Boy, 14, faints from hunger at foodbank – 'The cupboards at home were empty'

A foodbank had to call paramedics after a 14-year-old boy fainted from hunger.

Charlotte White, manager of Earlsfield Foodbank in south-west London, said the incident this week demonstrates “there is no road left to run” amid the cost of living crisis.

She wrote on Twitter on Thursday: “Today at the foodbank an ambulance was called, as a 14-year-old fainted and hit his head.

"He hadn't eaten for a while. The cupboards at home were empty. The levels of hardship and suffering we're seeing are extreme, every week it gets worse and worse.

“Stark choices – eating vs heating, cutting every other meal – have already been made this winter.

"We've already seen children sleeping in coats, people coming to us literally starving, with very little support available.”

The boy is home and “doing okay”, White said - though she added she is “desperately worried about what comes next” in the food poverty crisis.

In November last year, the Trussell Trust foodbank charity said usage is still “well above” pre-pandemic levels, with an increasing number of emergency parcels feeding children.

Watch: Cost of living crisis will be ‘fatal’ for some children in poverty - Jack Monroe

The charity handed out 935,749 parcels over the six months to October last year, up 11% on the same period in 2019 and 74% from 2016.

White added the problem “will only get much worse” following chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spring statement, which had been designed to address the cost of living crisis but was widely criticised for not going far enough.

Cost of living squeeze

In the 12 months to February, inflation rose by 6.2%, a 30-year-high, with warnings it could hit a 40-year high of 8.7% by the end of the year.

On Friday, Ofgem will also raise the energy price cap, caused by record increases in global gas prices, which will see energy bills rise by an unprecedented £700.

Meanwhile, Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has added to the cost of living pressures. Russia is a major exporter of oil and gas, meaning Western economic sanctions on Putin have caused oil and gas prices to soar.

Read more: Cost of living crisis pushes more Britons to high-cost lenders

Both countries are also responsible for 30% of the world’s barley production, so the war has significantly disrupted the market.

Jason Bull, director of Yorkshire-based supplier Eurostar Commodities, told Yahoo News UK earlier this month that the prices of staple foods like pasta and bread could subsequently rise 50%.

It’s in this climate that Sunak, under pressure from Conservative MPs to take further action, is reported by the Sunday Times to be considering proposals for a second council tax rebate to help ease the impact of soaring fuel bills.

The chancellor’s package of support already announced includes a £200 up-front rebate on energy bills from October – though this will have to be repaid over five years from 2023 – plus a £150 council tax rebate for homes in bands A to D from next month.