People across the UK want change. The government ran their election campaign on this promise and now they are expected to deliver. With food bank need at the highest level we’ve ever seen, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet must prioritise reversing the tide of hunger, hardship and debt which is affecting so many people in this country.
The government has rightly described food banks as a “moral scar” and committed to ending the need for emergency food. They must now take the urgent action needed to start delivering this promise, alongside shaping a long-term strategy to end the need for food banks for good. Hardship and poverty come with a huge cost. Most profoundly, the human cost of people not being able to afford the essentials and the affront to human dignity such hardship brings. But there is also a cost to our economy and public finances. Services like our schools and GP surgeries are creaking under the pressure caused by hardship in our communities. The government cannot achieve its broader missions – on growth, health or opportunity – unless it addresses the scale of hardship holding the country back.
People in hardship can’t afford to wait for change. Food banks in the Trussell Trust network distributed 3.1 million emergency food parcels between April 2023 and March 2024, the highest number ever in a single year and almost double the number given out five years ago. Urgent measures should be prioritised now, focused on providing immediate relief to people facing hardship and ensuring vital services continue to be provided in local communities.
The government must introduce a protected minimum floor in Universal Credit to limit the amount of unaffordable deductions that can be applied, such as for the benefit cap or to repay debts to the government. This policy would embed, for the first time, the principle of a safety net below which no one should fall. Currently, Universal Credit isn’t set according to the cost of essentials. Meaning the level of benefits, at just £91 per week, is far below everyday costs such as food and bills. This is bad enough, but in practice people often receive even less. For example, waiting five weeks for your first Universal Credit payment – as the current system functions – when you’re already struggling leaves most people with no option but to take a loan from the government to cover this shortfall. This, alongside repayments for other debts, is taken off future payments, pushing people deeper into hardship. More than half of people receiving Universal Credit who are referred to food banks face debt deductions, losing up to a quarter of their benefits due to the inadequacy of the system.
Alongside this, we know that people living in private rented homes often face very high rents, driving many people into homelessness and to the doors of food banks. Support for renters through the Local Housing Allowance was frozen for many years, driving hunger and hardship. The last government reset it to match around the lowest third of rents in each area this year, but froze them again for future years. It’s vital the Local Housing Allowance reverts to keeping pace cannot afford both.
Finally, we welcome the government’s temporary extension of the Household Support Fund, which was due to end in September. This fund has enabled local authorities in England to provide vital crisis support, so people on the lowest incomes can access grants to help with unaffordable costs and energy bills, and services such as debt and benefit advice. We’ve heard first hand from people given a lifeline through this support; with families being able to replace mouldy bedding, pay their energy bills or no longer having to worry about affording a bus fare to work. However, its effectiveness has been undermined by repeated short extensions, making it impossible for local authorities to plan services or develop a strategy for local crisis support and preventative services in their area. The government must use the time allowed by the latest extension to urgently develop a long-term strategy, accompanied by sustained funding, ensuring communities in every local authority can access grants to help with unaffordable costs and services, that can prevent an immediate crisis spiralling into long-term hardship.
Collectively, enacting these measures would have a considerable impact on people struggling to get by, and help address issues being faced by communities across the UK. In the long term, a plan is needed to deliver on the government’s manifesto commitment to end the need for emergency food. Our two organisations, alongside many others working on the frontline and in communities across the UK, stand ready to work with the government and across all sectors to make this a reality.
If this vision is to be realised, our social security system must be updated. This is a system that should be there for us when we need it most, but right now it’s not even providing enough to cover the cost of essentials. Currently, 70 per cent of people who need to turn to a Trussell Trust food bank are in receipt of Universal Credit. Over the last decade, social security has fallen increasingly short, with the real-terms value of payments reaching a 40-year low at the same time inflation hit a 40-year high, pushing people into hardship.
A supportive social security system is the bedrock on which we end the need for emergency food. It is also an investment in our communities and in the UK’s future – a vital underpinning for efforts to deliver a strong economy, resilient public services and opportunity for all.
Working together, we can achieve long-lasting change for communities and make food banks a thing of the past.
