Over one million people face hunger across the West Midlands
The Trussell Trust estimates that 1.3 million people in the West Midlands faced hunger in the past year due to lack of money
Across the West Midlands in 2024, nearly 1.3 million people, including 340,000 children, faced hunger due to a lack of money according to a new report by The Trussell Trust
That’s the equivalent of one in six households and more than the entire population of Birmingham.
The report published today also reveals that paid work is no longer enough to prevent people from needing a food bank, with nearly a third of people referred to food banks in the Trussell community in the West Midlands part of a household where someone is in work.
People in manual and service roles – such as bus drivers and care workers – are among the working people most likely to face hunger, despite having a job.
Coventry Foodbank says they've seen an increase in demand for their services which they believe will only increase as we approach the winter months.
Hugh McNeill is the Director of the Pathfinders Project at Coventry Foodbank he says: "I think it's worse now than when I first got involved with the foodbank in 2014.
"We are seeing people that are really struggling to make ends meet.
"There's serious concerns as we head into the winter that food provision in the city will not be able to meet the demand, as donations are dropping off."
Helen Barnard, director of policy, research and impact at Trussell, said: “Hunger and hardship are increasingly seen as a normal part of everyday life in the West Midlands.
"This is not an inevitable trend, but the result of systems that urgently need updating - particularly our social security system.
“It isn't right that hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life - including pensioners, disabled people, working families, and carers - are struggling to make ends meet. Nobody in the West Midlands should face hunger.
"The UK government rightly committed to end the need for food banks and ensure every child has the best possible start in life; this research is the benchmark against which they will be judged.
"Parents are telling us they are losing sleep, worrying about how they will pay for new shoes, school trips, keep the lights on, or afford the bus fare to work.
"We have already created a generation of children who've never known life without food banks. That must change."