Advertisement
Become a member of the Big Issue community
JOIN
Social Justice

7 million families have missed out on food and hot water this year due to the cost of living crisis

Anti-poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says 2.3 million households didn't have enough food and couldn't afford to heat their home this year either.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation says 2.3m households couldn't afford to eat properly or heat their homes last month. Image: Pexels

Around seven million UK households have missed out on food or essentials like showers and toiletries this year because they couldn’t afford them, research has found. That’s equivalent to every family in the north of England. 

According to a new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, people are faced with an impossible position of “choosing between paying rent on time or feeding their loved ones, in many cases unable to do either”. 

The anti-poverty charity found 2.3 million households did not have the choice between heating their home or having enough food – because they couldn’t afford to do either. That’s one in five low-income families.

Low-income families have fallen behind on payments by an average of £1,600, while people on low-incomes have taken on £12.5billion in debt in 2022 alone. It brings their total debt to £22bn, £3.5bn of which is owed to high-cost lenders such as illegal loan sharks and doorstep lenders.

The JRF claims “the government is causing severe hardship by using the benefit system to collect some debts”. It is calling on the government to let families pay back their debt more slowly instead of deducting those funds from their benefits at unaffordable rates. 

Katie Schmuecker, principal policy advisor at JRF said: “No one should be put in this precarious position. The hardship families are facing now builds on the foundations of a decade of cuts and freezes to social security. 

Advertisement
Advertisement

“The chancellor’s cost of living support package will offer some temporary relief, but rather than lurching from emergency to emergency, the government must get ahead of this problem.”

Three in five of all low-income families (60 per cent) had gone without essentials since the start of 2022, or they had skipped meals or gone hungry in the previous 30 days. That’s almost seven million households.

A total of 4.6 million low-income households (40 per cent) are behind on at least one bill, which is up by 20 per cent since last October. 

Almost half of families receiving universal credit have money deducted from their allowance by the government. According to the JRF, people lose an average of £61 a month in deductions.

People who have money deducted from their benefits are almost certainly going without essentials, with 94 per cent of them admitting that they have gone without necessities like toiletries, showers and heating this year.

Schmuecker added: “The way the government collects debts is making an already bad situation far worse, by making an already low basic rate of social security even lower still. It leaves too little to cover the essentials at the best of times, let alone during the biggest cost of living crisis in a generation – a crisis which shows no signs of abating.”

Advertisement

Become a Big Issue member

3.8 million people in the UK live in extreme poverty. Turn your anger into action - become a Big Issue member and give us the power to take poverty to zero.

Recommended for you

View all
Hundreds of thousands of pensioners miss out DWP pension credit worth £1,900: 'Disappointing'
pensioners
Pensioners

Hundreds of thousands of pensioners miss out DWP pension credit worth £1,900: 'Disappointing'

The real Byker Grove: Inside the youth clubs that inspired Ant and Dec's childhood TV classic
Youth worker Jennie Maughan at the Chevron youth centre in Byker
Youth clubs

The real Byker Grove: Inside the youth clubs that inspired Ant and Dec's childhood TV classic

Three million children are facing hunger in the UK – with kids under four most at risk
boy leaning back on a wall looking sad
Poverty

Three million children are facing hunger in the UK – with kids under four most at risk

Disability benefits system is damaging claimants' health, DWP's own analysis finds: 'It's degrading'
disability benefits
Disability benefits

Disability benefits system is damaging claimants' health, DWP's own analysis finds: 'It's degrading'

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know