Every week, I hear from our members, working parents skipping meals so their children can eat, people working full-time and still unable to pay for school meals, and families struggling to access the basics, like household essentials or dental care. We see first-hand the relentless balancing act people face just to keep their heads above water.

But here's what's most frustrating: many of them are eligible for government support and don't even know it.

We recently surveyed almost 10,000 of our members and found that nearly a quarter aren't confident they're receiving the benefits they're entitled to. Many don't even know what's available. Only 45% were aware of council tax support. Just 16% of those over pension age were claiming Pension Credit despite being eligible. These aren't edge cases; they're common stories.

And it's not just awareness. The systems themselves are opaque, fragmented, and intimidating. Applying for NHS low-income support, for example, means filling in a 20-page form, navigating a digital process that excludes those without internet access, and waiting for weeks only to be rejected on a technicality. No wonder people give up.

This is not a call for more funding, though that would help. It's a call for clarity, coordination, and common sense. Make schemes easier to access. Share eligibility data with councils. Enable auto-enrolment where possible. Fund local advice providers to meet rising demand. These are small changes with big impacts.

Local authorities are well-positioned to bridge the gap. Councils are already at the frontline of crisis, trusted, embedded in communities, and often delivering wraparound services that improve lives. At our food clubs, we routinely work with local partners to provide advice on debt, housing, health, and benefits. But we're limited by what we can signpost people to. If national schemes were simpler and more transparent, local authorities could step in earlier, more effectively, and at scale.

Take free school meals. In some areas, automatic enrolment has proven incredibly effective. Sheffield, for example, enrolled an additional 6,400 children between 2016 and 2022 through automation. Why isn't this the norm? Why are we still asking families to self-identify and self-navigate convoluted eligibility systems?

Local authorities could also play a much stronger role in increasing take-up of schemes like Healthy Start or Tax-Free Childcare. But again, the challenge is access. How can councils support residents when the data isn't shared, the rules aren't clear, and the processes are buried in bureaucracy?

This is not a call for more funding, though that would help. It's a call for clarity, coordination, and common sense. Make schemes easier to access. Share eligibility data with councils. Enable auto-enrolment where possible. Fund local advice providers to meet rising demand. These are small changes with big impacts.

At TBBT [The Bread and Butter Thing], we believe food clubs are part of the solution, a positive, preventative model that offers affordable food, reduces isolation, and connects people to support. We run over 145 affordable food clubs across England, reaching around 100,000 families. But we're not here to patch the holes in a broken system forever. We're here to show what's possible when you meet people where they are with dignity, trust, and practicality.

If central government wants to turn the tide on poverty and food insecurity, they need to empower local authorities to lead the way. That means giving them the tools, the data, and the mandate to reach the people who are so often left behind.

Because right now, people are drowning in complexity and even the best local support can't throw a lifeline if we don't know who needs help, or where to find them.

 

Vic Harper is chief executive of The Bread and Butter Thing