Dads House, the UK’s leading fathers charity, has just published the results of its food bank service, which confirm that the majority of those accessing its food banks are parents hoping to feed their children.

Dads House, which is working with The Food Foundation, IFAN and the Children’s Future Food Inquiry, also revealed that almost 2,000 families have visited its food banks since they opened in April of last year, with the majority of those they helped being children under the age of 16.

Feedback the charity received suggests that the reason for the rise in demand for its food banks is because of the introduction of universal credit and benefit sanctions, especially while waiting for the appeal process to happen, which can sometimes take anywhere between 6 to 9 months.

Dads House founder, Billy McGranaghan has been offering a door to door service delivering food to families in need, after the charity lost its offices in June due to a lack of funding. He told Researching Reform:

“Child food poverty in London is on the rise. Going into people’s homes you see first hand how parents and children are being affected. Some of the homes we enter are absolutely freezing because families just can’t pay for electricity. Without our support they would have gone without a warm meal.”

Dads House began by partnering with supportive local supermarkets, placing food banks inside their premises. A growing number of families started to access the food banks. The charity then collaborated with Citizens Advice and other local organisations to bring more food to families.

Food banks have been placed under the spotlight, as new figures released today by The Trussell Trust show a spike in people accessing food banks across the UK.

The charity’s funding cuts now mean that the number of families it can help has reduced significantly.