Record number of low income families in risk of hunger in UK

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – As the cost-of-living crisis is deepening with soaring food prices and highest inflation for the past four decades in Britain, a record number of families with poor income are at risk of going hungry, according to the UK’s biggest food bank network.

The Trussell Trust said it expected 1.3 million emergency food parcels over the next six months as the number of households in need could dramatically rise, according to an exclusive report by The Guardian.

Speaking to the British daily, the trust’s chief executive, Emma Revie, warned the government that “food banks could not be the only response” to the cost-of-living crisis. She called on the government to offer “a fresh round of targeted financial support to low income households over the winter to head off growing hardship.”

Hunger levels in the UK have risen with nearly 10 million adults and 4 million children regularly skipping food, according to data by Food Foundation, a British charity.

A recent poll by the consumer group Which said Thursday that around 85% of Brits are now spending less on food shopping.

The research finds that 46% of all consumers are finding it harder to eat healthily compared with before the crisis.

Some 18% of those said they are buying more frozen food which are cheaper, and 5% said they are buying more ready or microwave meals.

Around 78% of them are finding it very difficult financially because of the rising costs and 42% of households are less often spending on expensive food items.

The consumer prices index rose by 10.1% in the 12 months to September 2022, according to figures by the UK's Office for National Statistics. The rising food prices made the largest upward contribution to the inflation, it added.