Demand for Hackney Foodbank is three times higher than before the pandemic, according to new data from The Trussell Trust released this week.
These figures are a part of wider trends which saw anti-poverty charity, Trussell distributed over 2.6 million emergency food parcels across the UK in 2025.
Hackney Foodbank, which is part of the Trussell network, provides around £50,000 worth of food a month to the community, two-thirds of which go to families with children, and the rise of people facing hardship was put down to a ‘perfect storm’ of factors.
Jenna Fansa, Hackney Foodbank’s head of fundraising said: “There are an awful lot of parents that are really struggling to make ends meet.
“Average rents here in Hackney for a two-bed place is £2,400 a month. If you can imagine the average nurse in Hackney earning £2,450 pounds a month, you can begin to see how even working people are struggling.”
In Hackney, rent prices have risen 3.3% since last year, and 8,500 households are on the council’s social housing waiting list, while 64% of children in the borough live in income-deprived households – the second highest rate in the country.
The two-child benefit cap will be lifted in April, but Hackney Foodbank claims it will have little impact on the majority of their visitors, who are two-children families.
Fansa said: “A lot of the children we see don’t have a proper bed to sleep in, they’re going to school hungry, and that makes it really difficult to concentrate if you’ve got an empty stomach.”
“We see parents who miss meals so that their kids can eat.”
“It ends up with foodbanks like ours picking up the pieces when the systems that are supposed to work for people don’t.”
Fansa added many of the charity’s users do not receive all the benefits they are entitled to, and have been initially denied disability allowances, like Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Caseworkers at Hackney Foodbank help people appeal for PIP and access grants or pension credits, supporting families to move away from deep poverty.
Last year, the foodbank secured over £700,000 worth of additional income for 450 people, which is about £1,500 per household.
Trussell is calling for an increase in Universal Credit from £85 to £120 a week to support people through crisis.
Fansa said: “It’s just appalling that there are children and parents who don’t have enough to eat.
The charity expects children in Hackney will need £125,000 worth of emergency food this year.
To meet this need, the foodbank is urgently collecting funds for its No Child Left Hungry campaign, which aims to raise £50,000 to support families.
To find out more about the No Child Left Hungry campaign, visit Hackney Foodback’s website.
Featured image credit: Joel Muniz via Unsplash
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