Baby bank reports 'disturbing' rise in demand

Organisations supporting families with babies say they have seen a rapid rise in demand for their services.

Baby banks provide donated nappies, cots, clothes and other items to parents in need.

Eve Bennett, founder of the Market Rasen Baby Bank, in Lincolnshire, said the number of users had risen from 19 to 76 over the last six months.

She described the increase in demand as "quite disturbing".

"I would say a large percentage of service users are your average working family – money just isn't stretching to the end of the month," she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"Nobody has any contingencies, every little penny is just going into living."

Even households where both parents were working were struggling, particularly with nursery fees, Ms Bennett added.

New figures from an annual survey by the national Baby Bank Alliance show that 220,000 families across the UK were supported by baby banks in 2024, up from 163,000 in the previous year.

More than 3.5-million items were distributed last year, marking a 143% increase on the previous year.

Sue Bain, director of Little Treasures Baby Bank, in Horncastle, said she had also seen a noticeable rise in referrals, where items are requested through healthcare professionals.

She explained that before the start of this year, the baby bank typically received between two and four referrals a week, but that figure had now doubled.

"The number of items in a referral has doubled as well," Ms Bain added, noting that larger items such as cots and travel systems were particularly in demand.

The baby bank has recently put out an urgent appeal on social media for unused and unwanted prams.

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