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Google PlayNew research has found that over two million of the UK’s adults have skipped meals for a whole day over the past month, as food prices hit their highest rates in 30 years.
An online survey has suggested that roughly one in seven adults now live in homes where people have skipped meals, reduced meal sizes, or even gone hungry because they could not afford or access food.
Led by the Food Foundation, the investigation found that those struggling to buy food have increased by 57% in three months. The charity analysed responses from 10,674 UK adults who were surveyed by YouGov between April 22 and 29.
Nearly 14% of respondents reported that they or someone in their household had eaten smaller meals or skipped meals because they could not afford to eat. This was up from 8.8% of the survey respondents in January.
The executive director of the Food Foundation, Anna Taylor, declared that the “extremely rapid rise” could be fatal for families, adding that “the government needs to realise the boat is sinking for many families and it needs to be fixed. Bailing out with emergency food parcels is not going to work.”
A government spokesman said: “We recognise the pressures on the cost of living and we are doing what we can to help, including spending £22bn across the next financial year to support people with energy bills and cut fuel duty. For the hardest hit, we’re putting an average of £1,000 more per year into the pockets of working families on Universal Credit, have also boosted the minimum wage by more than £1,000 a year for full-time workers and our Household Support Fund is there to help with the cost of everyday essentials.”
Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “These are devastating findings that reveal the acute levels of hunger impacting families and children nationwide caused by the Conservative cost-of-living crisis.”
