About 400,000 UK children supported by baby banks, up 11% on previous year

The Rev Caroline Hewitt set up Little Lighthouse baby bank in a church hall in Wythenshawe. Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian View image in fullscreen The Rev Caroline Hewitt set up Little Lighthouse baby bank in a church hall in Wythenshawe. Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian About 400,000 UK children supported by baby banks, up 11% on previous year Exclusive: Charities say they ‘cannot continue to absorb the impact of child poverty’ without government support Four hundred thousand children in the UK were supported by baby banks in 2025, an 11% increase from the year before, prompting warnings from charities that they “cannot continue to absorb the impact of child poverty on this scale” without government support. New research from the Baby Bank Alliance, set up by Save the Children UK to represent and advocate for more than 400 baby banks across the country, found that an average of 1,096 children were being supported by each member every day, with some essential items soaring in demand. About 26% more tubs of baby formula were handed out by baby banks in 2025 compared with the year prior, and there was a steep rise in the number of cots and beds given to families. A record 4.5 million children are living in poverty across the UK, according to the latest data. Earlier this year, the government abolished the two-child benefit limit , which restricted families to universal credit support for their first two children only. The damning figures have prompted calls for the government to ensure that lifting the two-child benefit cap is just “the beginning of its actions to tackle child poverty”. Sophie Livingstone, the chair of the Baby Bank Alliance, said: “ It’s pretty damning, isn’t it? Families are needing help for systemic reasons, not because there’s a one-off shock to their lives.” About 75% of families supported by alliance members point to unsuitable or insecure housing as a pressure they face. Livingstone is also the chief executive of Little Village, a London-based network of baby banks that support a large number of families living in poor and often squalid housing. “We often have families needing us to replace all their children’s clothes because they’ve been rotted by mould,” she said. Livingstone has seen a rise in demand for cots and beds. “We never have enough beds. It’s really difficult when we come across a family sleeping on the floor in rodent-infested accommodation,” she said. Livingstone also said Little Village “never has enough large nappy sizes”, which she connects to families living in cramped housing, including temporary accommodation. “My assumption is that it’s linked to the fact that it is going to take a child longer to potty train if they’re in that situation,” she said. She is calling on the government to pull on “some big levers to make life for all families in this country livable”. “We know families are struggling more than ever with work and housing insecurity, rising energy and food bills, and unaffordable