DESPERATE parents across Glasgow will struggle to feed their hungry children during the summer holi-days, it was revealed today.

A rising number of families who rely on school breakfasts or free lunches to provide their children with a square meal are expected to turn to food banks in the coming weeks.

A total of 18,878 primary and secondary aged children in Glasgow, from a school population of 62,700 pupils, are entitled to free food – 30% of all pupils in the city.

The warning comes as a new study into food poverty in Scotland shows more than 20% of parents have skipped meals, gone without food to feed their children or relied on family members or friends for food in the last 12 months.

A worrying UK-wide picture also showed one in five parents are struggling to feed their children.

The research – carried out by Tesco, the Trussell Trust and food redistribution charity FareShare – states that 70% of families struggling to put food on the table depend on free school food given out at lunch and during breakfast and after school clubs.

Now charities, including the Trussell Trust which runs three food banks in Glasgow with a fourth due to open in September, are bracing themselves for a spike in the number of calls for help as budgets are stretched and parents hit breaking point.

There are now 15 food banks across Glasgow, run by charities and community groups, and demand is rising.

Ewan Gurr, Scotland development officer for the Trussell Trust said: "We are without a doubt that the number of children referred to our food banks in Glasgow will increase over the summer holidays.

"We know from our data that we see more children during school holidays, also including the October break and Christmas. Between April 1 and June 30 2012 we fed 496 children across Scotland and during the same period this year the figure was 2336. That is a 471% increase."

Because of the quickly declining picture, the difference in the way food banks record data and the fact that there are more food banks operating in the city this summer than there was last year, it is difficult to predict just how many children in Glasgow will be affected.

But Mr Gurr said the city is representative of the gloomy national picture, with three of the five most deprived areas in Glasgow.

He added: "Glasgow is the most deprived local authority area in Scotland.

"The statistics just scrape the surface and you have to consider that there are 15 emergency food providers in Glasgow alone."

Kyle Mc-Cormick, who runs the Glas-gow North West food bank, based in Blawart-hill Parish Church in Scots-toun, said: "The summer holidays have just started so we haven't seen a huge increase in children yet but it is something that we do anticipate. And we expect that it will get worse as the holidays run on."

This Trussell Trust food bank opened just six weeks ago and has already fed 160 adults and children. Volunteers were inundated with requests from desperate local people even before they had opened.

Mr McCormick said: "We have helped single parents who are struggling to feed their children because of changes in their benefits and low income.

"The situation is not getting any better for these people and the stories are harrowing."

Tesco, the Trussell Trust and FareShare are prepar-ing to hold the bigg-est food collec-tion event in the UK on July 5 and 6.

linzi.watson@eveningtimes.co.uk