Food banks handed out 2.6 million parcels in 2025 – one every 12 seconds. The government must go further on social security, housing and incomes to end mass dependence on emergency food.

As new information is published around the £1 billion Crisis and Resilience Fund, the Independent Food Aid Network's Sabine Goodwin shares her thoughts.

The Crisis and Resilience Fund could support the government’s ambition to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.

Find 'Worrying About Money?' resources for your local area

Labour laid out plans to spend £1bn a year replacing the household support fund with a new crisis and resilience fund at the spending review.

New entitlement to free school meals for all children in household on Universal Credit.

Exclusive: Flagship policy put back until at least autumn amid fears cost of removing two-child benefit cap will outweigh political benefit

Food bank volunteers are having to face facts, writes Sabine Goodwin, director of the Independent Food Aid Network.

Looking after children is important and vital work; and it’s imperative that parents and carers have access to high quality and affordable childcare, both in order to support their children’s development and also to support them in their other forms of work: be it education, training, caring, or participation in the formal labour market. Recent years have seen a growing focus on the importance of improving the UK’s childcare offer, and we have seen a range of policy changes to try and improve what is provided and on what basis. This briefing sets out the experiences of parents and carers on a low income, and makes clear the distance that still needs to be travelled if we are to move to a situation in which all parents can access affordable and decent childcare provision. We share evidence of parents’ experiences and challenges around finding childcare that fits with working hours; systemic issues with affordability; and the pressing need to improve support for childcare through Universal Credit. There is also a need to improve childcare for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), and to rethink how childcare support is made available during school holidays.

IntroductionIn the Autumn of 2024, the Chancellor announced a year-long extension to the semi-permanent Household Support Fund (HSF) in England from March 2025. For years, local authorities have endur...

Survey finds vast majority of doctors are concerned at impact of health inequalities on their patients

Redistributing food waste through the charitable food aid sector cannot prevent poverty or stop hunger from happening, says Jessica Sinclair Taylor, deputy director at Feedback and Sabine Goodwin, dir...

According to government figures, the policy changes will push 250,000 more people into poverty – including 50,000 children

Data published on day after Labour announces cuts that analysts say will hit children and disabled people hardest

The latest Household Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics show that poverty continues to affect millions of children in the UK, with 4.5 million affected by poverty during 2023-2024, an increase of 100,00 on the year before. These figures should shame us all, and must be examined alongside the UK Government’s proposals to take £4.8 billion in social security support from some of the most vulnerable, and indeed poorest, among us. The Government’s own Impact Assessment suggests that 50,000 more children will be pulled into relative poverty as a direct result of these changes. But another way is possible. For the past five years, almost 200 parents and carers living on a low-income from all four nations of the UK have been working alongside researchers at the University of York and Child Poverty Action Group to document everyday life in poverty and to push for change. The project started life as Covid Realities in the pandemic and became Changing Realities in a cost-of-living crisis that has never gone away. In our work together, we have contributed real-time evidence to policymakers, challenged harmful media narratives, and developed co-produced recommendations for change.

Households affected forecast to lose an average of £1,720 a year, according to official government analysis

Three people tell how knock-on impact of losing Pip on carer’s allowance and other benefits will affect their families