Emma has been a Registered Dietitian for over 17 years and has experience in adult and paediatric dietetics. She has been the Editor of NHD for seven years, steering the editorial content and supporting the production process. Emma currently works in industry.
Emma Coates, RD
Food insecurity and food poverty: a national crisis
On 6th September, National Food Bank Day took place. It's an annual event acknowledging the work of food banks and the support they provide to those who need it.
Over recent years, food banks have very much become part of the social support system within the UK. In the early 2000s, the Trussell Trust (TT) initiated The Food Bank project, which offered three days of emergency food for those experiencing short-term crisis.(1)
Since then, the TT food bank network within the UK has expanded to support record numbers of people, with one in seven in the UK facing hunger.(2) Between April 2023 and May 2024, more than 3.1 million emergency food parcels were distributed by food banks within the TT network.(3). The organisation reports that this reflects a 94% increase over the last five years.(3)
In March 2023, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) published statistics on food bank use for the first time, reporting that, in 2022/23, 2.3 million people in the UK lived in a household which had used a food bank within the previous 12 months. This equates to 3% of the population.(4)
Defining the issue
When discussing or researching this matter, different terms are commonly used. Food insecurity and food poverty are typically used and both have similar definitions:
FOOD INSECURITY
- ‘...a lack of the financial resources to ensure reliable access to food to meet dietary, nutritional, and social needs’.(5)
- The Food Foundation defines food insecurity as ‘being unable to reliably access sufficient, affordable and nutritious food’.(6)
FOOD POVERTY
- There is no official definition of ‘food poverty’.
- A household can be defined as experiencing food poverty or ‘household food insecurity’ if they cannot (or are uncertain about whether they can) acquire ‘an adequate quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways’.(7,8)
- The Food Standards Agency defines food poverty as 'the inability of individuals and households to secure an adequate and nutritious diet’.(9)
Why do we need food banks?
Food banks provide much-needed support and supplies to those who do not have sufficient funds to buy basic and essential nutritious foods such as breakfast cereals, pasta, rice, vegetables and fruit, tinned fish or meat.
Research by the TT highlights that those who are most likely to use food banks include the following:(10)
Those with a disability or living with someone who has a disability - More than half of households experiencing food poverty and 75% of those referred to TT network food banks report having a disability themselves or a member of their household is disabled.
Working age adults - This population group is more likely to use a food bank than pensioners. Single adults who live alone and those who are not currently in paid work are at risk.
Families with children - Around half (47%) of all households experiencing food insecurity include children under 16 years of age.
Structural inequalities - When experiencing food insecurity and accessing food aid, there is over-representation of some population groups. Women, people from ethnic minority groups, people who are LGBTQ+ and those who’ve sought or ever applied for asylum are included here.
Adapted from The-Trussell-Trust-Hunger-in-the-UK-report 2023 (10)
Insufficient income
A recent systematic review and meta-analysis which reviewed data from high- or upper-middle-income countries, showed that compared with the general population, adults living with severe mental illness (SMI) are more likely to experience food insecurity.(11) SMIs include conditions such as schizophrenia, major depression, or bipolar disorder. Adults with SMI are over three times as likely to experience food insecurity than those without SMI1.(1)
Research by the TT has highlighted that the main driver for accessing food bank support is insufficient income.(10) Since the early 2000s, the number of people experiencing poverty has been relatively stable. However, since 2017 there has been a rise in those experiencing destitution.(10) This means that a person or a household is unable to fund essentials such as food and heating.
Three key factors have been identified as main contributors to having insufficient income:(10)
- The design of the social security system - Lack of information about entitlements; difficulties claiming and sustaining benefits; insufficient income from benefits when accessed; and further reductions to income from sanctions, caps and debt deductions, are all contributing factors.
- Work which does not provide sufficient protection from financial hardship - People experiencing food insecurity are more than twice as likely to have experienced adverse events (such as bereavement, becoming sick or disabled, or domestic abuse) than those who are food secure. Food bank users are significantly more likely to have experienced multiple adverse events of this nature.
- Challenges accessing suitable jobs - Particularly for those living with a disability, those who have caring responsibilities and parents, especially mothers. Isolation from friends and family, and lack of support also play a role here.
Food inflation is an additional compounding factor. We’ve seen food prices rising since the latter half of 2021 and reaching the highest costs since the late 1970s.(7)
In July 2024, the Office for National Statistics published that 45% of adults in Great Britain reported an increase in their cost of living compared with the month before.(12) Of those included, 92% saw the price of their food shopping increase, and 37% reported that they were spending less on essentials including food.(12)
Other factors contributing to food insecurity include limited access to transport and poor
housing.(13)
What’s our role as healthcare professionals?
Given the national extent of food insecurity, it’s vital for nutrition-focused healthcare professionals to recognise the impact of food insecurity and, where possible, support those who need aid.
