Rise in number of people facing hunger in the UK

Food banks 'were a lifeline for me'

Food banks give out 114,100 parcels in six months

Food bank turning people away due to funding gap

Surveys

This marks an increase from the trust's last survey in 2022 when that number was 11.6 million people.

This Government said it is "determined to tackle the unacceptable rise in food bank dependence".

The survey was conducted in two parts, the first

A second survey was also conducted

There were also interviews conducted with people who had and hadn't visited food banks but were identified as facing "food insecurity".

Food insecurity is defined

ENUF says it can be "acute, transitory, or chronic", and ranges in severity from "worry about not being able to secure enough food to going whole days without eating".

Figures suggest that three in 10 of the people that have been referred to food banks come from working households, with one in four children in the UK living in what the charity refers to as food insecure households.

Helen Barnard, at Trussell Trust, said she had been told parents were "losing sleep, worrying about how they will pay for new shoes, school trips, keep the lights on or afford the bus fare to work".

She added: "We have already created a generation of children who've never known life without food banks. That must change".

Ms Barnard called on the government to address the results of the survey, referencing Prime Minister Keir Starmer's manifesto pledge to tackle poverty and end the need for food banks.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson told the

"In addition to extending free school meals and ensuring the poorest children don't go hungry in the holidays with £1billion to reform crisis support, our child poverty taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy later this year.

"We are also overhauling job centres and reforming the broken welfare system to support people into good, secure jobs, while always protecting those who need it most."

Other findings from the survey of those accessing food banks included an increase in the number of people from working households - up from a quarter of households in 2022 to a third in 2024.

Those in manual and service jobs were the worst affected, with care workers and bus drivers highlighted as some of the working people most at risk of going hungry.

Trussell Trust said low incomes were the main cause of hungry households in the UK.

The survey of people referred to food banks revealed that households who accessed them would be left with an average of £104 a week to pay for food, bills, work or school travel and essential toiletries.

This worked out to 17% of what the average UK household would have left after rent or mortgage payments.