A record 9.3 million people – including one in five children – are facing hunger and hardship in the UK, according to an anti-poverty charity.
Trussell said the analysis of the latest data showed 6.3 million adults and three million children were in a situation that saw them living well below the poverty line and are most likely to be using a food bank or are at risk of doing so.
The total figure, for the year to March 2023, is up by 580,000 from the previous year, had risen by a million in five years and is a record high in data since comparable records began in 2000, it said.
Trussell – which operates a network of food banks across the UK – said the latest figures equate to one in seven (14.0%) people, and one in five (20.9%) children facing hunger and hardship.
US singer Taylor Swift made a “generous donation” to 1,400 food banks across the UK during her Eras Tour this summer – something Trussell has previously said would have a “local and national impact” and had helped “put a spotlight” on their work.
The charity warned that, without change from the Government, a further 425,000 people, including 170,000 children, are projected to face hunger and hardship by 2026/27.
The charity said its analysis showed that more than half (53%) of people facing hunger and hardship live in a disabled family, almost one in three (32%) people in single-parent families face hunger and hardship and that babies and those aged up to four years old face the highest risk of being in this situation of any age group (24%).
The organisation said their data suggests work is not a guaranteed route out of hardship, as almost six in 10 (58%) people facing hunger and hardship live in a family where someone is working.
While 11% of people in white families face hunger and hardship, the proportion rises to more than a quarter (28%) for people living in black, African, Caribbean and black British families, Trussell said.
Helen Barnard, director of policy, research and Impact at Trussell, said these figures “should not be the case in one of the richest countries in the world”.
The charity said the analysis suggested that an Essentials Guarantee ensuring Universal Credit always covers the basic necessities – a promise it has long called for – would have the biggest impact on lifting people out of hardship.
It estimated this would mean 1.9 million fewer people would be at risk of hunger and hardship in the year to March 2026, including 580,000 children and 1.2 million people living in families where at least one person is disabled.
Other changes scrapping the controversial two-child limit and the benefit cap could see 825,000 fewer people facing hunger and hardship by that time, including 570,000 fewer children.
Last week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimated that ditching both policies would come at a cost to Government of £3.3 billion a year.
While campaigners and some of Labour’s own MPs have called for the two-child limit to be removed, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he will not do so due to the state of the current public finances.
Ms Barnard said the Government “must make our social security system fit for purpose as an urgent priority”.
She added: “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.”
The research, carried out for Trussell by economic and public policy experts WPI Economics analysed income survey data and defined hunger and hardship as being more than 25% below the poverty line determined by the Social Metric Commission – an independent body that aims to help policymakers understand and take action to tackle poverty.
A Government spokesperson said: “No child should be in poverty. This Government is taking action through our new Child Poverty Taskforce, which is developing an ambitious strategy to give children the best start in life – through work, housing, education, heath, childcare and the social security system.
“Alongside this, we have extended the Household Support Fund to support the most vulnerable this winter and have committed to reviewing universal credit while we deliver on our plan to tackle inequality and make work pay to deliver opportunity across Britain.”
