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Written question asked by Will Forster (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 6 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 8 July 2026. It was answered by Diana Johnson (Labour) on Wednesday, 15 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Universal Credit: Food Banks

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the APPG on Ending the Need for Food Banks' call for evidence into how the level of support offered by Universal Credit is decided, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of food bank usage by people in receipt of Universal Credit.

Answer

We measure whether a household has used a food bank in the past 30 days or 12 months in the Family Resources Survey.

In 2024/25, 16% (1.8 million) of individuals in families on Universal Credit were in households that had used a food bank in the last 12 months. This is a decrease of 1 percentage point compared to 2023/24, although growth in families in receipt of Universal Credit means that the count of individuals in families on Universal Credit who lived in households accessing a food bank in the last 12 months increased by 0.2 million compared to 2023/24. For further trends, refer to the table below:

You can find individual level statistics on food bank use and associated statistics (e.g. food insecurity) in the annual Households Below Average Income statistics publication: Households below average income (HBAI) statistics – GOV.UK and on Stat-Xplore.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
16301
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Universal credit Food banks
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk