More than half of working families surveyed in London have been forced to turn to a food bank because of the rising cost of living. A new survey by London’s largest food redistribution charity, The Felix Project, found that 56% of mums and dads in the city have used a food bank in the last 12 months, that could equate to 728,644 parents. Of those, 1 in 5 said it was the first time they had used a support service in the last year. Whilst 13% of respondents said they were using a service once a week to feed their families, that may mean over 169,000 families needing food support.
The charity surveyed 2,001 working parents to find out how people were coping. They found 1 in 4 regularly struggle to afford to feed their children and around 1 in 7 of those struggles on a daily basis, that’s over 195,000 parents.
In addition, 14% also said they have just £20 a week to spend on food after paying their bills, that’s up from 11% in 2023. This means last year around 100,000 families had just under £3 a day to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner, this year it could mean over 182,000 working families.
It has resulted in The Felix Project seeing even more demand from food banks for help, Rachel Ledwith is Head of Community at The Felix Project, she said: “These results clearly show that things are not getting better for families across London. It is appalling that more and more parents can only put food on their table because of a food bank and so many are being forced to skip meals, send their children to school hungry and cut back on other things to cover their essential food bills. The Felix Project rescues as much food as it can, this year we are on course to give out the equivalent of 35 million meals, but this is not enough to satisfy demand. That is why we are launching our The Empty Plate Emergency Appeal and asking people to show their support.”
These findings come as the charity launches its Empty Plate Emergency Appeal calling on Londoners to donate £20, which provides 50 meals.
The Felix Project rescues high quality surplus food, that cannot be sold and would otherwise go to waste. It then delivers it to around 1,000 community organisations across London who are helping to feed people experiencing hunger.
One of the organisations to receive food is Newham Community Project, they run a food bank in Newham three days per week. Each week they take delivery of around 1,375KG of food from The Felix Project. Yasmin Ismail coordinates the service and says: “We feed around 350 families every week and many of those are only able to put food on the table because of the help they get from us. It’s shocking really, these are everyday people, many are working but their income just does not meet their needs and so they are forced to turn to a food bank.”
Zahra* is one of their regular customers, she has been using the food bank for over a year and said: “Today daily life, living, the rent and the expenditures, the prices are so high, and they are increasing, we just can't afford everything for our babies and children. My husband works, but his wages just are not enough, so, we have to come here and accept their help. It is so good, we get food stuff, like fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, meat bread and baby food, formula, milk, diapers, wipes. Today there is so much I have to worry about, but with this it means we have sufficient to give to our children.”
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