Exclusive:UK foodbanks hit record high as Labour ministers overseeing 'deepening' of cost-of-living crisis
Leading foodbank charity Trussell had 1,711 food banks in 2024/25 - an increase of eight from the year before.
The number of food banks in the UK has hit a record high, as UK ministers were accused of overseeing a “deepening” of the cost-of-living crisis.
Figures from the House of Commons Library showed leading foodbank charity Trussell - formerly known as the Trussell Trust - had 1,711 food banks in 2024/25.
This was an increase of eight on the previous year. On top of this, there are at least 1,172 independent food banks across the UK.
However, the figures show usage of food banks has dropped from last year.
A decade ago there were only 1,288 food banks and there were 1,566 five years ago. But Trussell food bank usage has actually fallen in the past year.
The charity provided 2.9 million emergency food parcels across the UK last year, down from 3.1m in 2023/24. But this is still well higher than 2019/20, when 1.9m parcels were given out.
In Scotland, 240,000 food parcels were given out last year, down from 265,000 the year before. Some 239,000 parcels were provided in 2019/20.
Cara Hilton, senior policy manager at Trussell in Scotland, said: “Any recent changes in the number of food bank centres in the UK are not a reflection on actions by the UK, or any, government. These tend to reflect shifting local need and how food banks are responding to that to support people struggling to afford the essentials in their communities.
“Trussell wants to see an end to the need for food banks in Scotland, and across the rest of the UK, and both the Westminster and Scottish governments need to increase their ambitions and their actions to make this happen.
"The UK government needs to urgently scrap the two-child limit fully to protect generations of children from starting life in families facing hunger, ease pressure on public services, and benefit our economy. In Scotland, we need to see the government increase the Scottish Child Payment to £40 to reduce child poverty – something one in four children in Scotland are facing. We cannot keep pushing the next generation towards food banks before they’re even old enough for school.
“We need urgent action on hunger and hardship, or both the UK and Scottish governments risk seeing more people having to turn to food banks on their watch.”
SNP MP for Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey Graham Leadbitter said: “The ever-increasing rise of foodbanks in the UK, coupled with soaring rates of destitution, were thought to be just a hallmark of Tory rule and their austerity agenda. But over a year into Labour’s term in office has seen this trend not just continue, but get worse.
“Under Keir Starmer we have a record number of foodbanks and a cost-of-living crisis that is deepening under his watch.
“Rising energy bills and grocery inflation are hammering households and leaving people with little to no income left for basics like food. That wasn’t acceptable under the Tories and it isn’t under Labour.
“This isn’t change. It isn’t even more of the same - it’s worse.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “Food bank use went down last year, but we are determined to do more. In addition to uprating benefits, we are increasing the national minimum wage and are supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.
“We are also overhauling jobcentres and reforming the broken welfare system to support people into good, secure jobs, while always protecting those who need it most.”
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