Numbers remain 'fairly consistent' but families finding it 'more difficult to cope' - Worcester food bank
New research from Trussell out today (10 September) estimates that nearly 1.3 million people in the West Midlands faced hunger in the past year due to a lack of money, including 340,000 children
Last updated 20th Sep 2025
The number of people needing their support has remained 'fairly consistent' says Worcester food bank, but they've seen a change in the type of person coming to them.
Research from anti-poverty charity Trussell out today (10 September) estimates that across the West Midlands in 2024, nearly 1.3 million people (1,270,000), including 340,000 children, faced hunger due to a lack of money.
It's also revealed nearly a third (31%) of people referred to food banks in the Trussell community in the region are in work.
"I think the numbers of this year have probably slightly plateaued, but the plateauing is at a very high level, so there's a very high demand still for the services we offer," said Richard Auger, who's the duty manager at Worcester food bank.
"We've seen a lot more single people, particularly single people who are in crisis, coming into the food bank.
"Equally though, last month we serviced around 1,500 clients of which about half of them are children."
Mr Auger says the food bank team is currently preparing for the upcoming winter period where they are anticipating numbers to rise.
"The demand on the food bank drastically increases as we get through to December and that's a trend that's been going on for several years now," he said.
"From our perspective, we tend to find that we hope January might see a slight little bit of a lull, but December then becomes the same figures for January as we move into the new year, so it's not something that's going to go away and it's not something that's going to reduce anytime soon.
"We find that families are finding it more and more difficult to cope with the essentials of life, so they may be working families with children, but are they just really struggling at the end of the month to meet those natural bills that are coming in."
Trussell is calling on the UK government to urgently strengthen social security and deliver on its manifesto commitment to end the need for emergency food.
In response a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spokesperson said: "This government is determined to tackle the unacceptable rise in food bank dependence.
“In addition to extending free school meals and ensuring the poorest children don’t go hungry in the holidays with £1billion to reform crisis support, our Child Poverty Taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy later this year.
“We are also overhauling job centres and reforming the broken welfare system to support people into good, secure jobs, while always protecting those who need it most.”