London’s first multibank – distributing baby products, toiletries and other items as well as food – will be officially launched this week, amid concerns over rising child poverty across the capital.
The opening of Felix’s Multibank is being backed by former prime minister Gordon Brown and London mayor Sadiq Khan.
The scheme works like a food bank but also provides non-perishable goods such as cleaning products, toys and clothing.
The multibank will be overseen by The Felix Project, which distributes fresh surplus food from supermarkets and restaurants to local charities tackling food poverty. The Felix Project was founded by Justin Byam Shaw, a shareholder in The Independent. The multibank is expected to help thousands of families in west London with supplies that would otherwise go to waste.
Earlier this week, The Independent revealed shocking reports of multiple families, who were being housed in awful conditions in hotels, being labelled “intentionally homeless” by councils in London.
Multibanks have already been established in areas such as Swansea, Greater Manchester and Fife.
Mr Brown said: “The London Felix Multibank is the fourth of six that will be opened by the end of this year across Britain. It is opening at a time of transition from a Britain where child poverty has risen dramatically to one where we wish to see child poverty falling.”
“As a new anti-poverty plan is being prepared, the multibanks still need to secure more supplies and more funds from generous donors so that, working with food banks, we can provide poverty relief.”
Supplies to Felix’s Multibank will also be donated from businesses, with Amazon being the biggest benefactor. While some public funding has been supplied for the site’s running costs, Amazon is helping to run the operation.
Mr Khan said: “Multibanks do incredible work with charities and community organisations to get supplies to those who need them the most. I’m proud to be supporting the Felix Project to bring this multibank to London, as we build a fairer London for everyone.”
The opening of the multibank in London comes after the government announced a task force to develop a child poverty strategy, led by work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall and education secretary Bridget Phillipson.
Amid a background of rising child poverty, with more than four million children now living in low-income households, Keir Starmer is coming under increasing pressure to act, with many of the charities consulted by Ms Kendall earlier in the week calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
But the new Labour government has so far resisted such calls, claiming the fiscal situation means the cap cannot be abolished unless economic growth is secured first.
The government’s new task force will consider “levers related to household income as well as employment, housing, children’s health, childcare and education”. No mention has been made of the cap.