Record 9.3 Million in UK Facing Hunger and Hardship: Charity

Kyle McCormick at a Trussell Trust foodbank in Blawarthill Parish Church, Glasgow on Sept. 21, 2015. Danny Lawson/PA

A record 9.3 million people in the UK are facing hunger and hardship, a report by an anti-poverty charity has found.

One in seven people and one in five children across the country are in a situation where they are likely to turn to a food bank, data by Trussell have revealed.

The findings, published in “The Cost of Hunger and Hardship” report, said that the number of people facing hunger has surged compared to figures 20 years ago.

Current levels are more than a third higher, with a further 425,000 people projected to face hunger and hardship by 2026–2027. The next two years could see 170,000 more children in poverty and hunger, unless action is taken, Trussell warned.

“It’s 2024 and we’re facing historically high levels of food bank need. As a society, we cannot allow this to continue. We must not let food banks become the new norm,” said Trussell Chief Executive Emma Revie.

Trussell warned that without change, the situation will get worse, disproportionately affecting people in disabled families and racialised communities.

Its analysis showed that 53 percent of people currently facing hunger and hardship live in a disabled family. One in three people in single-parent families also face these risks. Babies and children up to the age of 4 face the highest risk compared to other age groups, the charity said.

Some groups across society are bearing the burden more than most, with hunger and hardship rates the highest for black, African, Caribbean, or black British families.

Compared to just one in eight people in white families, over a quarter of those living in black, African, Caribbean, or black British households face hunger and economic hardship.

Benefits

Millions in the UK use food banks and faced with the cost-of-living crisis, the number of food insecure households is on the rise. Last year, the charity supplied 3.12 million emergency food parcels, the highest number distributed by the network in a year.

Trussell said that while the cost-of-living crisis and the effects of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns have influenced poverty and increased food emergencies, these factors alone do not fully account for the current levels of hardship.

The surge in hunger and hardship was fuelled by the roll out of Universal Credit and caps to the amount people could receive, the report said. It added that successive freezes and cuts to the real value of social security payments had also played a role.

The charity called on the government to deliver on its promise to end the need for emergency food, which Labour has described as a “moral scar” on British society.

It called for an Essentials Guarantee, a standard allowance in Universal Credit to cover the basic necessities. The report also said that expansion of free school meals to all primary and secondary school children in families claiming Universal Credit is necessary.

Commenting on the two-child limit and the benefit cap, Trussell said that scrapping the restriction would reduce the number of struggling families by 9 percent. This amounts to 825,000 people including 570,000 children.

The two-child limit was introduced in 2015 and applies to families with a third or subsequent child born after April 2017 claiming means-tested Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit, which is replacing Child Tax Credit. The limit does not apply to Child Benefit, which is not means tested, and parents can claim for Universal Credit and Child Benefit at the same time.

The government says it is committed to reducing child poverty and has launched a new Child Poverty Unit in the Cabinet Office to create an “ambitious” anti-poverty strategy.

On the two-child limit, Labour has refused to reverse the policy, despite the opposition of its own MPs who rebelled against the government in July. Labour MP Kim Johnson, who opposes the government’s decision, said that the two-child limit should be a priority in the October Budget.