Food banks in the UK

Food banks are charitable organisations that distribute food to people who do not have enough money to buy the food they need. They are often run by volunteers, faith groups, schools, and other organisations. Food banks sometimes offer other support, for example help with benefit applications or debt advice. This briefing only looks at the distribution of food.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) survey data shows that 4% of all individuals in the UK used a food bank for food in the previous 12 months in 2023/24.

There has been a general trend of rising demand for food parcels in the last 15 years. Trussell (formerly Trussell Trust), an anti-poverty charity that runs a network of food banks across the UK, distributed around 60,000 emergency food parcels in 2010/11. In 2024/25 this had increased to 2.89 million.

Source: Trussell, End of year stats

How many food banks are there in the UK?

Trussell distributed parcels from 1,711 locations across the UK in 2024/25. There are at least 1,172 additional independent food banks.

People using food banks

In June 2023 Trussell published a report on Hunger in the UK. The report examined the causes of hunger in the UK, its impact and what type of people use food banks. Some of the headline findings of the report are:

• Disabled people make up 26% of the UK population and 69% of people referred to Trussell Trust food banks.
  
  
• People who live in social housing make up 8% of the UK population and 46% of those referred to a food bank. Renters make up 22% of the UK population and 68% of those referred to food banks.
  
  
• 89% of people referred to Trussell Trust food banks receive means tested benefits.

• People with care experience as a child make up 3% of the population and 16% of those referred to Trussell food banks

Food parcel distribution has increased over the last 10 years

2.9 million food parcels were distributed by Trussell food banks in 2024/25, of which 1.02 million went to children. The number of emergency food parcels given to people by Trussell has been increasing since 2006/07. There was a spike in 2020/21 during covid-19 lockdowns, followed by a decrease when the economy opened up in 2021/22. In 2022/23 and 2023/24 there have been record high numbers of parcels distributed, which Trussell says was due to the rising cost of living.

Citizen’s Advice helped around 17,000 people with food bank referrals in June 2025. Food bank referrals peaked in January 2024, when Citizen’s Advice helped around 22,500 people. In April 2019 (the earliest data published by Citizens Advice) they referred around 5,000 people to food banks.