The number of households going without essentials hasn’t dropped below 7 million since May 2022.
Millions of low-income households are having to take drastic measures to cope with a crisis that is far from over according to a report out today by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Tbey found that 1.6 million households turned off their fridge or freezer, 4.9 million households couldn’t replace worn out clothing and 5 million households reduced showers
The foundation says that Politicians must set out how they will bring an end to this relentless hardship in the general election campaign.
“They need to tell us their immediate plan to help families who can’t afford life’s essentials – as well as their long-term strategy to tackle poverty”
Meanwhile, party leaders remain silent on what they would do to address this in power.
Those with the least are struggling the most, with levels of hardship staying at stubbornly high levels.
In the last 12 months, the proportion of households going hungry, cutting down on food or skipping meals in the previous 30 days has not budged for those in the bottom 20% of incomes. But there is a slight improvement for those in the bottom 20-40% of incomes.
Our social security system should act as a safety net for families who’ve fallen on hard times. However, 86% of low-income households who received Universal Credit were going without the essentials in May this year.
Rachelle Earwaker, Senior Economist at JRF, says:
“The number of low-income families in our country who’ve been forced to choose which essentials to go without because they can’t afford them hasn’t fallen below seven million since May 2022. Despite inflation falling there has been no let up for the poorest families, who are just as likely to be going without food as last year.”
“We need our politicians to set out how they will bring an end to this relentless reality of hardship in the general election campaign. Political leaders need to tell us what they will do straight away to help families who can’t afford life’s essentials, as well as their long-term plans to tackle poverty.”
