Christian charity finds households using food banks live on £50 a week

Commissioned by the Trussell Trust and conducted by Heriot-Watt University, State of Hunger 2019 researches hunger in the UK. It reveals the average weekly income of people at food banks is only £50 after paying rent and almost one in five have no money coming in at all in the month before being referred for emergency food.

The research also found 94 per cent of people at food banks are destitute and almost three-quarters of people at food banks live in households affected by ill health or disability. 22 per cent of people at food banks are single parents – compared to 5 per cent in the UK population. More than three-quarters of people referred to food banks were in arrears.

This first annual report of a three-year research project shows the main drivers for people finding themselves in poverty and facing hunger; the benefits system, ill health and challenging life experiences, and a lack of local support.

The most common source of income for people at food banks is the benefits system. Problems with benefits are widespread, affecting two-thirds of people at food banks in the last year.

Abby Jitendra, policy and research manager from the Trussell Trust told Premier what they are calling on the government to do: “We are calling on the government, primarily to make a change and we’re asking for Universal Credit, which is the government’s flagship welfare reform…