Millions of people missing meals due to cost of living crisis
The Food Foundation says 7.3 million people have gone without food in April alone
Millions of people across the UK have had to skip meals due to the cost of living crisis, including 2.6 million children.
Figures from the Food Foundation show in April alone, 7.3 million people had to miss a meal, a 57% increase since January.
The charity is calling on the Government to make tackling the problem a priority but doing the following:
- Increasing benefits in line with inflation and ensuring employers pay at least the real living wage to ensure struggling families can pay essential bills
- Rebalancing food prices so healthy food is the most affordable
- Expanding Free School Meals, breakfast provision and Healthy Start to protect children from obesity and so all children in poverty benefit
Joe Walker is Project Manager at Whitehawk Foodbank in Brighton.
He said: "I think at the moment we're not seeing the biggest impact on the levels of foodbank use as we will do in the Autumn and Winter time.
"Other parts of the country and other foodbanks have seen that level of need decrease back down to pre-pandemic levels.
"However other areas, like the South East, like London are still seeing increasing levels of foodbank usage."