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Benefit delay is the single most serious problem for families badly affected by the recession, according to the man who is leading the charge from churches and community to tackle poverty in Haverhill.

Henry Wilson is a community support worker for Christians Against Poverty (CAP), and also for the Foodbank, two agencies working side by side to provide a safety net for people faced with an unexpected crisis.

Last week Haverhill Town Council voted to direct £10,000 - a large chunk of the money it had allocated to help townspeople hit by the recession - to the work Mr Wilson and his volunteers are doing.

Based in part of a factory unit in Boundary Road, the volunteers make up boxes of food designed to get people who suddenly find they have nothing, to get through three days.

This sort of immediate poverty has been growing in Haverhill as the effects of the recession have begun to bite, and Mr Wilson believes ut will get worse.

People fall into difficulties through redundancy, family break-up, or just over-stretched finances.

Town councillors heard some horror stories, which Mr Wilson says are thankfully rare as yet, but they range from families who have little or nothing to eat, to people who are 'sofa-surfing' and even someone living in their car.

Social services or health visitors will pass on details of families in need to the Foodbank and they make a delivery once a week and are hoping to move to twice a week.

They have helped over 300 families over the past year.

"I just wish we had somewhere where people could come in with their voucher and pick up what they need," he said.

The food is donated mostly by the town's churches, but volunteers also gain permission from stores such as Aldi to set up in their car park on a Saturday and tell shoppers what they are doing.

They hand out a list of the sort of items they need and shoppers often donate an item, or even a bag of shopping, when they come out.

Items have to be in tins or packets and include cereal, soup, beans, tomatoes, vegetables, meat, fish, fruit, rice pudding, sponge pudding, biscuits, sugar, pasta, instant mash, tea or coffee, juice and milk UHT or powder. The list follows a template designed nationally by experts to provide a healthy diet for three days.

They are also now providing a furniture bank for people who have been re-housed but lack other necessities, the most common being a bed. They will collect decent furniture in good condition to pass on to someone who needs it.

The work of the Foodbank only provides a very short-term solution and is not available to sustain addiction or for people to become dependent upon.

Then the other work of Mr Wilson with CAP kicks in as they try to guide people through their financial crisis and out of debt altogether.

Many of the volunteers working with him have followed this path themselves and now want to give something back.

In the four years since he set up this service Mr Wilson has worked with 140 families, and he expects to be working with many more as the crisis deepens.

"Benefit delay is the most common problem," he said. "It can be four weeks or longer, during which time people have nothing.

"Credit card debt causes the greatest anxiety because they are far more aggressive in recovering it.

"But some people find it so difficult just to fill in a form for benefit, or to open a bank account, to pay their rent or their council tax.

"Whatever else, people must engage in a process to overcome the problem."

Photo: Steve Bryant