The Food Foundation believes the data reinforces the need for the Feed the Future campaign and the expansion of Free School Meals to all households receiving Universal Credit.
Over a quarter of households with children (26%) have experienced food insecurity in the past month. Among households with three or more children 42% have suffered some form of food insecurity in the past month, compared to 16% of households with no children.
Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation said: “There are very serious physical and mental health implications from these worsening trends. It is hard for people who have never had to worry about having enough food to understand what it might feel like and we’re continuing to call on the Government to make this a priority.
“We want to see the expansion of Free School Meals to children on Universal Credit to ensure that every child is guaranteed a healthy, nutritious meal every school day, to take some pressure off families’ budgets.
“We want the Government to increase benefits in line with inflation and ensure employers pay at least the real living wage so people can pay essential bills. We also want to see measures introduced to make fruit, vegetables and other healthy foods available to those on the lowest incomes, so they are not forced into a poor diet of cheap processed food which promotes obesity.”
The new data shows that in the past month, 9.7 million adults or nearly one in five households (18%) have been unable to afford or get food so they have eaten less, skipped meals or gone without meals for an entire day. This is double the number affected in January.
The Food Foundation is calling for:
- Urgent action to ensure that all children in poverty have access to at least one nutritious meal a day at school by expanding the provision of Free School Meals to all children on Universal Credit.
- Renewed Government commitment to increase benefits in line with inflation to prevent the shocking levels of food insecurity in households with people on Universal Credit and people with disabilities increasing even more dramatically.
- Action by retailers to make it easier for people to afford the food they need and rebalance the cost of a basic shopping basket to make the healthy options the most affordable.
Gwen Hines, Save the Children UK chief executive, added: “No child should struggle through the school day because they are hungry. Yet, right now, 800,000 children living in poverty do not have access to free school meals and are missing out on healthy, nutritious food. Clearly, this is unacceptable and excludes many children from getting what could be their only hot meal of the day.
“The current £7,400 household income threshold to qualify is far too low and excludes families who are really struggling. Extending free school meals to all children whose families receive Universal Credit is the right and fair thing to do.”