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In November 2020, we launched an ambitious campaign to create change – to build a movement of people who will work alongside the Trussell Trust to create a hunger free future.

In the first six months of the pandemic, food banks in the Trussell Trust network gave out a staggering 1.2 million emergency food parcels. That’s one food parcel every 13 seconds, and 2,600 of these went to children every day on average.

Over the past year, we’ve all made incredible changes to the ways we live, work, and look after each other. And in the past few months, we’ve seen amazing compassion and concern for families, children, and people in crisis – with food banks, community groups, and others stepping up to help.

But this kind of help shouldn’t be needed. This isn’t right and as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to unfold, we need change now more than ever. That’s why we’re calling for a hunger free future, and asking people just like you to stand with us and create a different future.

Since Hunger Free Future began, more than 80,000 of you have pledged your voice – thank you! And we’ve raised a fantastic £4 million from our generous supporters, which will help us and our Foodbank Network work towards a future where food banks are no longer needed.

Communities like these in Nottinghamshire have shown us the amazing things we can achieve together. And while food banks work hard to cope with increased need in their areas, they’re also working to create long-term change.

Thanks to supporters like you, we’re making a real difference as we move towards a hunger free future. We know it isn’t right that anyone should need to use a food bank, and we know that tens of thousands of you agree. Looking at what we’ve achieved in just a few months, with so many of you raising your hands to demand fundamental change, both locally and nationally, we know that this year change is possible.

Our campaign engagement officer, Hannah Mae Trow, explains how one village has pulled together to push for a #HungerFreeFuture in the lead up to this Christmas. 

 This year has been incredibly difficult for so many people across the country. We’ve all been hit by something unexpected and outside of our control, and for thousands of us that has meant not having enough money for the basics. Food banks in our network have seen more people than ever before being forced to them for support. This isn’t right.  

But we can’t ignore that this year has also shown us is just how much people care about each other – and it couldn’t have been clearer in 2020 just how much people want to act on that compassion, and work for a future where there’s justice for all of us.  

Which brings us to the village of Quidhampton, in Wiltshire.  

I’ve worked with campaigners and activists for a few years at the Trussell Trust now, but I’m still surprised at just how much people come together to do amazing feats of community activism – both online and ‘in real life’. 

So I was delighted to hear that in Quidhampton, not too far from where I live, members of the village community banded together to support the fight for a Hunger Free Future. Villagers proudly displayed their plate protest plates to tell neighbours about the campaign, collected food across the neighbourhood and donated money to support our work. 

Bea Tilbrook,  the editor of the Quidhampton Village Newspaper, regularly puts out mentions of our  work and of collections happening in the village. She sent out a village-wide email about the plate protest, and it wasn’t long before many community members were joining together to take action: 

Jane at Alexandra Cottages not only put up her plate protest poster in the window to explain why she wants a Hunger Free Future, but also generously donated £200 to help us in the fight to end the need for food banks. 

Nick and Tat from Coronation Square regularly do neighbourhood food collections, and this time they manage to collect over 38kg of food and toiletries for Salisbury Foodbank. 

And many other members of the village proudly displayed their posters in their homes, in their car windows, and the bus shelter.  

Jane explains:  

‘I think it is a sad statement of the UK that so many people need to use a food bank. I think it is truly wonderful what you (Trussell) do to support people in crisis, but we can do so much better as a country than this. Universal Credit is not a one size fits all, and the government really needs to look at it and put the human element back in to its policies.

The country is full of good people and heroes, like your volunteers and NHS workers. I believe we all want to see the end of poverty, and we need the government to do their bit to make it happen.

I am supporting the campaign (Hunger Free Future) and putting my money where my mouth is. I hope you get many people supporting you too to end the need for food banks.’ 

Together, thanks to people like Jane, Bea, Nick and Tat showing how everyone can get involved, the village of Quidhampton is calling for change. 

Which made me think: how many other communities would come together to take action too?

So my challenge for the new year, if you’ll take it, is to see if you can rally your community to join the #HungerFreeFuture campaign. There are so many different ways people can get show their support. Sign up here to find out the different ways you, and your neighbours, could get involved.  

Lauren Tunnicliffe, project manager of Manchester Central Foodbank, shares more about Can You Hear Me Now?, a listening campaign and creative participation project that is bringing people who have used the food bank together with the food bank team to push for longer term change. 

