A million people regularly struggling to pay for food

More than a million of the UK’s poorest people are regularly struggling to pay for food and are in 'severe financial trouble', according to the Centre for Social Justice.

The centre-right thinktank's survey found that more than a third of people in the poorest households with annual incomes below £16,999 have occasionally struggled to pay for food, while a fifth find it a regular problem. A third also worry about losing their jobs in the near future, as the coronavirus pandemic triggers unemployment levels that are predicted to rise to 7.5 per cent by early next year (up from four per cent at the start of 2020).

Additionally, the CSJ also found that only 29 per cent of low earners said they believed the Conservatives cared about them, compared with 53 per cent for Labour.

Andy Cook, chief executive of the CPS, said: “We have more than enough resources, initiative and brainpower to go around and ensure those falling behind are cared for. It is an indictment on our current political discourse that a majority of Britain’s poorest do not believe either party will help them.”

Independent food banks reported a doubling in demand over the summer, and have warned they are seeing another increase this winter. UK-wide, comparing May 2020 with May 2019, demand increased 177 per cent, according to the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN).

In the six months from April to September this year, demand for help from the Trussell Trust, which runs the UK’s largest network of food banks, rose 47 per cent, and it handed out more than 1.2 million emergency food parcels in that period. It is expecting its busiest ever December.