“The idea you would look at that situation and make record cuts to the support that disabled people are relying on really does just seem to be an extraordinary approach to take. Our food banks are saying they’ve got people coming to them saying they are absolutely terrified about how they’re going to survive if that lifeline gets cut.”
Barnard explained that the government is at a “real crossroads” when it comes to tackling poverty, recalling Labour’s manifesto promises describing the increased need for emergency food as a “moral scar on society”.
“What we’re seeing at the moment is [the Labour government] saying they’re going to take decisions which will deepen that scar and not heal it,” she said.
“The idea that the government potentially is going to preside over a legacy of rising food bank need and rising child poverty, that is not what the public expected when they voted them in. That’s not what Labour MPs expected to be doing as a government. It just feels really urgent that they change course.”
Trussell’s research also found that families were using food banks at much higher levels than five years ago, with “heartbreaking” reports of parents rationing their own food to ensure they can feed their children, and families with children under five seeing a 32% rise in food bank use over the past five years.
Andrew, a 44-year-old single father from Fife, explained that he has been forced to use food banks to get by after his autoimmune condition meant he had to stop working at the age of 34.
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“I make sure my daughter doesn’t see that I am regularly skipping meals so that she can eat. I eat whatever is left on her plate when she’s finished. I lost almost two stone last year through not eating enough,” he explained.
“All I want is to make her smile, but it’s tough. Poverty isn’t just about money – it’s the constant stress of trying to survive.”
Food banks in the UK ‘stretched to breaking point’
Trussell’s Barnard explained that food banks across the UK are “stretched to absolute breaking point”, and many are struggling to meet the need in their areas with other local services often failing to keep up with demand.
She added that demand on food banks will become even higher if disability benefits are cut; she explained that while the personal independence payment (PIP) is intended to cover the extra cost of disability, many disabled people are already “having to use those benefits to just afford food and basic bills”.
“If those benefits are cut, they will not be able to afford either the very basics or the additional cost of disability,” she explained. “Many of [Trussell’s food banks] are struggling to keep up with need, they feel they’re stretched to absolute breaking point, and they are really scared about how they’re going to meet potentially the higher needs of disabled people. And disabled people themselves are just very, very scared.”
Trussell is not only urging the government to reconsider the proposed cuts, but bring forward the planned increase to the basic rate of universal credit from April 2029 to April 2026, as well as undertaking an “ambitious child poverty strategy”.
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“There are three key things that we need the government to do, the first is they have got to pause and rethink the cuts to disability support, there is simply no way you can cut £7 billion from disability support and avoid doing irreparable damage to the lives of disabled people,” Barnard explained.
She added that the government has planned to bring in an increase to the basic rate of universal credit in April 2029, but in order to tackle poverty rates, they should instead “bring forward that full boost to April next year to start repairing the damage”.
“The third thing is, we need the prime minister to make good on the promise of an ambitious child poverty strategy that has to include investment in social security, and removing the two-child limit on benefits would lift 470,000 children out of severe hardship.”
Describing the rise in food bank usage as “unacceptable”, the government claimed that it is “reforming” the welfare system in order to reduce poverty levels.
“This government is determined to change people’s lives for the better, helping them out of poverty and tackling the unacceptable rise in food bank dependence in recent years,” a Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson told the Big Issue.
“We are reforming the broken welfare system we inherited so we can get people into good, secure jobs, while always protecting those who need it most.”
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They added: “As part of our Plan for Change we are extending the household support fund, launching 750 breakfast clubs across the country, and making changes to universal credit to give a £420 boost to over one million households.”
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