 “Changing the world is a big job, but this is a great place to start.”

During the recent US election the topics of voter suppression and the disenfranchisement of minority groups and poor voters were often at the forefront of the conversation. But US politics is not the only place where people who are experiencing poverty and destitution are prevented from being able to ask for what they need. From working at Manchester Central Foodbank we know that people here in Manchester without enough money are denied the autonomy and confidence to advocate for themselves in every aspect of their daily lives. On top of this, those creating anti-poverty strategies have historically been slow to catch on to the fact that they should be led by the voices and expertise of people they are supposed to be helping. We know now that in order to demand change and erase the need for food banks, we must be driven by those who have experienced that need.

Can You Hear Me Now? Is a listening campaign and creative participation project that we’ve been working on with Manchester based artist-led community organisation, Get It Done. Throughout the project we’ll be listening to the stories of people who come to our food bank, and learning about what would need to happen in their lives to make the need for food banks a thing of the past. 

Alongside this the wonderful artists at Get It Done have designed an exciting and inspiring activity pack, filled with creative activities that prompt the reader to think about ways they can care for themselves, their communities, and the world. We’ll be giving these packs out in our food parcels, and working with local schools and frontline organisations to help children and adults reimagine their communities and think about the change they want to see. We’ll be using our platform as a food bank to boost the voices of the people we have spoken to and who have created pieces of work using the activity packs, through exhibitions, online archiving, and targeted campaigning. 

Our hope is that we will be able to work with people who’ve used the food bank to co-create meaningful campaigns for change. We want the voices and stories of people experiencing poverty to inform both how we run our food bank, and how we fight for a system that works for everyone. Simultaneously we hope the activities in the packs will give people the opportunity to mindfully take a break from the pressures of everyday life, and think creatively about what they would change about the world.

Right now we’re fundraising to be able to put these activity packs together. We’ll be professionally printing the activity booklet, and providing the craft supplies to go with it. If you want to help make this project happen, you can donate either at our justgiving page, or by paying it forward, and buying one of our activity booklets, at a price that will cover the cost of putting another pack together for someone receiving a food parcel.

As with all things right now, the coronavirus crisis has added another layer of meaning, significance, and logistical difficulty to this project. You don’t need us to tell you that this is a scary and worrying time for people in poverty. People’s lives are more turbulent and unpredictable than ever, but sometimes it can take the systems in our normal lives breaking down for us to be able to build them up again. Right now, the world is going through changes on a scale that many of us won’t ever see again in our lifetimes, and we want to make sure these changes are driven by the people that they will affect the most.

Our series of blogs deep-diving into what’s happening in food banks continues, as Research Manager Tom Weekes delves into today’s new report on destitution from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. 

Destitution. A word that conjures images of complete poverty, something that surely couldn’t happen in a modern society? Yet today’s shocking release by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) reminds us that not only is destitution common across the UK, it is a fast-growing problem.  

This is something that food banks in the Trussell Trust network will unfortunately be well aware of. Food banks have long been at the frontline of destitution – our latest data shows that 94 per cent of people referred to food banks in our network were classed as destitute. 

JRF’s research estimates that more than 2.4 million people experienced destitution at some point in 2019, including over half a million children. These figures are up by a staggering 52 and 54 per cent respectively since they were last measured in 2017.  

Given the significant economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of people experiencing destitution is likely to have been even higher during 2020. Food banks have seen record levels of need this year already. The Trussell Trust recorded a 47% increase in the number of parcels distributed during the first six months of the crisis in comparison to the same period in 2019.  

What does destitution mean?  

There are many different definitions of poverty used in the UK, but in short destitution means people are unable to afford the absolute essentials that we all need. These include (brackets detail how they are measured):  

1. Shelter (someone has slept rough for one or more nights) 
2. Food (someone has had fewer than two meals a day for two or more days) 
3. Heating their home (someone has  been unable to heat their home for five or more days) 
4. Lighting their home (someone has been unable to light their home for five or more days) 
5. Clothing and footwear (appropriate for the weather) 
6. Basic toiletries (such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste and a toothbrush 

Why are people falling into destitution?  

The report highlights a number of factors that drive destitution including issues with the administration of benefits, the sufficiency of benefit payments and eligibility for benefits.  

