UK food banks forced to buy stock as donations dry up

Trussell Trust’s North Bristol and South Gloucestershire branch bought a record one in four of the 15,045 items it distributed in 2025. The charity is having to purchase its own supplies at unprecedented levels as public donations collapse.

Logistics manager Loki Stokes said he has "never seen our stock this low". "We try to hold a week's buffer across all nine outlets, but this summer that's getting hard to promise," he added.

"It's a combination of everything," said Mark Hutton of the Millbrook Hub community larder in Castle Cary. Supermarkets have restricted the availability of surplus items, while ordinary consumers lack the financial margins for charitable giving. "People are trying to save money," he explained.

This erosion of voluntary support is colliding with a retrenchment of state aid. Somerset Council has ended automatic supermarket vouchers for families on free school meals during the summer holidays. While the authority highlights that food vouchers remain accessible through a new Crisis and Resilience Fund, the shift from automatic to discretionary support creates immediate cash-flow crises for vulnerable households.

"I'm going to have to stretch my budget even more this month, with great difficulty," said Matthew, a full-time father of two who visits the larder up to three times a week. Without the automatic vouchers, he expects to rely on friends to feed his children over the next six weeks. He noted that everyone is "struggling" due to the cost of living crisis.

Charity executives warn this economic dynamic is unsustainable. "We can't keep buying food and if people can't afford to donate the food then we'll struggle," said Ellen Wood, the branch CEO. "If this trend keeps happening one or two years down the line, I don't know," she added, highlighting how persistent inflation degrades the community infrastructure that local governments rely upon to mitigate economic hardship.