Ringcross Foodbank director Savvas Pana

A RED alert has gone out over how stratospheric fuel and tax bill rises will leave people relying on food banks.

With warnings that more and more households are faced with a “eat or heat” decision, groups on the ground in Islington said demand for support was already rocketing.

But there was an added reason for concern as these services said that their shelves were running short due to a falling number of donations.

Savvas Panas, the director of Ringcross Foodbank in Holloway, the largest in Islington, said it had never had more people on its books – and warned that number was rising by around seven new families every day.

He said: “Up until March everything we were dealing with was the direct result of the pandemic – long Covid, people losing their jobs and having Covid. Now there is the cost of living issue and we’re struggling to keep enough food coming in from the donations and we’ve got no government support or council support with any of this. Now Covid’s finished, all the food banks have been abandoned when they’re needed more than ever.”

During the worst of the pandemic, the council had offered food banks a package of supports, including food and free parking, but that has all gone now, he warned. Instead, they are now left to rely on other charities and businesses to prop them up – and warned the service is never more than two days away from empty shelves.

“During the pandemic we had two massive shipping containers [filled with food]. Now we’re struggling to fill one,” he added. “They need to recognise it’s not just verbal rhetoric but financial support we need. Nobody is coming forward. We’re all struggling whether you’re a national food bank or a local one.”

Ringcross hold three food banks a week and currently have around 200 families and older people on their books. Mr Panas said Citizens Advice are sending five or more new families their way each day, while referrals from Age Concern and Help on Your Doorstep have doubled. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had also increased their referrals by 25 per cent.

Tsedal Menghistu from the St Luke’s food bank in Old Street reported a similar rise in users and said people are worried about the future. “All we hear about is everything increasing,” she warned.

Lolly Gettins, who helps out at, and relies on, a food bank

And Charm Bonaparte, who runs a food bank in Hornsey alongside her Mama Gee business, said people have reported their bills rising from £5 to £17 a day, while others had already begun washing their clothes by hand instead of using a washing machine in order to cut energy bills.

Ms Bonaparte – who hands out 250 free meals every Monday – pays for the food bank with her husband, alongside public donations. But she warned it may have to close if demand for her own business continued to fall as people’s disposable incomes shrink.

She said: “The conversations I’m having with people: They’re scared of not being able to cook or feed their family, keeping their fridge on, washing clothes – things that we take for granted.”

Hassan Abukar has been using the food bank since last year as the wages from his hotel job were never quite enough to pay all the bills. However, since he lost his job two months ago due to sickness, he admitted without the food banks he would starve.

“I have £45 in my pocket and that’s to last the rest of the month,” he said. Mr Abukar, 32, who lives in Holloway, has one light bulb and one small heater alongside a small fridge.

While Islington may have an image as an affluent borough, the extreme wealth hides extreme poverty. In 2019 it was ranked the 53rd most deprived local authority area in England, out of 317 boroughs, and the sixth poorest in London.

Lolly Gettins, 73, hands out food at the Girdlestone food bank in Archway. And for her, the food bank has been the difference between paying her bills or not – and she’s worried about the fuel price rises.

“I’m only just breaking [even] and I don’t know what the new bill will be. This is what’s scaring me – when the gas and electricity go up, I don’t know what I’m going to do, I really don’t.”

The former cook and grandmother of three – who draws a £1,000 pension a month – said she felt “very depressed” at the prospect of having to ask family to help out if she is no longer able to pay her bills. Already her granddaughter is covering the cost of some of her pet care.

“We should be comfortable – we’ve worked all our lives, and now I’m scared to put the central heating on,” she added.

Council leader Kaya Comer-Schwartz said: “The Tory cost-of-living crisis is hitting local people hard, which is why this year’s council budget featured a raft of measures to help tackle it. From further increasing council tax support and our childcare bursary to our resident support scheme, we offer an extensive package of support to help residents in need.

“The dramatic rise in food bank use is deeply concerning which is why we continue to tackle hunger through a range of schemes, and our offer of free school meals to every primary-age child.

“With so many households struggling, it beggars belief that the government continue their assault on living standards, hiking up National Insurance and the cost of fuel. We will continue to do all we can to support local people, and if there are ways in which we can aid the crucial work of our local food banks, then my door is always open.”