Another cold and hungry winter for many in the UK

With perhaps the exception of the great depression of the 1930s, the current upsurge in hunger is unprecedented in Britain in modern times. The latest research from the Trussell Trust suggests that as many as 14 million people may be going without food, to at least some extent, against an estimated figure of 11.6 million in 2022.

At a time when, even allowing for economic difficulties, living standards for most families in the UK have generally never been higher, some 3.8 million children are growing up in homes where they and their parents are forced to skip or cut back on meals because of financial concerns. If nothing else, this represents a stark rejoinder to those who complacently assume that poverty is a thing of the past, and, to the extent that it does still persist, must be merely a consequence of laziness or fecklessness, according to The Independent.

The reason for the rapid increase in the extreme poverty that results in hunger lies not in some sudden urge among the British to become workshy or a change in the generosity of the benefits system, but because of the obvious reasons that every family, even the comfortably off, know only too well.

Much of the fault lies with Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine disrupted world energy and food markets so radically that inflation rose to levels not seen in decades, with wages unable to keep up. The effects have not worn off even now, even though some prices have, in relative terms, stabilised. Accommodation continues to be unaffordable, even to some of those with a wage. This will be another cold, hungry autumn and winter for many.

The squeeze on the economy to deal with high levels of public debt and to get inflation down has also seen job opportunities shrink. Meanwhile, the welfare state, cut so harshly during the Conservatives’ years of austerity, has evidently left a less than adequate safety net for those who find themselves workless or in reduced circumstances through no fault of their own. The aggregate welfare bill has certainly risen, but that is at least driven by demographics – a larger population living longer and in poorer health.

What is rightly termed a “hunger crisis”, for too many vulnerable people, recalls the very earliest surveys of poverty and starvation conducted during the end of the Victorian era. The social reformers Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree surveyed the typical industrial city of York in 1899 and found shocking levels of destitution and hunger – and at levels that find an uncomfortable echo in the second quarter of the 21st century.

Using a comparable definition of poverty where what Rowntree called the “physical efficiency” of a person is compromised by lack of food, ie in hunger – which is a more exacting measure of wellbeing than poverty – around a quarter of households suffer from such deprivation, then as now. Of course, nowadays, such families will enjoy certain comforts and technology unimaginable to their forebears, but in terms of having a full belly or not, for too many people times have not changed quite as radically as might be assumed.

Only in pensioner poverty has there been an unmistakable improvement over the past couple of decades, driven by an overdue recovery in the purchasing power of the state pension and, for some, successive house-price booms, and the legacy of the remaining final salary pension schemes.

Poverty and hunger have always been stubborn scourges, but there is clear evidence that in Britain in the post-war years – when the welfare state, economic management and social policy were geared towards full employment and equality of outcomes – levels of poverty and hunger fell. From the 1940s to the 1970s, the nation grew healthier as well as wealthier, with fairer shares all round. Waves of cuts to the public sector, and market-driven reforms since, have resulted in increased economic growth, but also higher deprivation, coupled with still high levels of expenditure in relation to national income.

On other hand, hungry patients are overwhelming NHS emergency departments at unprecedented levels, researchers claim.

Admissions to hospital Accident and Emergency (A&E) units because of hunger have more than tripled, rising by nearly 219 per cent in five years, figures suggest.

Analysis of NHS data shows a lack of food was the fastest growing cause of A&E admissions in England between 2018-19 and 2023-24, as food prices and poverty spiralled.

As the cost-of-living crisis gripped the UK, experts repeatedly warned that households were being plunged into poverty, with food bank use soaring and charities finding parents going hungry so their children could eat.

Health experts warned in 2022 that millions of people were facing a “significant humanitarian crisis”, exacerbated by rocketing fuel bills.

In 2018-19, 70 patients needed emergency care for hunger, the statistics show, but the figure shot up to 230 after five years – a 218.5 per cent increase.

