UK food bank charity reports record take-up amid cost of living crisis

theguardian.com:

Record numbers of food parcels were given out by the Trussell Trust in the past 12 months, as the UK cost of living crisis helped drive more than 750,000 people to food banks for the first time.

The charity’s network distributed nearly 3m food parcels in 2022-23, its highest ever total and a year-on-year increase of 37%. More than a million children were living in households receiving the trust’s food parcels.

One in five people using a Trussell food bank over the period were in work, the charity said, reflecting the difficulties many low-income households have in affording everyday essentials amid soaring energy bills and food prices.

Trussell’s chief executive, Emma Revie, said the demand for food parcels last year was higher than it had been during the first year of the Covid pandemic, “which we had all assumed was a once-in-a-lifetime level of need”.

The number of Trussell Trust food parcels distributed had grown by 120% over the past five years, Revie said. In 2017-18 it gave out 1.4m parcels, at the time a record. The figure increased in four of the following five years before hitting its current peak.

The scale of demand has forced the trust to “think through the logistics” of charity food distribution. Levels of food donations – traditionally from individuals and local charity food drives – have failed to keep pace, and Trussell had to spend £7.5m last year – £4.5m more than in the previous year – replenishing food bank stocks.

Food bank use soared across all regions of the UK, with the biggest annual increase in food parcel distribution – 54% – seen in the north-east of England. No region or nation of the UK saw less than a 28% rise in food parcel numbers given out.

“We are experiencing an unprecedented rise in the