By Professor John Robertson OBA:

From UK Poverty 2025 The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, today:

Food banks in the Trussell network distributed 3.1 million emergency parcels across the UK in 2023/24, more than one million of which were for children (Trussell, 2024). This was the largest number on record (topping last year’s previous record high) and represented a 94% increase since 2018/19. The magnitude of this change varied across regions of the UK. The increase in London was 171% and Yorkshire and the Humber 157%. In Scotland it was only 21%. Research shows that these increases are directly related to inadequacies in the social security system, which are leaving more and more people with no choice but to rely on food banks and other charitable responses (Fitzpatrick et al., 2023). Scotland’s lower rate may be an example of how the social security system can help protect families from food insecurity. The Scottish Child Payment addition to UC (which, as the name suggests, is only available in Scotland) may in part explain its much smaller increase in the need for food parcels.

https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2025-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk

In 2023/2024, there was a disturbing 21% increase in the need for emergency food parcels from the Trussell Trust, in Scotland. In sharp contrast, the UK average was 94%, more than four times greater and in London, was 171%, more than eight times higher. The JRF suggest that the unique Child Payment in Scotland – £26.70 for every child, under 16, in families receiving Universal Credit, Child Tax Credit, Income Support or Working Tax Credit – seems likely to be the reason for this stark difference.