2.9 million emergency food parcels were provided across the UK between April 2024 and March 2025, a 51% increase compared to five years ago. (Alamy)
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Demand for food banks is up more than 50 per cent compared to five years ago, according to new research by The Trussell Trust, with the charity warning that planned welfare cuts risk making the issue worse.
In a report published on Wednesday, the charity said that 2.9m emergency food parcels were distributed between April 2024 and March 2025, representing a 51 per cent increase compared to five years ago — equivalent to a food parcel every 11 seconds.
Data from the charity also shows that families with children have seen a 46 per cent rise in emergency food parcels since 2019/2020, with a 32 per cent rise among families with children under the age of five.
The charity has said the findings should be a “wake-up call” for the government as it prepares to implement welfare cuts, which, according to official estimates, could see around 800,000 disabled people lose Personal Independence Payments, warning Labour it risks leaving a “legacy of rising food bank need and child poverty”.
“This UK government will fail to deliver on its promise to improve living standards for us all unless it rows back on its harmful policy choices on disability benefits and housing support and shows greater ambition on areas like the upcoming child poverty strategy and future of local crisis support,” said Emma Revie, Chief Executive of the Trussell Trust.
“Without action, they risk leaving a legacy of rising food bank need and child poverty.
“It is clear that the public’s cost-of-living fears are far from over, and these numbers show why.
“If the UK government truly wants to improve public services, boost the economy and make the UK a better place to live, then addressing hunger and hardship must be a priority.”
Neil Coyle, Labour MP and member of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Food Banks, told PoliticsHome while it was “good news” the data also showed there had been an 8 per cent drop in food bank need this year compared to last year, it was clear there was “a lot more work to do”.
“When Labour last left office, there were only about 40,000 people using food banks in the country. That had reached 1.8m by the time we regained office,” said Coyle.
“It pours shame over the last government, and the aim of the All Party Parliamentary Group, and The Trussell Trust, is to eradicate food bank dependency and the need for food banks to exist, so there’s a lot more work to do.”
He also said it was “not exactly a state secret” that there was “lots of Labour discomfort” among MPs over the planned changes to disability benefits and the consequences it may have on vulnerable groups.
Labour MP Andy McDonald told PoliticsHome the rise in dependence on food banks was “a stain on past governments and shows the scale of the cost-of-living crisis and problem of poverty in the country”.
“It is the Labour government’s job to alleviate poverty, particularly for children, including ending reliance on food banks, and we urgently need the child poverty strategy delivered as soon as possible to achieve that,” said McDonald.
“But it is time also to recognise that key policy decisions — on winter fuel, on WASPI pensions and welfare payments — have reduced incomes and in doing so, have reduced support for the government.
“The government must urgently decide to pause its cuts to PIP and Universal Credit if we are to alleviate poverty and to bring down food bank use.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Tuesday told LBC she was “listening” to concerns about plans to lower the level at which pensioners have winter fuel support removed.
“We always listen to our voters, to our constituents, and I do understand the concerns that some people have about the level at which the Winter Fuel Payment is removed,” she said, amid speculation that ministers could soften the decision in response to public backlash.
Responding to the charity’s findings, a spokesperson said the government was “determined to change people’s lives for the better”.
“We are reforming the broken welfare system we inherited so we can get people into good, secure jobs, while always protecting those who need it most,” they told PoliticsHome.
“As part of our Plan for Change, we are extending the Household Support Fund, launching 750 breakfast clubs across the country and making changes to Universal Credit to give a £420 boost to over one million households.”
