Food bank providers have warned they are “deeply concerned about the scale of suffering” across the UK and say they are struggling to keep up with “relentless” demand.

More than 550 independent food banks have called on Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to act urgently to combat “rapidly rising levels of poverty, destitution and hunger”.

Many are reaching breaking point as families struggle through the cost-of-living crisis, according to the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN).

Charity, The Trussell Trust, said it was “deeply concerned” about the real-terms cut in benefits and that the government must stop the cost-of-living crisis “turning into a national emergency”.

‘Immediate action’ needed

The network said people were struggling with increases to the price of food and energy – while those on benefits were seeing a real-terms cut as inflation outstrips payments.

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In a letter to the prime minister and chancellor, the group urged the pair to take “immediate action” to reduce “rapidly rising levels of poverty, destitution and hunger in our communities”.

They said: “We are deeply concerned about the scale of suffering that we are already witnessing as well as our capacity to prevent people from going hungry in the weeks and months to come”.

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It added that emergency food supplies only acted as a temporary sticking plaster.

Unable to pick up the pieces

The letter said that exhausted and overstretched food bank teams “could well be unable to continue to pick up the pieces” as they face “such relentless demand”.

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It added that people who used to donate to food banks were now needing to access help themselves.

William McGranaghan, who founded Dad’s House, a charity providing practical support to single fathers across the UK, said: “The amount of stress and anxiety caused to parents and children will be catastrophic when it comes to the cost of family breakdown, NHS referrals, children missing school and parents getting into debt.”

Last month, inflation hit a new 30-year high of 6.2%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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