A record 9.3 million people in the UK are facing hunger and hardship, including three million children, new research has found.
Anti-poverty charity Trussell said the figures equated to one in seven adults and one in five children.
Its research also revealed that 53% of people facing hunger and hardship were either disabled or living with someone who was.
The charity warned that without government action, an additional 425,000 people would be facing hunger and hardship by 2026-27.
Trussell’s director of policy, research and impact, Helen Barnard, said: ‘People are turning to food banks because they don’t have enough money to live on. But we know it doesn’t have to be this way.
‘We urge the UK Government to play its part in ending hunger and prioritise providing immediate relief to people facing hunger and hardship in its upcoming Budget, to avoid people being pushed further into hardship.’
It proposed a range of policy options including embedding an essentials guarantee into Universal Credit, removing the two-child benefit cap, and uprating Local Housing Allowance in line with affordable local rents.
