Around 3% of UK families used a food bank in the year to March 2022, according to official figures. That equates to just over 2 million people.
The figure rose to about one in nine (11%) for families receiving state income-related benefits.
According to the BBC:
Those in the north of England and Scotland were most likely to have used a food bank in the previous 12 months compared to the rest of the UK.
These are the first Department for Work and Pensions figures on food bank use.
The data was collected between April 2021 and March 2022, with people asked if they had been to a food bank in the last 12 months and last 30 days. So the figures cover some of the pandemic but miss most of the energy price crisis, which hit in April 2022.
It comes amid the continuing cost-of-living crisis, with prices rising more than expected, according to new inflation figures released this week.
Asked if they had used a food bank within the last 30 days, about 1% of families (at least 600,000 people) said yes – rising to about 3% for families on benefits.
Some 4% of families in Scotland and the north of England had used a food bank within the 12-month period, while 3% had in Wales, the West Midlands and south-east of England.
The figure fell to 2% for Northern Ireland, the East of England, east Midlands and south-west of England.
Some 10% of households where the head of the household was aged 16 to 24 had used a food bank in the last 12 months of being surveyed. No other age bracket saw a figure of more than 4%.
While the official figures only show food bank use up to early last year, statistics from food poverty charity the Trussell Trust have shown an increase in usage between April 2022 and September 2022, up to just above the levels seen at the start of the pandemic.
Between 1 April 2022 and 30 September 2022, food banks in the charity’s UK-wide network distributed almost 1.3 million food parcels – a rise of 52% compared to the same period to September 2019.
Heather Buckingham, director of policy and research at the Trussell Trust, told BBC News the figures were “deeply concerning” but “sadly not surprising”.
She called on politicians to guarantee that the basic rate of Universal Credit was calculated so that it would always at least cover the cost of essentials.
“At the moment, a single person in receipt of Universal Credit falls £35 short a week at least of the amount we think is needed to afford those very basic essentials that we all need to get by,” she said.
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