HUNGER is stalking Britain’s poorest people, with millions forced to turn to food banks as the cost-of-living crisis deepens.

Food-bank charity the Trussell Trust says it fed 2.1 million families in the 12 months up to March — 14 per cent more than the same period ending in 2021.

And 830,000 food parcels were given out specifically for children — a 15 per cent increase.

Tragic individual stories have also emerged, including that of a schoolboy in northern England who has been taking his free school dinner home to help feed his hungry siblings because there is no food in the house.

The Trussell Trust runs 1,200 food banks in Britain and hundreds more are run by groups such as churches and community organisations.

It said that parents are skipping meals, turning off appliances and going without heating to afford the internet so their children can do their homework — a situation expected to worsen as the cost-of-living crisis hits home.

One food-bank manager said: “The people who come in are telling me they’re scared: people are beside themselves about what the next six months will bring.”

The trust says the UK government is still choosing not to protect people who are already struggling to make ends meet.

Chief executive Emma Revie said the government should bring benefits in line with the true cost of living by raising them by at least 7 per cent.

She said: “How can this be right in a society like ours? And yet food banks in our network tell us this is only set to get worse as their communities are pushed deeper into financial hardship. 

“No-one’s income should fall so dangerously low that they cannot afford to stay fed, warm and dry.”

Yorkshire food-bank worker Susan Press reported on the opening of a satellite food bank in the small Pennine village of Cornholme because families don’t have the bus fare to get to the food bank in the local town.

She told the Morning Star: “Cornholme is a very small community, but we have 25 adults and 18 children we are feeding every week.

“It is getting harder to feed them because the number is going up every week.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Everybody should have enough to pay their bills and put food on the table.

“But years of standstill wage growth and brutal cuts to universal credit have left millions exposed to this cost-of-living crisis.

“The government must stop watching from the sidelines as families struggle to cover even the basics. The Chancellor urgently needs to bring forward an emergency budget to boost wages and universal credit.”

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow work & pensions secretary, said: “Food banks are a symptom of economic failure, and ministers must now offer real help to working people, disabled people, families and pensioners struggling to feed themselves.”

The Department for Work & Pensions said it had taken action, including cutting petrol duty by 5p.

Many families have yet to feel the full effects of the 50 per cent increase in their energy bills that will come in early May, but those paying by meter already are.

Adding to the crisis is a report by data and research organisation Kantar, which finds that food prices are increasing at their fastest rate for 11 years and are expected to add £271 to average grocery bills this year.

Kantar also found that supermarket sales dropped by 5.9 per cent in the 12 weeks up to April 17.