Some of these issues have been partially – and temporarily – addressed during the Covid-19 crisis. We have seen welcome steps by the government to support people, including the temporary £20 weekly increase  to Universal Credit and essential investment in Local Welfare Assistance in England. However, this report highlights the issue of debt to the government. It finds that the five-week wait for the first UC payment, and the reduction in payments people then get when they have to pay back an advance taken to cover that wait,  is a core driver of destitution.   

A woman interviewed for the JRF study states:  

“… as soon as my claim went through … I owed them £514 … Because for six weeks I had no income, so when I got the advance, that went on everything that I [already] owed … Then by the time I got to December – you’re just never catching up, because of the way it starts. Hence, the reason that we had to use a food bank to even survive.”  

This was reflected in our recent work which detailed that almost half of people who were supported by food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network this summer were having money taken by the government from their benefit payments, with close to three in four of those on Universal Credit repaying an advance payment.  

What can we do?  

This isn’t right and the government can take immediate action by:  

• Suspending benefit deductions during the winter months until there is a more just  system for repaying advance payments and other debts to the DWP.  

With the uplift to Universal Credit ending at the end of March 20201, the government must also make the right choice in supporting people from April next year. They need to:  

• Lock in the £20 rise to Universal Credit, and extend it to people currently excluded.  

This increase has been a lifeline,  essential in preventing many more people falling into destitution. Removing it would be a hammer blow to families relying on it to get by across the country. That is why we have joined with JRF and organisations across the anti-poverty sector to urge the government to Keep the lifeline.  

We can create a future where destitution is something we only read about in history books – a Hunger Free Future, where we all have enough money for the basics. If you want to help end this injustice for good, join us in the campaign for a Hunger Free Future today. 

This week we have exciting news –  a small group of incredibly generous supporters has offered to match any donations given to the Trussell Trust between today and Christmas, up to a total of £500,000.  

This is an extraordinary opportunity to raise £1 million over the next few weeks – with every pound being used to build a better Christmas and a Hunger Free Future for families across the UK.  

Please donate today.

This couldn’t have come at a more vital time. Food banks in our network are set to be busier than ever this winter, and could give out an emergency food parcel every 9 seconds to people across our country.  

This is not right. It’s time to end the injustice of people needing food banks – with your help, we can come together to make that happen. 

We know what it’ll take. Our vision is for a UK without the need for food banks – you can read our new five year plan here for how we’ll work towards a just, compassionate future where no one needs to use a food bank to get by.  

£1 million will help us:  

1. Offer a range of support to food banks helping people unable to afford food right now  
2. Develop projects with food banks that help prevent people needing support a second time – eg through projects which ensure people are getting all the money they’re entitled to  
3. Campaign for the longer-term changes that we know will bring us closer to a future where everyone can afford the essentials.  

Our vision for a UK without the need for food banks is ambitious but we know that if we work together, we can reach it.   

This year we’ve already made incredible changes to the way we live, work and look after each other. If we take action together now, we can start to build a future where we can all afford the essentials. 

It’s never been easier to help – simply click the button below, make your donation and know whatever you’re able to donate will be doubled. 

Please donate today. 

Thank you so much for your support – with your donation today, we can build a future where nobody needs to go without the basics, this Christmas and beyond.  

We’re starting a new series where our team deep-dive into what’s happening in food banks. To kick things off, Research Manager Tom Weekes breaks down what we’ve seen in the first six months of the pandemic, and what we’re expecting this winter.  

Yesterday we released figures showing that food banks in the Trussell Trust network have given out a record 2,600 food parcels a day to children since the start of the pandemic. Breaking it down further – a child needed support from a food bank every 34 seconds between April and September.  

Clearly the economic consequences of the pandemic have been devastating, leaving many unable to afford the basics without further support. In many ways this has driven change for food banks – with many new people needing support, at the same time as they’ve had to make operational changes like extending opening hours, switching to deliver food and becoming Covid secure.  

However, while some things have changed generally the underlying reasons why people need support have not. As before the crisis, the key issue is a fundamental lack of income leaving people destitute and unable to afford the essentials. Dramatic increases to the number of people applying for welfare support,  shortfalls between people’s living costs and their income, and gaps in or lack of eligibility for support, have all driven levels of need.  

95% of people that needed to use food banks during the pandemic were living in relative poverty after housing costs. 

