Britain’s largest independent food bank faces closure due to soaring energy prices as cost of running fridge-freezers jumps from £68 per month to £498

• We Care Food Bank co-founder fears charity may fold due to energy price spike 
• Ray Barron-Woolford said he would do ‘whatever it takes’ to make it to Christmas
• The Lewisham hub fed 5,000 families every month over the pandemic

Britain’s largest independent food bank faces closure amid soaring energy bills as the cost of running its fridge-freezers jumped by 732 per cent. 

We Care Food Bank co-founder Ray Barron-Woolford said the cost of refrigerating key ingredients shot up from £68 per month in January to £498 now. 

The Lewisham hub, founded in 2014, went from supplying 30 households to feeding 5,000 families every month with healthy meals over the pandemic. 

The 200-strong team in London will need more freezer space to feed an expected 20,000 more cash-stripped households over Christmas.  

Britain’s largest independent food bank faces closure amid soaring energy prices as the cost of running from fridge-freezers jumped by 732 per cent

The Lewisham hub (pictured) went from feeding 30 families prior to the pandemic to supplying 5,000 households with food and drink over lockdown

Mr Barron-Woolford told MyLondon: ‘We’re only desperate to get to Christmas because psychologically the thought of closing before Christmas and the misery it would cause.

‘I would sell my shirt off my back if it meant that was the only way I could get food on the table to keep going until Christmas – I will do whatever it takes to get to Christmas.’ 

We Care Food Bank needs raise a year’s worth of running costs (£25,000) by October to see out the festive period, he added. 

Energy suppliers are now quoting the site a mammoth £30,000 a month to keep their food refrigerated over the coming months.   

Ray Barron-Woolford (above) said he would do ‘whatever it takes’ to keep the London site running over the festive period

The news comes as more than 150 food banks wrote to the Guardian to warn politicians and the public of the ‘completely unsustainable’ demand on their services. 

Seven in ten food banks told the newspaper they may be forced to turn people away this winter.   

According to a House of Commons report there are at least 2,500 food banks scattered across the country.

The Trussell Trust, who support more than 1,200 of them, reported a 50 per cent rise in demand for emergency parcels compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

But the parliamentary report showed a dip in the number of three-day emergency parcels handed out compared to the previous year. 

However this level is still higher than pre-pandemic levels. 

The news comes after Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi today admitted he is ‘deeply concerned’ that Britons could freeze from the cold this winter due to the soaring price of gas and electricity.

With average energy bills set to rocket to £3,549 a year from next month – and with costs set to rise even further next year – Mr Zahawi insisted ‘there’s nothing off the table’ as ministers consider what extra support to provide.

Although he is expected to lose his job as Treasury chief when either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak replaces Boris Johnson as Prime Minister next week, Mr Zahawi has been putting together different options for the incoming premier.

He acknowledged there were ‘no easy options’ for dealing with the cost-of-living crisis but said ‘no one should be cut off’ because they can’t afford their heating bills.

Mr Zahawi is backing Ms Truss for the Tory leadership. And the Foreign Secretary today gave another strong indication that more support for struggling families is imminent, should she become PM.

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi acknowledged there were ‘no easy options’ for dealing with the cost-of-living crisis but said ‘no one should be cut off’ because they can’t afford their bills

Tory leadership favourite Liz Truss vowed to ‘deliver immediate support to ensure people are not facing unaffordable fuel bills’ this winter

Britons are forecast to suffer from ever-increasing energy bills over the coming months as the Government comes under pressure to provide more help 

She vowed to ‘deliver immediate support to ensure people are not facing unaffordable fuel bills’ this winter.

Mr Zahawi has this week visited the US for talks on how to deal with the global energy crisis, which has been worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been blamed for using gas supplies as a ‘weapon’ amid the deep tensions with the West.

Speaking to Sky News on his trip to America, Mr Zahawi revealed his Treasury was ‘looking at all the options’ in providing extra help for hard-pressed Britons this winter.

He said: ‘There’s nothing off the table. We are looking at all the options.

‘Everything from the chief executive of Scottish Power talking about help where we need to maybe create some sort of a fund for companies to be able to continue to help their customers.

‘All the way through to making sure we target the help to both households and small and medium-size businesses and probably some larger businesses.’

Mr Zahawi added he was worried about ‘the scarring effect on the economy’ should ‘perfectly viable businesses’ be harmed or ‘no longer exist because of  Putin’s use of energy as a weapon’.

The Chancellor revealed he had been looking at pledges made by Ms Truss and Mr Sunak during the Tory leadership contest – as well as ‘everything else that we’ve been told by the energy sector’ – as the Treasury puts together possible measures. 

Asked if he could guarantee that no one would find themselves in a position where they are cut off because they cannot afford their bills, Mr Zahawi replied: ‘No one should be cut off because they can’t afford their bills.

‘I’m working with the companies to make sure, and NGOs of course, to make sure those people who really are struggling get that help both financially… but the companies themselves have already started to write letters and emails to ask people if they are vulnerable, if they are feeling that they can’t pay, that they should contact their supplier, their companies.’

Mr Zahawi pledged to ‘deliver’ the £37billion worth of support for households that has already been announced, but also promised to ‘go beyond that’.

‘We need to send a message to Mr Putin that this strategy is not going to work,’ he added.

He acknowledged that ‘of course’ the current level of support offered by Government to deal with rising energy prices would not be enough.

In an article for The Sun today, Ms Truss promised ‘radical’ action should she win the race to become the new PM.

The Foreign Secretary vowed to ‘deliver immediate support to ensure people are not facing unaffordable fuel bills’.

But she once again failed to add more detail over her approach, insisting ‘it isn’t right to announce my entire plan before I have even won the leadership and got my feet under the table’.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was today forced to deny his plan to freeze energy bills at their current level – before October’s rise – merely amounted to ‘kicking the can down the road’.

He has urged the Government to keep the energy price cap at its existing level – which means energy bills of £1,971 a year for typical households – until April.

Sir Keir accepted the ‘challenge’ that, under his plan, more action would need to happen in April to deal with soaring gas and electricity costs.

But he insisted his proposal was ‘meeting the concerns of millions of people’ across the UK. 

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