The national picture is encouraging. Food banks across the Trussell community distributed 12% fewer parcels in 2025 than in 2024, as inflation eased and the jobs market steadied. That is genuine progress, and it matters. But for North Bristol and South Gloucestershire Foodbank, the year told a different story, and 2026 is already telling a sharper one.
The issue is not primarily how many parcels we are distributing, though demand remains very high. It is how we are managing to provide them. For years, donated food and goods from the local community covered almost everything we gave out. By 2025, we were purchasing 1 in 4 items ourselves. Donations have fallen significantly, while the number of people facing hunger in our area has not.
That gap has widened as we have moved into 2026. Our food logistics coordinator describes what it looks like week to week:
"Last year, our Christmas donations carried us through to March. This year they only lasted into January. We're now sending out around 2,600kg a week, well above our usual average, and having to buy stock more and more regularly just to keep up. The donations just aren't there in the same way."
Loki, Foodbank's Food Logistics Manager, NBSG Foodbank
The parcel figures reflect the same sustained pressure. We distributed 15,045 parcels in 2025, still 58% higher than in 2019, before the pandemic. That is above the England average of 56% and above the Trussell community average of 45%. Nationally, parcels remain 45% higher than pre-pandemic levels despite the recent fall. Progress has been real, but the scale of unmet need across the UK is still far higher than it was when food banks were already stretched six years ago.
The data also shows us something about who is coming through our doors. More than half of those referred to us in 2025 were single adults, a higher proportion than the national average. A quarter were referred due to health conditions, compared to 18% across England. For the great majority, whatever their circumstances, the underlying cause is the same: not enough income to cover the cost of essentials. Hunger is not a food problem. It is an income problem. The people we support have not run out of options through any fault of their own. They have run out because the money available to them does not stretch far enough.
Some of what drives that will change. The government's decision to scrap the two-child benefit limit from April 2026 will make a real difference to some of the families we support, and we welcome it. But the freeze on Local Housing Allowance continues to leave people renting privately with a growing gap between what they receive and what their rent actually costs. And Universal Credit rates still leave too many households unable to cover what they need each month. Removing one pressure while others remain in place is progress, not a solution.
North Bristol and South Gloucestershire has shown up for its foodbank consistently, through years of record demand and through the broader pressures of the cost of living crisis. That community generosity is not something we take for granted. What the figures for 2025 and the early weeks of 2026 tell us is that the people in our area who need support are still there in large numbers, and that sustaining our ability to reach them depends on the same community that has always made it possible.
If you can donate food or give financially, right now is when it counts most. Find out what we need most urgently on our donations page.