Food banks came into the crisis recording their hardest ever year  

Over 1,300 centres distribute emergency food parcels to people in need in the Trussell Trust UK wide network. To receive a food parcel, you need to be given a voucher after being referred by an agency like Citizens Advice. This voucher contains information such as the number, and age of the people being supported. When these vouchers are fulfilled the data is uploaded by the food banks, allowing the Trussell Trust to evidence the number of people that are being supported by the network.  

This data shows that food banks in our network saw successive years of increasing need coming into the crisis. In the last five years, food bank use increased by 74%. In 2019/20 alone there was a 18% increase on the previous year.  

Reshaping the landscape 

Even from these record levels , the pandemic has reshaped the landscape of destitution and poverty in the United Kingdom. More than 5.7 million people were receiving Universal Credit in October, a 90% increase since March 2020. Our estimate based off work from Heriot-Watt University suggest hundreds of thousands of people will be swept into destitution by the end of this winter. During the pandemic food banks have been on the frontline of the crisis, and we reported a 47 per cent increase in the number of parcels distributed in the 6 months to September 2020, compared to the same period last year. In this period 38 per cent of parcels went to children – despite those aged 0-16 making up just 20 per cent of the UK population.

These figures represent just the tip of the iceberg, and do not include the countless people who were helped by people in their community, by independent food banks, and local authorities.  

Looking to the future 

At the Trussell Trust we expect this to be our busiest ever winter. We cannot accept this. The government must do everything it can to continue to protect people from falling into destitution and providing support to lift those experiencing it out.  

Currently, for many people, work cannot be the solution. The below graph uses a baseline approach to show the change in both redundancies and the number of jobs available. Vacancies remain significantly below pre-pandemic levels, while redundancies have continued to increase. 

**Source: LFS: ILO redundancy level (thousands): UK: All: SA: Figures refer to the number of people made redundant in the three months previous to their interview. So, for the data labelled as August 2020 that refers to the period from the beginning of April to the end of September 2020. Vacancies and Jobs in the UK: November 2020: Vacancy data refers to a three-month average. The latest data labelled as August 2020 is an average of August – October 2020.  

This makes it more important than ever that we have a functioning safety net that fully supports people.  

We need to:  

Suspend benefit deductions until there is a fair system for repaying advance payments and other debts to the DWP.  

• Between Mid-March and the 23rd June over one million advance payments for new claims or benefit transfers were made creating a substantial new population of people in debt to the DWP.  

• As a sense of the scale of change, in May 2017 23,300 advance payments were made in total. In May 2020 this increased ten-fold to 246,840.  

Lock in the £20 rise to Universal Credit, and extend it to those people currently excluded 

• With millions more now receiving UC removing this would drive many into poverty and destitution. Our work with Heriot-Watt estimates that removing the uplift would increase use of food banks in our network by nine per cent next year. 
• One in three (32%) households that were supported by a food bank in June or July and claiming benefits were not claiming UC, meaning they have not benefited from the uplift.  

It’s not right that any of us are forced to food banks. But together , we can build a hunger free future. We’re asking anyone who wants to end the injustice of people needing food banks to join the campaign for a Hunger Free Future.  

Ellie Thompson, Policy and Public Affairs Officer

In all the hubbub of a very busy news week last week, one exciting announcement that may have slipped under people’s radars was the creation of a new Covid Winter Grant Scheme to help people struggling to afford food and other essentials. The scheme will see £170m given to councils in England to spend on supporting people worst affected by the crisis between the start of December and the end of March 2021. This decision to provide funding for local welfare assistance is testament to the efforts of food banks, campaigners and charities across the country, who have all been calling for this vital support.

Provision of local welfare assistance by local authorities, which can include emergency cash grants as well as longer-term support (such as debt and benefits advice), has long been recognised as a key part of the social security system. In our recent report Local Lifelines we highlighted the crucial role that this support played during the Covid-19 crisis, particularly in areas where the local authority had previously invested in their support scheme and were able to respond quickly and flexibly to support those in financial crisis during the lockdown. This provision of effective local welfare assistance can help prevent a financial emergency from escalating into a more sustained crisis.

The Trussell Trust, alongside key partners such as The Children’s Society, has been calling for a £250m per year investment into local welfare assistance in England. So this announcement of £170m funding for four months shows a significant commitment on the part of the government to ensure that councils have the cash to support people who don’t have enough money for essentials after being hit by an emergency. This is an excellent first step, but this vital local lifeline needs to be there whenever it’s needed, not just this winter. This is why, whilst we welcome this step, we’ll be calling for continued funding for local welfare assistance beyond March 2021.

