Why are four million children still going hungry in the UK in 2026?

January is always a hard month for families. As we start 2026, it is a good time to reflect on how the government is addressing the challenges that families and communities are facing. In the last year Trussell has reported that the number of people going to bed hungry has risen from 10 million to 14 million with three out of four referrals to the trust being households coping with disability. 

It estimates that “more than two-thirds of those experiencing food insecurity have not received food aid. Two-fifths (41%) of people referred to food banks had experienced homelessness in the last year.

In general, shocks to the household such as a family death, illness, or the loss of a job, increased the likelihood of someone needing to turn to a food bank. 

UNICEF has reported that child poverty in the UK has risen by 34%, due to the lack of household resources to cope with the rising cost of food, rent, childcare and heating their homes. Some of the surprising information from their report was that 72% of poor children are living in working families. Hence workers are not earning enough to pay essential household costs.

Statistics show that in general the gap between rich and poor is growing, with 42% of children in one-parent families living in poverty. Almost half of the children from Black, Asian and Caribbean families are living in poverty, indicating that the government strategies are not reducing inequalities to date. 

The high cost of childcare reduces the number of women who return to work after having children, coupled with the lack of community support for mothers and families due to cuts in local support services like Sure Start.

Read more:

• Child poverty hits new record high – before Labour benefit cuts will push 50,000 more into hardship
• Children are ‘eating rubbers and stealing food’ at school because they are hungry
• Child poverty: School staff seeing more and more children ‘too hungry to learn’

What is the government doing to address these issues in 2026?

The government has promised to scrap the two-child cap on benefits, which has been proven to increase household poverty. It has also promised to introducing breakfast clubs for primary school children, freeze the price of rail fares, continue supporting 30 hours of funded child care and establish a crisis fund. Yet many of these strategies have not yet been implemented and families are using finite resources, building up debt and being pulled into further poverty.

What does the evidence says needs to happen to end child hunger in the UK?

The UK Right to Food Commission was launched in November 2025 by MP Ian Bryne. It is collecting evidence from communities and organisations for the next five months, to find out what the main challenges are, what solutions are working to address hunger in UK, and to develop a road map for each region of the UK to end hunger by 2035.

Thus far the evidence indicates that we need to pay workers a wage that ensures they can feed their families and pay their other bills like housing, heating and electricity. Universal free school meals not only reduce hunger, but they can also reduce pressures on household budgets, improve health, nutrition and education outcomes. Intergenerational community kitchens have enhanced cohesion while improving health and nutrition, especially for older people.

Communities need to be put back in the centre of policy changes and plans, and more resources invested in community health, nutrition and early childhood development services. 

Finally, we need to ensure that children’s voices are gathered, listened to and acted upon.

Dr Regina Murphy Keith is course leader for the global public health nutrition MSc at the University of Westminster.

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