Working households now make up 30% of those referred to food banks in London, according to data from the Trussell Trust.
This figure has increased from 23% in 2022, representing a 7% increase over the last four years, according to the anti-poverty charity.
Thomas Weekes, Trussell’s head of research said: “We have seen an increase in working households coming to food banks and that’s broadly because the cost a living crisis broadened out the number of people needing to turn to food banks for support.”
Most of the working households requiring support from Trussell are also claiming social security payments or universal credit, while others are in insecure or low paid work.
Weekes noted that the charity sees “a really significant overextraction” of people on zero-hour contracts as well as those on sick leave that do not have the security of a contracted role which offers support during this time.
People working in roles as factory workers, bus drivers and hospitality staff are among the working groups most likely to seek help from Trussell.
London has the highest poverty rates in the UK and is therefore one of the most significantly impact areas.
Weekes says that since 2019 – broadly the benchmark for comparing statistics from before the pandemic and the cost of living crisis – food banks in the capital are now distributing over double the number of parcels to those in need.
In 2019, 193,008 parcels were delivered compared to a staggering 442,430 in 2025, representing a 129% increase.
“The use of food banks and the need for food banks has expanded massively in London over the last five to six year,” Weekes explained.
Disabled people still make up a “really high proportion” of people coming into food banks, as well as single adults with three or more children.
“To an extent, it’s more of the same groups of people over the last six years, but there has been a shift in some of what we’ve been seeing,” Weekes said.
“So, particularly during the cost of living crisis, we saw a broadening out of hardship, so people who wouldn’t historically have needed to turn to food banks for support, were needing to. We’ve also seen this in the change in the percentage of working households coming to food banks.”
There has also been an increase in the percentage of people turning to food banks in London who also have had an experience of homelessness – now up to 50%. This encompasses people who are living in temporary accommodation, sofa surfing or sleeping rough.
“Homelessness and an increase in working people coming to food banks has been the main shift over the last few years,” Weekes said.
In order to combat this issue, Trussell are calling for investment into the social security system where there is a significant gap between received payments and the outgoings of people seeking help.
In addition, the food bank charity urges people to support the cause through food donations to ensure that Trussell and other organisations are able to continue to provide its services.
Overall, Weekes remains positive about recent governmental changes including the removal of the two child limit which previously restricted the amount of universal credit larger families would receive.
Weekes said that he expects this governmental change and investment in universal credit to have a really positive impact on people in need and to hopefully reduce the numbers of people requiring food bank services.
Featured image credit: Gustavo Fring via Pexels
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