Not only did the government announce £170m for local welfare support, but following the fantastic campaigning efforts of Marcus Rashford, the Food Foundation and others, there is also £220m funding to provide support to families through the school holidays. This is another clear example of the power that we all have to create change.

This new funding for locally delivered support may mean the difference for many families between staying afloat and slipping into destitution. Crucially, we would like to see this funding spent in line with the examples of best practice we saw in our research and highlighted by others such as the Local Government Association. This includes providing tailored and wrap-around support which connects people to other relevant services in their community, addressing underlying needs and enabling them to build their own resilience against future crises.

But right now, we know that food banks are busier than ever, with food banks forecast to give out six emergency food parcels a minute this winter. Whilst local lifelines are crucial, we also need to fix the holes in the national safety net to support people who have been hardest hit by this pandemic:

• The £20 uplift to Universal Credit has been a lifeline pulling people from destitution; the government should not take this away when it is needed most. The uplift must be extended beyond next spring and extended to those on other welfare payments.
• People are also struggling right now with huge levels of debt; three quarters of people arriving at food banks on Universal Credit are repaying advances to cover the five-week wait. All benefit deductions should be temporarily suspended to help those on the lowest incomes.

The Covid-19 crisis has heralded an upsurge in calls for justice for people hardest hit by this crisis. It’s great that the government have listened to our calls to provide support locally. But we must also push for long-term solutions and ensure our national social security system is strong enough to act as the lifeline so many of us need it to be.  Only then can we ensure when we are out of this crisis, we can create a Hunger Free Future where everyone has enough money to afford the essentials.

Ellie Thompson, Policy and Public Affairs Officer

In all the hubbub of a very busy news week last week, one exciting announcement that may have slipped under people’s radars was the creation of a new Covid Winter Grant Scheme to help people struggling to afford food and other essentials. The scheme will see £170m given to councils in England to spend on supporting people worst affected by the crisis between the start of December and the end of March 2021. This decision to provide funding for local welfare assistance is testament to the efforts of food banks, campaigners and charities across the country, who have all been calling for this vital support.

Provision of local welfare assistance by local authorities, which can include emergency cash grants as well as longer-term support (such as debt and benefits advice), has long been recognised as a key part of the social security system. In our recent report Local Lifelines we highlighted the crucial role that this support played during the Covid-19 crisis, particularly in areas where the local authority had previously invested in their support scheme and were able to respond quickly and flexibly to support those in financial crisis during the lockdown. This provision of effective local welfare assistance can help prevent a financial emergency from escalating into a more sustained crisis. (more…)

Rory Weal, policy & public affairs manager:

The campaign led by Marcus Rashford to extend free school meals in England to cover the half term holidays, may have been rejected by the government – but it has not gone away. In fact, it has inspired a huge upsurge in generosity and demands for justice across the length and breadth of the country.

This recognition could not be more needed. At the Trussell Trust we support a network of 1,200 food banks centres across the UK, and we have long been aware of both the strength of the communities of this country and the dire economic circumstances too many families find themselves in.

Since the pandemic hit, the situation has got worse.  Food banks in our network expect to be giving out six emergency food parcels a minute this winter. The contribution of volunteers and supporters is tireless, but the reality is no one should be forced to turn to charity to put food on the table.

That is why the public support for free school meals has been phenomenal and extending provision to cover holidays is so needed. But as Marcus Rashford has said free school meals can only ever be a ‘sticking plaster’, when the underlying issue is people not having enough money for essentials. The government has recognised this.

On Monday afternoon Boris Johnson told us all,

“We’re going to make sure that we have no children, no kids, no pupils in our country who go hungry this winter, certainly not as a result of any government inattention.” 

And throughout the week, in dismissing calls for supporting children on free school meals during half term, despite doing so over the summer, government ministers have instead argued for other ways to get resources to people who need them most, such as through funding for local authorities and Universal Credit. They have pointed to the temporary £20 weekly rise in Universal Credit payments and a £63 million emergency grant given to councils.

What has been mentioned less often is that both these investments are hanging in the balance.

