1 in 7 people in the UK face hunger and hardship, including 3 million children, and numbers are set to rise without urgent action, says Trussell Trust
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New research published today shows that a record 9.3 million people
in the UK are facing hunger and hardship, according to research by
the anti-poverty charity Trussell. The charity worked
with economic and public policy experts WPI Economics to analyse
government data under a measure of hunger and hardship, which
tracks people living well below the poverty line who are most
likely to be using a food bank or are at risk of doing so.
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New research published today shows that a record 9.3 million people in the UK are facing hunger and hardship, according to research by the anti-poverty charity Trussell. The charity worked with economic and public policy experts WPI Economics to analyse government data under a measure of hunger and hardship, which tracks people living well below the poverty line who are most likely to be using a food bank or are at risk of doing so. The Cost of Hunger and Hardship report found that shockingly, 46% more children are facing hunger and hardship than two decades ago. That equates to 1 in 5 children growing up trapped in this situation. Without urgent action from the UK government, these numbers are set to increase with an additional 425,000 people expected to be facing hunger and hardship by 2026/27, 40% of whom will be children. Analysis of a range of policy options available to the UK government found that there are solutions available which, if implemented, could mean that millions fewer people face hunger and hardship. The modelling shows that updating our social security system delivers the biggest impact on tackling hunger and hardship in the UK.
Embedding an Essentials Guarantee into Universal Credit would
have the greatest impact on lifting people out of hardship. If
the UK government were to implement this, it would ensure 1.9
million fewer people would be at risk of hunger and hardship in
2025/26, including 580,000 children and 1.2 million people living
in families where at least one person is disabled. This policy
would mean a reduction of a fifth in the number of people who are
expected to face hunger and hardship. The research found certain groups to be particularly at risk of hunger and hardship.
Rajun, a lived experience participant in the research, said: I definitely have cut down on food and that's not because I'm not hungry but because it's important for me to prioritise my wife and daughter. Charlotte, who also participated in the research, said: You have no room to manoeuvre, you barely have enough to live month-to-month and certainly no possibility of saving and any contingency. If things go wrong, there is no way to solve them. Helen Barnard, Director of Policy, Research and Impact at Trussell, said: “This research highlights the shocking reality that 1 in 7 people in the UK are facing hunger and hardship – that is a million more people than five years ago. This should not be the case in one of the richest countries in the world. We need urgent action on hunger in the UK because, if nothing changes, the number of people facing hunger and hardship will only increase. People are turning to food banks because they don't have enough money to live on. But we know it doesn't have to be this way. This research shows that solutions are available for the UK government to make real inroads in tackling hunger and hardship. The UK government has an opportunity to start delivering on its manifesto commitment to end the need for emergency food this autumn. If the UK government is to deliver on its vision, it must make our social security system fit for purpose as an urgent priority. These findings show this is the most direct way it will end the need for emergency food. We urge the UK government to play its part in ending hunger and prioritise providing immediate relief to people facing hunger and hardship in its upcoming Budget, to avoid people being pushed further into hardship.” Responding to these findings, Trussell is calling on the UK government to prioritise updating its social security system in its first Budget by:
To read the Cost of Hunger and Hardship research in full, visit trussell.org.uk/coh. -ENDS- Notes to editors: This research was conducted by economic and public policy experts WPI Economics on behalf of Trussell and explores the number of people living well below the poverty line who are most likely to be using a food bank or are at risk of doing so. Facing hunger and hardship is a measure created for this research. It is based on an analysis of income survey data and incorporates analysis techniques developed by the Social Metric Commission. A family faces hunger and hardship if they are more than 25% below the poverty line determined by the SMC. The SMC poverty line is based on the Total Resources Available (TRA) to the family. The TRA considers the money that families have coming in, their savings, their housing costs, and other inescapable costs such as childcare and the extra costs that disabled people face. By taking all of these into account, the TRA reflects the financial resources people actually have to cover daily living costs. A family is considered to face hunger and hardship if they have TRA less than 40.5% of the median TRA. This is equivalent to being more than 25% below the SMC poverty line. The analysis of current levels of hunger and hardship was conducted using the Family Resources Survey and associated Households Below Average Income dataset. This is the Department for Work and Pension's flagship survey on income and financial circumstances. At the time of analysis the 2022/23 survey was the most recent data collection for this survey. Projections of the future number of people facing hunger and hardship are from the IPPR Tax-Benefit model. Projections within this model are based on economic outlook data from the March 2024 OBR report. All reporting on the impact of policies is for the financial year 2025/26 and assumes that the policy was implemented in 2022/23. All reporting on the number of people projected to face hunger and hardship is for the financial year 2026/27. You can read the full report on the Cost of Hunger and Hardship here. Costings and impact of all policies modelled
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