Document Category: Food Service Activities

This Trussell report presents a comprehensive assessment of hunger in the UK in 2024. It finds that food insecurity has increased to 16% of households, affecting 14.1 million people, despite falling inflation and no reduction in food bank use. Hunger is driven primarily by low incomes, debt, insecure work and an inadequate social security system, disproportionately affecting disabled people, families with children, renters and marginalised groups. Drawing on large-scale surveys and lived experience research, the report shows why food banks remain widely used and sets out policy changes needed to reduce severe hardship and end the need for emergency food.

A Growing Health Tool Kit is a practical guide produced by Garden Organic and Sustain to help community food growing projects work with the health and social care system. It explains how health commissioning works, how to develop and present food growing activities as health services, and how to gather evidence and measure impact. The toolkit brings together research on the physical, mental and social benefits of gardening, alongside product examples, evaluation tools and case studies of commissioned projects. It is designed to support community growers to secure funding, build partnerships and contribute to public health outcomes.

July 25 House of Commons Library research briefing – an evidence-based overview of food poverty in the UK, covering household food insecurity, food bank use and free school meals. Latest national statistics, trends over time and disparities by income, region, ethnicity and family circumstances. It also examines the impact of the cost of living crisis and food price inflation, outlining current government policy and funding arrangements. It is designed as an impartial reference to support understanding, analysis and decision-making, drawing on official government data and major charity datasets, including Trussell food bank figures and Department for Work and Pensions statistics.