Advice on finding work could be handed out at Wirral foodbanks

Job advisers could be posted at the charity organisation’s distribution centres as part of a scheme unveiled by works and pensions minister Iain Duncan Smith which is currently being trialled in Manchester.

If successful, the initiative could be rolled out across the country.

Since opening its doors in December 2012, Wirral Foodbank has provided thousands of people from across the borough with emergency food parcels. Demand for its service is growing.

The pilot scheme is taking place at a depot not operated by the charity, but a Trussell spokesman said: “We would suggest that there first needs to be a dialogue between the DWP and the Trussell Trust network about the possible challenges and opportunities that hosting DWP advisors in foodbanks could afford.

“We need to look at the most helpful ways for local Jobcentres and foodbanks to work together.

“The Trussell Trust has had positive discussions with some MPs about whether piloting DWP advisors in their local foodbanks could be beneficial, but we have not yet had the opportunity for dialogue with Iain Duncan Smith or DWP advisors about the feasibility of rolling out this idea.

“The Trust is always open to ideas that could help people facing hunger in the UK.

Mr Duncan Smith told the Parliamentary Work and Pensions Select Committee: "I am trialling at the moment a job adviser situating themselves in the food bank for the time that the food bank is open and we are already getting very strong feedback about that.

"If this works, and if the other food banks are willing to encompass this and we think it works, we think we would like to roll this out across the whole of the UK."

Mr Duncan Smith questioned Trussell Trust figures that showed a 398% increase in the number of people using their food banks between 2012-14 in Scotland.

While the figures were "genuinely put together" they were "not absolutely clear", he told the committee.