and their family. Three food banks have opened in York in the past 18 months, in addition to the long running service provided by the Salvation Army.

Ever-increasing numbers of people in York are turning to them because they cannot afford to put food on their table.

Food banks only help people on the breadline, providing a minimum of three days’ emergency food following a crisis like redundancy, illness, benefit delay, domestic violence, debt, family breakdown or the additional costs of heating during the winter. Referrals are made through GPs, social workers, churches and agencies such as the Citizens Advice Bureau.

I want to thank the volunteers who work so hard running the food banks, collecting donations of food, and helping people who use them to get other support such as benefits advice.

They perform a vital job as good neighbours. But we should also ask why so many more people are turning to food banks. Some are so poor they have returned food that needs cooking because they cannot afford the electricity to heat it up.

The costs of food and energy are rising faster than wages. Fuel bills have gone up by more than £300 a year under the Coalition Government.

Action should be taken to freeze rising fuel bills for a limited period, as Labour has pledged to do until 2017, during which the Government and energy companies, working together, should insulate homes to reduce bills and carbon emissions in the longer term.

If you want to help York’s food banks, donations can be made to the Salvation Army at www.salvationarmy.org.uk and to York Foodbank at york.foodbank.org.uk

The names in this article have been changed.