Why Is The Demand On Food Banks Actually Increasing?

Try not to make assumptions and judgments about visitors to food banks etc.
We have a lovely driver who collects from donation points for us in his £200K Bentley, and has done the odd emergency delivery to a client too.

Perhaps the man in the Merc is delivering to those in need, without advertising the fact to anyone?

^ There are veg racks outside with green potatoes, black bananas and other veg which should go directly to the compost.^

Green potatoes are likely to be toxic. There’s no need to give poisonous food to people who are poor. The organiser should not allow this.

Black bananas, OTOH, are usable.

Community fridges were set up to help people and to avoid food waste.
They are not food banks so do not need a referral.

Supermarkets donate on date food which is perfectly good, other donations of surplus food are made and those using the community fridges pay a nominal sum which goes towards running costs.

NotAGran55

Try not to make assumptions and judgments about visitors to food banks etc.
We have a lovely driver who collects from donation points for us in his £200K Bentley, and has done the odd emergency delivery to a client too.

Perhaps the man in the Merc is delivering to those in need, without advertising the fact to anyone?

When I left home at 17 my landlord used to drive me to the Labour exchange in his Bentley to pick up my unemployment benefit so appearances can be deceptive.

It's a tragic sign of the times .
I know a guy who relies on the food bank and he occasionally passes something to the family next door then me .
I'm often in Greggs and I understand that their food is thrown out at the end of the day.
They said that they aren't allowed to give it away .
I've often been given lots of patisserie from cafes and I take them to my church .

Thousands of Greggs use the Too Good To Go app where you can reserve a surprise bag for £2.99 (contains £8+ of food) for collection late in the day. My local, very small Greggs offer it. Maybe ask why yours doesn't Esmay

NB I'm not recommending it as l wouldn't use it but l know many stores use various, similar apps. Can't stand Greggs.

Esmay

It's a tragic sign of the times .
I know a guy who relies on the food bank and he occasionally passes something to the family next door then me .
I'm often in Greggs and I understand that their food is thrown out at the end of the day.
They said that they aren't allowed to give it away .
I've often been given lots of patisserie from cafes and I take them to my church .

A local church has warm spaces where they offer coffee, tea and lots of bakery items donated by local supermarkets.

The Community Fridge in a town nearby has been flooded out and the equipment ruined, sadly. Local churches are trying to help out by providing meals to those in need.

The oft repeated tale of better off people raiding food banks is not a reason to frown upon food banks that help people who are not able to pay their food bills, but rather a sad reflection upon certain people in our society who will exploit any situation.
The vast majority of people who frequent food banks are not by any means better off, and would ask anyone who donates to food banks regularly to include sanitary products which women desperately need but find too expensive. A volunteer in the charity I worked for said a young woman had admitted to putting socks in her underwear during her period in order to afford baby formula.

This House of Commons Library Briefing Paper is worth reading for the history of food banks and the current need.

researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8585/CBP-8585.pdf

The percentage of UK households using food banks is around 4%.

Some extracts:

In June 2023 Trussell published a report on Hunger in the UK. The report examined the causes of hunger in the UK, its impact and what type of people use food banks. Some of the headline findings of the report are:

• Disabled people make up 26% of the UK population and 69% of people referred to Trussell food banks.

• People who live in social housing make up 8% of the UK population and 46% of those referred to a food bank. Private renters make up 13% of the UK population and 22% of those referred to food banks.

• 89% of people referred to Trussell food banks receive means tested benefits.

• People with care experience as a child make up 3% of the population and 16% of those referred to Trussell food banks

The reason most commonly cited by food banks for the rise in need was increases in the cost of living, followed by debt, universal credit wait times, inadequate wages and housing.

When people first apply for Universal Credit, it usually takes around five weeks to get the first payment. In 2019, Trussell published a report on the links between Universal Credit and food bank use. Trussell said that the five-week initial wait for the first payment has “led to acute and immediate financial hardship, and worsened households’ longer-term financial resilience.”

Removal of the two child cap on UC should see a reduction in food bank reliance but until such time as we have a proper living wage and rent caps to curb the profiteering of private landlords, people will continue to struggle.

People have to have a referral to Food Banks.

Community Fridges are open to all, to help people and to avoid food waste. If people can pay a small sum that is good.

Why is the demand increasing?
Because this Government prefers to protect the wealthy.

Ilovecheese

Why is the demand increasing?
Because this Government prefers to protect the wealthy.

On a programme on yesterday morning it said that it is estimated that just 50 families in the UK have the most wealth, amassing more than all other citizens of the UK combined. The thing is it isn’t just about revenue it is about a more level playing fiend where people at the bottom have a better chance of working hard to become self reliant and save money for a better future. Right now the gulf between the haves and have nots is the biggest it has ever been, whereas back in the 1960s it was nowhere near as wide, of course there was poverty back then but a far better chance of those at the bottom getting a job that would in time help them afford housing and the chance of promotion or moving on to a better job.
Generational unemployment has been allowed to get a grip in many parts of the UK, usually where primary and secondary sectors no longer exist and the tertiary or service sector is paying peanuts as well as there not being enough jobs anyway.
Of course we can cite the many jobs needing to be done in society but the majority are not paid well enough for a family to live on.
Unless wages keep up with the cost of living nothing will change.
And unless the wealthiest pay their dues this country will seem as robbing the poor to pay the rich man’s bills, which is beyond immoral.

If food banks are there then people will apply to use them.The more food banks open the more people will apply.
Many schools have expanded what they give or sell cheaply to parents from school uniforms to all kinds of food and household goods.Done with the best of intentions but the more they give the more will be the demand for it.Which is why food banks are ever expanding.

I don't follow the logic, that as more food banks open, then more people will use them. Do you mean that it's the food banks that are driving the use? I thought it was the reverse.
You can't just walk into a food bank

They are expanding because more people need them.

Yes Maremia that’s what I mean.People get to know where food banks are and apply to use them.I don’t judge btw.
So the more food banks open or original ones expand the more people will apply to use them.

I always go to check things out for myself, and found that, for whatever reason, the Trussell Trust, which is the largest Food Bank, distributed less in 2024/25, although a 51% increase in the last five years.
www.trussell.org.uk/news-and-research/latest-stats/end-of-year-stats

OldFrill .
Went into my Greggs tonight and found out about the app before I read your post.
I'm pleased because I was about to write toi them about the wastage.
I was wrong informed by one of their workers -that's why I thought that the food was thrown away .
Allira - we have warm space at my church weekly .I support it.
I also go to another one which offers cheap food on a daily basis .
I've been looking into the possibility of a community centre offering more hot food daily.

Referrals are not required at our or most church food banks. They are open to everyone, no questions asked. It is a way of helping people in our community, most who come are regulars that we know and therefore we are aware of their circumstances. There will always be the odd few who take advantage but we have no way of monitoring that. It is there for the majority who need it and we are happy to help them in whatever way we can.