A POLITICIAN in charge of an investigation over foodbanks has called the findings "shocking and distressing" - as a new effort to help the vulnerable kicks off.

Councillor Richard Udall, who chairs a watchdog-style panel at Worcestershire County Council, says he was left alarmed at just how many people need help.

As your Worcester News revealed last month, in just one year the tally of people using foodbanks in the county has rocketed 150 per cent to more than 10,000.

The county council's Conservative leadership has now agreed a package of measures to try and help people using them, including posters in each foodbank across Worcestershire informing visitors how to access adult social care.

Cllr Udall, speaking to the cabinet this morning, said: "It was a shocking exercise to find out just how many people use foodbanks and how many need them to survive.

"It has to be questioned nationally, what we are doing wrong as a nation.

"10,868 people in Worcestershire received help from a foodbank last year, that's higher (a rise) than the regional and national average.

"We do have a serious problem - when people cannot afford to eat it is a crisis."

He said foodbanks should "not be needed", labelling them a "stain on society".

Cllr Udall chairs the overview, scrutiny and performance board (OSPB) which did the investigation.

The cabinet has agreed a set of new recommendations, including a new section on its website to publicise foodbanks, and a PR drive to stop the stigma of pensioners accessing them.

Councillors will also be offered advice on signposting people in the right direction, if they are contacted by people in dire need of help.

Councillor Marcus Hart, cabinet member for health and well-being, said: "It's very important that when citizens of this county do fall into difficulty, particularly due to changes in benefits, there is the opportunity for them to get a helping hand."

Councillor Lucy Hodgson, the cabinet member for localism and communities, paid tribute to the foodbank volunteers, saying "without them, foodbanks would not be able to operate the way they do now".

In 2012-13 4,363 people in the county used a foodbank but in 2013-14 it surged to 10,868, a 147 per cent hike.

Of that tally, the number of children under 16 visiting them leapt 162 per cent, from 1,436 to 3,792.

Some of the reasons cited in the investigation into why people use them included benefit changes, delayed wages, job losses, sickness, debt, domestic violence and people being refused crisis loans.