A quarter (24.9%) of households in which NHS or social care workers live experienced food insecurity in January 2023, as did more than a quarter (25.8%) of households home to food sector workers and more than a fifth (21.1%) of households home to education workers.
The Food Foundation data showed 9.3 million adults (17.7% of households) experienced food insecurity in January 2023, with one in four households with children also experiencing food insecurity.
Of all households that were food insecure in January 2023, 38.6% were in employment, indicating that being in work is doesn’t prevent families from falling into food insecurity.
Anna Taylor, executive director of The Food Foundation, said: “Struggling to afford food is by no means confined to those out of work. Many people doing important jobs are also suffering the stress and indignity of not knowing if their pay cheque will allow them to buy the bare essentials.
“Businesses must pull out all the stops to help their lower paid staff and the Government needs to seriously scrutinise why their policies are failing to protect struggling families from affording the basics and start setting some targets for reducing food insecurity levels, particularly amongst benefit claimants.”
The Food Foundation is calling on the Government to take action to ensure no one in the UK has to suffer food insecurity by ensuring that minimum wage and benefit levels are set at values that take into account what is required for families to afford a healthy diet.