Food aid charity sees surge in demand from international students

Langar Aid, a project by Khalsa Aid International, has been running since 2015, providing food support to anyone who is homeless or struggling financially. Demand from international students across certain parts of the UK is on the rise.

The application process was simple, with students required to upload a copy of their biometric residence permit to show that they recently arrived to UK.

“At that time, we were saying if you arrived in the last six months, then we can support you with a one-off food parcel and this would support you for about a month,” said Kaur.

“We have an average of 20 students collecting these food parcels from us every Friday. That’s not including those that come to us in the evening because we do about 300 hot meals every evening – that’s for students, the general public, anyone who is homeless or in need of a meal.

“But then we also started getting requests from students in Birmingham. We didn’t actually put any information on social media that we are providing food packages in Birmingham. I think this was just that someone had maybe shared this contact number.”

We saw an increase of South Indian students that were attending the feed

Avtar Kaur, Langar Aid

The charity subsequently began delivering to Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall and Luton, to keep up with the demand as word-of-mouth spread.

“These students were contacting us and we know how difficult it is for them, especially during cost of living crisis. We said as a one-off we will deliver these food parcels to them but if they need another food parcel, we would need to get an e-mail from either their student union or university to say that this person is struggling.”

In theses cases, the charity endeavours to offer three months worth of food for a struggling student.

In a video shared by the charity on social media, two international students based in Birmingham shared their stories and expressed their gratitude for the charity’s assistance.

One student explained how after four months of unsuccessfully looking for work, she reached out to Langar Aid and received aid within one week.

Langar Aid works across 66 different organisations including schools, other charities, and universities such as Coventry University through which it also provides students in need – both domestic and international – with fortnightly food delivery packages.

The UK’s cost of living crisis is one reason for the increased demand from students, said Kaur, but she also worries that some international students are underprepared financially for their time in the UK, and is therefore calling for increased guidance from universities, both pre-departure and on arrival.

“I think when students come over, they don’t realise how difficult it actually is because you are technically starting from scratch. Especially with student fees that can be triple compared to a home student.”

Currently, under the UK government’s financial requirement, students must show £1,334 per month for courses in London and £1,023 per month outside of the capital to support themselves.

However, in 2023, the author of a HEPI report, How to Beat a Cost-of-Learning Crisis: Universities’ Support for Students, called for government advice for international students to be updated to reflect the accurate cost of living in the UK as its survey indicated that the number of international students lacking enough funds is growing.