The UK needs to address a shameful secret: even before the pandemic, record numbers of people were seeking help from food banks, increasing by 74% over the past 5 years. Now, as the UN warns of a looming global hunger crisis, practical solutions are needed more urgently than ever.
Despite the UK being the world’s fifth largest economy, one-fifth of its population, or 14.5 million people, live in poverty. By mid-2021, as a consequence of the pandemic, it’s expected that up to 2.6 million will be unemployed. The rate of food poverty is already among the worst in Europe.
As the chair of Bow Food Bank in east London, I can see the vital work being done by volunteer-led charities to fill the gap. A food bank like ours feeds more than 800 adults and 1,500 children each week. Since the start of the pandemic, demand in our part of London, which has the highest poverty rate in the capital, has increased by a staggering 800%.
