Nearly £1m for food banks as council to confirm increased funding

Tower Hamlets Council increased the funding after an investigation by The Slice revealed it had slashed its regular supply of deliveries to food banks across the borough without notice.

Increased funding for Tower Hamlets food banks looks set to be confirmed at £885,000 after a drop in food deliveries last year.

Plans set to be approved by Tower Hamlets Council leaders will confirm £450,000 of grant funding to the food hub scheme. The hub delivers food to as many as 80 food banks in the borough.

Proposals by the council say the funding will help the hub “continue to supply 70-80 foodbanks with fresh and ambient produce until March 2026”.

The money, set to be approved by borough mayor Lutfur Rahman, will come from a £5.2million household support grant from the government, which is meant to help residents with the essential costs of living.

Plans say the £450,000 grant funding allocated to the food hub will add to the £435,000 the council has committed from its own funds, making £885,000 in total.

It comes after several food banks reported substantial drops in the amount of food they got from the council last year.

Food banks told The Slice that deliveries were drastically reduced and without warning in November 2024.

The council says it spent £500,000 on the food hub programme between April 2024 and March 2025 – the 2024/25 financial year. This was made up of £450,000 from the household support grant and another £50,000 of the council’s own money.

However, a council report shows the amount of food it delivered to food banks dropped. The food hub programme delivered 1,100 tonnes of food in 2024/25, down from 1,887 tonnes the previous year.

The council says there was a delay in the delivery of the funding because the government announced the grant late.

It says this meant there was a brief pause in the delivery of the service, and that food banks were told of this in May.

Following protests, the council voted to allocate £850,000 to the food hub when it set its 2025/26 budget in February 2025, funded in part by the household support grant.

The council submitted its plans for how it would spend the grant to the government in July.

Other services set to receive grant funding include an £800,000 fund residents can apply to for food and fuel support, and cash vouchers of £200 each to be paid to 428 families, ‘known to be in the worst financial
situation.’

Rahman is now set to approve delivery of the grant funding at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, 17th September.

A council spokesperson said: ‘We know how vital the food hub programme is to thousands of people across our borough, and we are deeply grateful for the tireless work of the volunteers who make it possible.

‘The council is investing more than ever before to tackle food poverty and to provide unprecedented levels of support to residents with cost of living pressures, from food hub funding to providing food vouchers and launching a new meals on wheels service, as well as universal free school meals for all primary and secondary school pupils, school uniform grants, energy bills and winter fuel payments and educational grants and scholarships, and many more initiatives.’

If you liked this, read Tower Hamlets food bank funding to be reinstated following months of slashed funding