The government has not confirmed it will keep that £20 increase in Universal Credit next spring, and this rise still doesn’t cover people who haven’t moved over from our old benefits system. The £63 million investment in local welfare was announced in the summer, but the government was clear that it expected most of this money to have been spent by the end of October. This was clocked by Rashford on Wednesday who tweeted his surprise that this money had in fact largely been spent.

I’m hearing that the £63M funding provided to locals councils was meant to be spent by Oct 2nd…

If that is true (I don’t know that it is) then the effort local councils have put in to finding funding for food provision over Half Term is just incredible 👏🏾👏🏾

— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) October 27, 2020

Rashford is right to highlight this. Today the Trussell Trust has published new research which shows that while this £63 million has provided an important lifeline to those hardest hit by the crisis, there are real concerns among local authorities that they will not be able to continue to provide support unless further investment is made.

It’s no good for the government to justify a lack of action by referring to alternatives which are ending imminently – families are facing hunger every day. If the government believes there are better alternatives to free school meals, we need to see them now.

That means making the £20 uplift to Universal Credit permanent, extending it to people who are currently excluded and providing an immediate extension to the £63 million in local welfare for the duration of the present crisis.

The Marcus Rashford campaign has heralded an unprecedented upsurge in compassion and calls for justice for people hardest hit by this crisis. We must harness this power and this compassion, and push for long-term solutions. That is the only way we are going to end the need for food banks in the UK, and ensure every child and family gets what they need not just to survive but to thrive.

The Trussell Trust is a charity which supports a network of 1,200 food bank centres across the UK to provide emergency support to people as we work together towards a future where everyone has enough food.  

We don’t spend donated money on food to give to people – the vast majority of food provided by food banks in our network is donated generously by members of the public.  

We’re working to end the need for food banks and while it’s not a simple task, it can be done. If we’re to reach a future where everyone can afford essentials, we need to do three things:  

1. Support food banks to provide the best possible support to people right now  
2. Tackle the structural issues that lead to people needing food banks in long-term
3. Win hearts and minds over to inspire action to create a just society.  

So what does that actually mean in terms of work?  

Supporting food banks to provide the best possible support to people 

There are more than 1,200 food bank centres in our network across the UK, and we support them so they can give the best possible help to people. We work alongside food banks in our network to ensure projects are run to a high standard and provide training, guidance and resources with issues projects face. This includes: 

• One to one support on the ground through an Area Manager 
• Access and support for a range of unique cloud-based systems that refer people to food banks and measure how many people are needing food banks 
• A grants programme which can be used to fund a variety of different things that food banks might struggle to fund otherwise (you can read more about the difference these grants make here in this blog from Colchester Foodbank) 
• Access to a central support team 

• Support with sourcing and distributing food stock 
• A share in nationally negotiated fundraising partnerships with corporates 
• Best practice sharing across food banks 
• Support in responding to crises or unexpected situations as they arise  

Tackling the structural issues that lead people to need food banks 

We’re working to end the need for food banks in the future through a range of research, advocacy and campaigning work. We work with academics and researchers to understand who needs food banks and why, so we can then work with policy makers to push for changes that would better protect people from needing a food bank.  

Winning hearts and minds over to inspire action to create a just society 

If we want a society that not only thinks it’s wrong people need food banks, but is ready and willing to take action to create a future where food banks aren’t needed, we need to take people on a journey to help them understand what drives people to need food banks and how we can change things. That’s why we’re also working to build a movement of people who care, understand and want to keep the conversation about food bank use in the UK on the agenda so there’s public pressure to address these crucial issues.   

So what money goes where? 

We take our responsibility for any money donated to us very seriously. We spend some money on salaries because to do all of this work we need to be able to pay a team for their expertise. We’re always carefully weighing decisions about expenditure to ensure what we spend money on is appropriate, while ensuring we have a team that are paid for their skills and experience.  

Our financial information is all available online and our most recent annual report is for the year to March 2019. In it you can see 78% of our expenditure went to funding these two areas of work to support the food bank network and push for long-lasting change. 13% was used to run charity shops and other social enterprise projects which you can read more about here, and 10% went towards fundraising costs. 

We don’t think it’s right that anyone needs to use a food bank in the UK. And we know this can change. That’s why we spend donor money on supporting food banks to provide the best possible support to people right now, tackling the structural issues that lead to people needing food banks in long-term, and winning hearts and minds over to ensuring we never let this happen in our country again.  

If you’d like to be part of creating that change, you can find out more here.