Food banks report drop in donations despite fearing busiest Christmas yet

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “Looking ahead, we are encouraging food banks in our network to hold additional stock where possible in preparation for any sharp increases in demand as a result of the cut to universal credit, end of furlough and rising energy prices.” While the charity’s most recent figures showed that an average of more than 5,100 emergency food parcels were provided for people every day between April until September, it expects this figure to exceed 7,000 this month. “Independent food banks are reporting significant increases in need for their services across the UK particularly since the cut to universal credit,” the network’s coordinator Sabine Goodwin told The Independent. “We're also hearing about a drop in donations and that people who might have donated to food banks in the past are now having to resort to using them.” Pointing to new research from the Living Wage Foundation which suggested that more than two in five of all supermarket employees – some 366,000 in total – earn below the living wage, with women and ethnic minorities disproportionately affected, Ms Goodwin urged that income-based solutions were needed to tackle food insecurity in the UK. “Even with the action taken today, households should expect their costs to continue to rise for some time,” said Ed Monk, associate director at Fidelity International, adding: “A rise in UK borrowing costs won’t ease up clogged supply chains or lower shipping costs.” And analysis by the anti-poverty Joseph Rowntree Foundation warned that, if inflation remains as high as 5.1 per cent by April, the gap between benefit uprating and the projected cost of living means that some 200,000 people will be “pulled into deep poverty”.