The Independent

LONDON: With perhaps the exception of the great depression of the 1930s, the current upsurge in hunger is unprecedented in Britain in modern times. The latest research from the Trussell Trust suggests that as many as 14 million people may be going without food, to at least some extent, against an estimated figure of 11.6 million in 2022.

At a time when, even allowing for economic difficulties, living standards for most families in the UK have generally never been higher, some 3.8 million children are growing up in homes where they and their parents are forced to skip or cut back on meals because of financial concerns. If nothing else, this represents a stark rejoinder to those who complacently assume that poverty is a thing of the past, and, to the extent that it does still persist, must be merely a consequence of laziness or fecklessness, according to The Independent.

The reason for the rapid increase in the extreme poverty that results in hunger lies not in some sudden urge among the British to become workshy or a change in the generosity of the benefits system, but because of the obvious reasons that every family, even the comfortably off, know only too well.

Much of the fault lies with Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine disrupted world energy and food markets so radically that inflation rose to levels not seen in decades, with wages unable to keep up. The effects have not worn off even now, even though some prices have, in relative terms, stabilised. Accommodation continues to be unaffordable, even to some of those with a wage. This will be another cold, hungry autumn and winter for many.

The squeeze on the economy to deal with high levels of public debt and to get inflation down has also seen job opportunities shrink. Meanwhile, the welfare state, cut so harshly during the Conservatives’ years of austerity, has evidently left a less than adequate safety net for those who find themselves workless or in reduced circumstances through no fault of their own. The aggregate welfare bill has certainly risen, but that is at least driven by demographics – a larger population living longer and in poorer health.

What is rightly termed a “hunger crisis”, for too many vulnerable people, recalls the very earliest surveys of poverty and starvation conducted during the end of the Victorian era. The social reformers Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree surveyed the typical industrial city of York in 1899 and found shocking levels of destitution and hunger – and at levels that find an uncomfortable echo in the second quarter of the 21st century.

Using a comparable definition of poverty where what Rowntree called the “physical efficiency” of a person is compromised by lack of food, ie in hunger – which is a more exacting measure of wellbeing than poverty – around a quarter of households suffer from such deprivation, then as now. Of course, nowadays, such families will enjoy certain comforts and technology unimaginable to their forebears, but in terms of having a full belly or not, for too many people times have not changed quite as radically as might be assumed.

Only in pensioner poverty has there been an unmistakable improvement over the past couple of decades, driven by an overdue recovery in the purchasing power of the state pension and, for some, successive house-price booms, and the legacy of the remaining final salary pension schemes.

Poverty and hunger have always been stubborn scourges, but there is clear evidence that in Britain in the post-war years – when the welfare state, economic management and social policy were geared towards full employment and equality of outcomes – levels of poverty and hunger fell. From the 1940s to the 1970s, the nation grew healthier as well as wealthier, with fairer shares all round. Waves of cuts to the public sector, and market-driven reforms since, have resulted in increased economic growth, but also higher deprivation, coupled with still high levels of expenditure in relation to national income.

On other hand, hungry patients are overwhelming NHS emergency departments at unprecedented levels, researchers claim.

Admissions to hospital Accident and Emergency (A&E) units because of hunger have more than tripled, rising by nearly 219 per cent in five years, figures suggest.

Analysis of NHS data shows a lack of food was the fastest growing cause of A&E admissions in England between 2018-19 and 2023-24, as food prices and poverty spiralled.

As the cost-of-living crisis gripped the UK, experts repeatedly warned that households were being plunged into poverty, with food bank use soaring and charities finding parents going hungry so their children could eat.

Health experts warned in 2022 that millions of people were facing a “significant humanitarian crisis”, exacerbated by rocketing fuel bills.

In 2018-19, 70 patients needed emergency care for hunger, the statistics show, but the figure shot up to 230 after five years – a 218.5 per cent increase.

The Independent