850,000 in West Midlands at risk of needing food banks, charity warns

Anti-poverty charity Trussell has reported that 850,000 people in the West Midlands in 2026/27 have so little to get by on that they are at risk of needing to use a food bank.

Analysis from WPI Economics also states that this is an increase of 10,000 people since 2024/25.

Trussell, an anti-poverty charity and community of 1,400 food banks, has found that one in four people in the West Midlands said that their household had run out of food and couldn’t afford to buy more within the previous last year, with certain groups such as disabled people and families found to be more likely to go without.

The survey was conducted by Ipsos, a market research company, on Trussell’s behalf from which figures highlight around one in 10 people in the West Midlands have had to cut back on food in the previous three months to afford other essentials like their housing costs, transport to work, or their heating.

Ahead of the Budget, Trussell is calling for urgent action to ensure more of us can afford at least the essentials. Eli Holland, manager at Birmingham central foodbank, shared concern.

“It's not right that anyone in the West Midlands doesn't have enough money to live on. Every week, our wonderful staff and volunteers provide a lifeline through emergency food parcels and practical support to those who need it,” said the foodbank manager.

“We are worried about winter. We're doing everything we can to support people in our community as the colder months close in, but the rising cost of food and energy will make it even harder for us to keep services running. Any support you can give, whether that’s donating food or funds, will make a real difference.”

Across the UK, worrying numbers of parents are having to make impossible decisions with one in eight forced to turn to loans, credit, or informal support from friends or family to meet their children’s needs in the last six months and one in 12 parents across the UK have had to skip meals so their children could eat or have enough food.

Helen Barnard, Trussell's director of policy and research, said: “People just a few streets over from you are sitting in the dark to save electricity, skipping meals so their kids can eat, feeling invisible and alone as they try to get by for weeks and weeks without any support.

“If we don’t act, we risk blighting the futures of a whole generation of young people who are experiencing and witnessing hardship UK-wide as the norm.

“We need politicians to take the heartbreaking scale of hunger in the UK seriously.

“The Prime Minister must renew Labour’s manifesto promise to end the need for emergency food, start strong in his first Budget, and make this a measurable goal for his government’s ten-year plan to raise living standards.”