The soaring cost of living could push more than a million parents to use a food bank in the next three months, a survey suggests.
Nearly one in 10 parents said they were “very likely” to need help with food and around nine in 10 said they were now paying more for their weekly shop, with inflation hitting 7 per cent in March – a 30-year high.
A third of families are having to skip meals because of rising costs, while one in five has resorted to eating cold food to keep energy bills down, the polling said.
The findings, from a survey of 3,200 UK parents with dependent children carried out by Stack Data Strategy between 18 and 31 March, were revealed in a survey for Deliveroo and food bank charity Trussell Trust.
The research showed that more than half of parents had cut back on heating as a result of a rise in their household bills.
The Trussell Trust chief executive Emma Revie said: “Everyone should be able to afford their own food, but as families face the biggest income squeeze in a generation, people are telling us they’re having to make impossible decisions between heating and eating and being forced to turn to food banks to feed themselves.
“Our new partnership with Deliveroo will help us support food banks to provide emergency food and in-food bank support to thousands of people in immediate crisis, while we work towards our long-term vision of a future where nobody needs to turn to charity to get by.”
The scale of the cost of living crisis was revealed as Deliveroo announced it was to provide up to 2 million meals and support for people facing hunger across the country.
The food delivery company will enable customers to add a round-up donation to their in-app orders, with all proceeds going to the Trussell Trust’s food banks. Deliveroo employees will also volunteer for the charity.
The funds raised through donations will go towards parcels that contain at least three days’ worth of food for individuals and families.
Deliveroo chief executive Will Shu said: “I am pleased we are partnering with the Trussell Trust to support local food banks across the country.
“We’re committed to using our platform to play a positive role in the communities in which we operate. Together with our consumers, our amazing restaurant and grocery partners and our network of riders, we want to play our part in helping to tackle food insecurity in the UK.”
On Sunday, the archbishop of Canterbury said families across the country were “waking up in fear” because of the cost of living crisis.
Justin Welby spoke of his concern for families struggling with rising energy and food prices, saying: “Families across the country are waking up to cold homes and empty stomachs as we face the greatest cost of living crisis we have known in our lifetimes.”
