Food banks warn surge in demand will prevent feeding hungriest this winter

Nearly 70% of providers say they may need to turn people away or shrink the size of emergency rations



Food banks across Britain have warned of a “completely unsustainable” surge in demand that will prevent them feeding the hungriest families this winter.

Organisations representing 169 food banks told the Guardian the number of people seeking emergency help had already grown “dramatically” and predicted “bleak and disturbing” weeks ahead.

Of the 169 providers, nearly 70% said they may need to turn people away or shrink the size of emergency rations this winter. Almost three-quarters said food donation levels had dropped since April, despite the spiralling demand.

The warning came amid alarming new forecasts about spiralling inflation, with pressure growing on Liz Truss, Boris Johnson’s likely successor as prime minister, to give some indication of how she intends to deal with the cost of living emergency.

In the survey by the Independent Food Aid Network UK (Ifan UK), nearly 90% of the organisations representing 169 food banks said demand had risen since April and 87% said they had been hit with supply issues.

One in five had already reduced the size of food parcels and more than half of the charities had already had to dip into their limited cash reserves to bulk out food parcels.

Kirkcaldy Foodbank in Scotland said it had a deficit of £56,000 in the first half of 2022 due to rising food prices and plummeting donations, as those who usually give to food banks are themselves cutting back.

It said: “This situation is completely unsustainable, and we have begun to take steps to limit the support that we can provide.

“We have real fears about what lies ahead – both for the people who need our help and for our ability to meet those increased needs.”

Su Parrish, of the Easter Team charity in Crawley, said she feared they would see “poor mental health spiralling and potentially suicides as a result of the stress and distress people are now experiencing”.

Ifan UK, which supports more than 550 food banks across the country, has urged the government to introduce “urgent, cash first interventions” to ensure people can afford to put food on the table and heat their homes this winter.

Sabine Goodwin, a co-ordinator of Ifan UK, said relying on overburdened food banks was “unconscionable and unsustainable”. ​​ She said: “It’s for the government to ensure the basic needs of its citizens are met, not food aid charities buckling under the strain.”