Christian charity says churches are filling hunger gap government should be preventing

The non-profit organisation says the UK is breaching international duties by ignoring families in hunger.

It is blaming the introduction of Universal Credit, cuts to welfare spending and a falling standard of living.

Jubilee+, a charity that equips churches to engage more effectively with communities and to help them increase their capacity to serve the poor, told Premier it has seen evidence of the Human Rights Watch’s claims.

Head of communications and policy for Jubilee+, Natalie Williams, told Premier: “We are seeing people struggling on a day to day basis in ways that we haven’t in the past.

“The food bank I’m involved with in Hastings has seen a 113% increase in referrals in the last two and a half years since Universal Credit came to our town, so these figures aren’t really a surprise to me, but I do think it’s deeply troubling.”

Natalie told Premier’s News Hour that churches are spending almost £400m a year on helping the poorest in their communities through a range of initiatives, from food banks to debt centres to education coaching and mentoring to tackling modern slavery.

She said: “I think there’s also a personal responsibility for us as Christians, if we know that someone is struggling, if we know that someone’s in need, and if we can afford to help, then to actually kind of live sacrificially and give to those in need around us as well.

“But I think…