Revealed: Millions of disabled people went to a food bank last year as Labour plotted benefit cuts
Most people who rely on a food bank are disabled, new figures from the UK's leading network of food banks has revealed. The charity calls it yet more evidence of the 'immense financial hardship that disabled people continue to face'
A Trussell food bank worker sorting food parcels. Image: Dan Prince
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Three in four people who used a food bank last year were disabled, new figures have revealed, while the government was setting out plans to slash disability benefits.
Trussell, the UK’s largest network of food banks, has published a landmark report showing that more than 14 million people relied on its services last year.
The vast majority (80%) of those people were either disabled or lived with a disabled person, the equivalent of more than 11 million people.
By comparison, just 38% of people across the UK live in a disabled household, suggesting significant overrepresentation of disabled people and their families at food banks.
Nicole, a disabled 31-year-old who works at a Trussell food bank and has previously used its services, said: “It’s heartbreaking. It’s devastating. I think it shows just how little the wider community understands disability. I have a disability but before that, I didn’t fully understand all of the extra costs involved.
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“It makes me feel angry. Disabled people need support. The figures for food banks make me angry as it is, but particularly when you add into that the number of people who have a disability, it’s just shocking.”
Labour was recently forced to pause cuts to the personal independence payment (PIP) following significant backlash from its own MPs. However, it continued with cuts to the health element of universal credit for new claimants, which will impact around 730,000 disabled people by 2030.
Helen Barnard, director of policy at Trussell, said that the charity’s latest report “lays out the scale of the challenge” as the newly-appointed work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden considers the next steps to reform the social security system.
She claimed the figures highlight the “immense financial hardship that disabled people continue to face” and “how important it is that future reforms prioritise protecting disabled people from hunger and hardship”.
Nicole, a 31-year-old food bank worker and disability benefit claimant. Image: Supplied
Nicole has had chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and other health issues for several years, which means she cannot work full time. She started working at the food bank part-time in 2020.
“I was quite active. Then, overnight, I went from that to not being able to go up the stairs, just in too much pain or completely out of breath. It’s changed career trajectories for me. I physically don’t have the energy or the strength in my hands anymore. I don’t have the capability for certain things,” Nicole said.
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The advice service at the food bank suggested she may be eligible for PIP and helped her apply.
“It’s such a gruelling process to apply for it,” Nicole explained. “You’re asked so many questions to provide so much detail in such a short amount of time. You get a month to fill this form in. Having someone who I could speak to face to face made such a difference. They coached me through it.”
Nicole was refused PIP the first time, but the food bank team supported her to go through the appeals process and she won the benefit.
Only 55% of people are awarded PIP after an initial assessment, but the majority (68%) of people have a negative decision overturned when they appeal it at tribunal.
“My mental health got worse during the process of doing it, because you’re forced to just recall your worst days, everything that you can no longer do,” Nicole says.
“I felt like I was being treated like a criminal, being made to go to court to prove my case. The whole time, I felt like I was being treated like I’d done something wrong. If I didn’t have the support from my family or my workplace, I maybe would have had to stop working because of how much it was getting me down. I think that would drive people to needing a food bank.”
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Disability charity Scope estimates that disabled households need an extra £1,095 each month on average just to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households.
PIP has helped Nicole “survive”, she said. “I need help with things like getting to work. There are extra costs like I can’t cut vegetables anymore, so I have to buy pre-prepared vegetables, which are a lot more expensive. Things like that come from being able to get disability benefits. It’s made a massive difference.”
More than a quarter of disabled people (27%) experienced food insecurity in 2024, which is more than twice the rate of non-disabled people (11%). This rises to 35% for people with a mental health condition and 43% for people with a learning disability or difficulty.
The government had planned to change the requirements for PIP so that fewer people were eligible for the benefit, making the process even more challenging for claimants.
But now, no reforms to PIP will take place until a review of the assessment process has been completed, led by disability minister Stephen Timms and co-produced with disabled people and the organisations which represent them.
Cuts to the health element of universal credit are still set to go ahead. Current claimants and those with severe health conditions will be protected, but new claimants will have the health element of universal credit slashed in half and people under the age of 22 will not be eligible for that part of the benefit at all.
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Recalling government rhetoric around disability benefits, Nicole said: “It made me feel like I wasn’t worthy as a person. It just made me feel like, actually, if I’m not working, I’m useless to society, and that’s what my government was telling me.”
Trussell’s latest statistics show that paid employment no longer protects people from hardship, with three in 10 people referred to food banks in the Trussell network in working households.
Nicole still remains fearful that there could be cuts to PIP in the future and that the Timms review could be used as a “tick-box” exercise. She called for more “compassion”.
“My life changed overnight at the age of 24 and it could happen to anyone,” Nicole said. “It’s looking at people as people rather than a cost to society.”
The government has invested £240 million in what it calls “the biggest reforms to employment in a generation”, and it has promised to provide tailored support to help people, including those with health conditions, into work.
Barnard said: “We welcome the opportunity to engage with the minister on updating a system that we know urgently needs reforming. This must be done in partnership with disabled people and it must focus on improving protection from hunger and hardship and opening up opportunities, with the right support.
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“Reforms must involve real improvements to support and avoid cuts that increase hunger and hardship. Any moves which increase hunger will undermine the positive impacts of genuine reform, hold back our economy, damage public services and cause unacceptable harm to millions of disabled people.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions 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 £1 billion to reform crisis support, our child poverty taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy later this year.
“We are also overhauling Jobcentres and reforming the broken welfare system to support people into good, secure jobs, while always protecting those who need it most.”
