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There is no place for hunger in this country, and yet for millions of people dealing with the challenges of food insecurity, going hungry is a daily reality.

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There have been many shifts in the ideologies of the UK’s major food bank charities since the first food bank opened its door back in 2000.

 

As recently as 2014, the Trussell Trust's goal was "for every town to have a food bank".  Several years later, their core objective fundamentally changed to "eradicating the need for food banks", as they realised food banks could never provide an efficient, long term solution to the problems of food poverty.

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While initially focused on simply providing food to those in need, over the past decade, all the major food bank charities have recognised reducing the impact of food poverty will never be achieved by simply just handing out food parcels.  As such, they have increased their focus and efforts on addressing the drivers of poverty through various financial inclusion programmes.

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In addition to switching their attention to focus on how to tackle food insecurity through a plethora of additional support programmes, there is now a growing realisation that while providing important short term relief for those in need, food banks have ultimately created a dangerous long term precedent by providing the government with an opportunity to reduce the social support available to those in need from the welfare system.

 

Food poverty is, and will remain an extraordinarily large, complex and difficult challenge in the UK for the forseeable future.  At Food for Families, we recognise and applaud the historic efforts of thousands of food banks in the UK during the cost of living crisis.  We also recognise there has been a fundamental shift in the thinking behind how best to tackle food insecurity moving forwards, as the articles below demonstrate - and we believe we have a plan to improve people’s lives by increasing the spending power of those who are in food poverty.

The total amount of unclaimed income related benefits and social tariffs across Great Britain is now approximately £23 billion a year, according to latest Policy in Practice estimates.

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Maximising access and uptake of benefits is essential to help low income households cope in the face of rising living costs and increasing demand.

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Only by identifying why people don't claim the benefits they are entitled to, can we more efficiently address these core unmet needs and shortcomings of the current welfare system.

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Over the last 13 years, the UK food poverty crisis has continued to spiral out of control, as an increasing number of families are faced with the harsh realities of food insecurity.

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A reactionary patchwork network of charitable, volunteer-based food banks has evolved in an attempt to address the needs and challenges created as the UK government's austerity policies took their toll.

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While attempting to alleviate the immediate needs of the food insecure, a food bank approach has proven to be ineffective and unsustainable, nor can it protect an individual's right to food, or provide dignity of income.

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The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hunger and Food Poverty has called for a government-backed network to co-ordinate the work of food banks.

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While voluntary food banks have provided short-term relief to those faced with food poverty, through necessity, they are often simply focused on treating the symptoms of the problem, not the causes.

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Solutions designed to eradicate food poverty must come from the state because government policy is the sources of the problem.  Too often people are forced to use food banks because of benefit changes, benefit delays and low incomes due to limited protection for people in low-paid and insecure work.

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For years, food banks and food aid projects have provided essential support to the food insecure in the UK, but we should never deem them an acceptable solution in our 'new normal'.

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To combat the cost of living crisis, the anti-poverty sector has consistently lobbied government about the need for an effective safety net - including improving access to and increasing benefits payments, as well as focusing investment in local welfare assistance.

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In its existing guise, the current welfare system does not provide adequate support to lift people out of poverty.  To end food poverty, we must tackle the systematic issues associated with poverty.  Only by uplifting Universal Credit and providing employment opportunities for individuals to earn at least a Living Wage, can we start to address these issues.

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Unprecedented numbers of people have been driven to food banks in recent years.  During this time, Government policies have significantly worsened the situation - policies such as the cut to Universal Credit in October 2021, the five-week wait for Universal Credit, the two-child limit, the benefit cap, the sanctions system, and no recourse to public funds status.

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Despite their best efforts, food banks are only a 'sticking plaster' to the much bigger problem of institutionalised poverty.  In recent times, the provision of food aid has become a default response for people unable to afford food.  In today's society, we have normalised the need for charitable food aid.

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Food banks are not a permanent solution, but rather a "growing reliance" on food banks across the world risks undermining the formation of proper state policies to deal with poverty, according to a joint warning issued by academics and charities.

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The Independent Food Aid Network in the UK, and academics in Britain, the US, Canada, Austria and Germany have called for the need for "real, long-term solutions based on rights and social justice.  Only governments can guarantee these rights.  Adopting a 'cash first' approach to food insecurity is vital to ensure people can access income before charity, but equally vital is the prioritisation of systematic change to truly tackle poverty and inequality."

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Have food banks actually made dealing with the cost of living crisis harder for low income families?

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Increasingly, there is a growing realisation that "you can't keep throwing food at poverty".  An understanding that food banks are not the answer to the failings of an inadequate social security system and our willingness as a society to normalise low wages.

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In the academic world, there has been significant recent focus on food aid provision in the UK.  Increasingly, many related organisations are challenging the conventional food bank approach, and looking to incorporate local, sustainable 'more than food aid' approaches in the future.

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FFF précis of Professor Paul Milbourne's "Beyond 'feeding the crisis': Mobilising 'more than food aid' approaches to food poverty in the UK".

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© 2025 Food for Families

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