"we refer them to other food banks."
Research has found that Bangladeshi and Pakistani households are the worst affected by poverty in the UK.
It also found that the West Midlands is now the only region where deprivation rates are worse than in the mid-1990s.
British Asian families are more likely to live in poorer urban centres, including Birmingham, Bradford and parts of inner London.
The West Midlands has the highest poverty rate at 27%, followed by the north-west (25%), London (24%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (23%).
In 1994-95, the West Midlands’ overall poverty rate was 24%.
Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) shows that in 2022-23, 56% of Bangladeshi households and 49% of Pakistani households lived in poverty.
This means their income was below 60% of the median after housing costs.
Although these figures have improved since 1994-95, they remain the highest in Britain.
In contrast, 19% of white families live in poverty.
People in Black African households are also highly affected, with 40% experiencing poverty.
Azeem Suleman, founder of the Cutchi Sunni Muslim Association in Birmingham, said:
“We do get emails nearly every day, but unfortunately we can only take selected cases, and in other cases, we refer them to other food banks.”
Ethnic minority families are more than twice as likely as white households to be in “deep poverty”, meaning their income is at least 50% below the UK median after housing costs.
JRF research suggests that factors driving high poverty among Bangladeshi and Pakistani families include care responsibilities, low wages and high reliance on private rentals.
Child poverty rates are also severe.
Around 67% of Bangladeshi children and 61% of Pakistani children live in poverty. Half of Black African children and those from other Asian backgrounds, excluding Indian and Chinese, also experience poverty.
The highest child poverty rates are in ethnically diverse areas. These tend to be large cities with higher rental costs and more people renting rather than owning homes.
Rokshana Akter, a wellbeing support officer at the Aaina Community Hub in Walsall, said:
“I’ve heard so many ladies speak up about the rising cost of food and it has been impacting a lot of the families.
“The main problem is that the income coming in is way less than what’s going out.
“Many of these people are from South Asian families that work, but they don’t actually get the minimum wage.
“They usually tend to get way less than the minimum wage, which means that they then have to go for benefits.
“They have to go for universal credit and they’re just struggling to cope.”
Akter agreed with the JRF’s findings that “the social security system is simply not doing what it was set up to do”.
She continued: “It’s just so hard to get off of benefits.
“It’s not like people don’t want to. I’ve seen so many families, so many people here, looking for jobs.”
The West Midlands, north-west, Yorkshire and the Humber, and north-east have the highest unemployment rates in Britain, ranging between 25% and 30%.
Joe Elliott, senior analyst at the JRF, said: “Four of the 10 highest child poverty rates by constituency are in Birmingham, and these constituencies have very large Asian and British Asian populations, including Hall Green where 70% are minority ethnic, including 54% Asian.
“Birmingham Ladywood is 78% minority ethnic, including 41% Asian.”
Elliott said lower employment rates, lower wages than in the south of England, and a higher reliance on private renting contribute to high poverty levels in the West Midlands.
He called for the government to guarantee a minimum universal credit rate to cover basic needs and increase Local Housing Allowance to match the bottom third of local rents.
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