Food insecurity has a great impact on health and well-being, putting the most vulnerable at risk. It is linked with malnutrition, obesity, eating disorders and depression. Also, the risk of developing chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, certain cancers, cardiovascular disease and obesity, is increased by unhealthy diets.(14) Poor nutrition is also linked with fatigue and decreased immunity.(14) All are conditions that have an impact on the need for NHS services.(14)
The BDA’s policy statement on food insecurity published in March 2020, highlights the knowledge and skills that dietitians have to directly support those who need it and input into wider public health action to prevent and reverse food insecurity.(15)
The BDA also supports a range of actions that can be taken to address food insecurity. One such action includes joining the Inequalities in Health Alliance, a coalition of organisations to campaign for a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities.(16) The recent BDA strategic plan includes campaign plans for ending food insecurity(17)
Putting an end to food insecurity
Whilst there are many local and national initiatives available to support those who are currently experiencing food insecurity, there is more that can be done to address the matter.
Numerous organisations, including the Trussell Trust, the Inequalities in Health Alliance, The Food Foundation and Feeding Britain, are working hard to highlight to the UK government that food insecurity is a major issue with significant impact on health and well-being, as well as on the economy. One of the most recent is from The Food Foundation, which called on the newly formed Labour government in July 2024 to reduce children's food insecurity as part of its child poverty task force.(18) However, despite the hard work, the data show that food insecurity is not going to disappear anytime soon.
'Feeding Britain' is a charitable organisation which offers an overview of the changes that could be made to improve the current situation to work towards a UK where no one goes hungry. The change required means working together on a local and national level, with systemic change being a major part of this.
Whilst the effort at local grassroots level provides much-needed support where and when needed, changes in policy and legislation at a national level are paramount to address the root causes of food insecurity. You can read more about Feeding Britain’s work on this here...
You can also read more on what our new government can do to improve children’s access to healthy and nutritious food in our latest NHD blog here...
End note
Food insecurity is a complex issue, which has some obvious causes, however, addressing those is also complex. There are many complicated issues that we live with these days, however, this is one we must work on. To end on a quote by Feeding Britain: ‘There's no place for hunger in the UK. Access to good quality food for all is possible, and essential for a thriving society.'(19)
References
- Williams A and May J (2022). A genealogy of the food bank: Historicising the rise of the food charity in the UK. Trans Inst British Geog - 2022 - Williams - A genealogy of the food bank Historicising the rise of food charity in the UK.pdf
- The Trussell Trust (2024). Home. Home - The Trussell Trust
- The Trussell Trust (2024). What we do – Our vision for a UK without the need for food banks. What we do (trusselltrust.org)
- Department for Work and Pensions (2023). Collection: Households below average income (HBAI) statistics. Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
- Blake MK (2019). More than just food: Food insecurity and resilient place-making through community self-organising. Sustainability | Free Full-Text | More than Just Food: Food Insecurity and Resilient Place Making through Community Self-Organising (mdpi.com)
- The Food Foundation (2024). Food Insecurity Tracking. Food Insecurity Tracking | Food Foundation
- UK Parliament (2024). Research Briefing: Food poverty: Households, food banks and free school meals. Food poverty: Households, food banks and free school meals - House of Commons Library (parliament.uk)
- O’Connell R, Knight A and Brannen J (2019). Child Poverty Action Group - Living Hand to Mouth: Children and food in low-income families. Welfare Rights | Living Hand to Mouth (askcpag.org.uk)
- Food Standards Agency (2017). Food poverty. Food poverty | Food Standards Agency
- The Trussell Trust (2023). Hunger in the UK – June 2023. 2023-The-Trussell-Trust-Hunger-in-the-UK-report-web-updated-10Aug23.pdf (trusselltrust.org)
- Smith J, Stevens H, Lake AA, Teasdale S and Giles EL (2023). Food insecurity in adults with severe mental illness: A systematic review with a meta- analysis. Food insecurity in adults with severe mental illness: A systematic review with meta‐analysis - Smith - 2024 - Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing - Wiley Online Library
- Office for National Statistics (2024). Dataset: Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: household finances. Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: household finances - Office for National Statistics
- British Dietetic Association (2024). Campaigns: Food poverty and insecurity. Food poverty and insecurity - British Dietetic Association (BDA)
- NHS Confederation (2022). Why preventing food insecurity will support the NHS and save lives. Why preventing food insecurity will support the NHS and save lives | NHS Confederation
- British Dietetic Association (2020). Food Poverty Policy Statement. Food Poverty - British Dietetic Association (BDA)
- Royal College of Physicians (2024). Inequalities in Health Alliance. Inequalities in Health Alliance | RCP London
- British Dietetic Association (2024). Strategic Plan: A ten-year vision for the BDA – A plan for the first three years. Final-BDA-Strategic-Plan-March-2024 (1).pdf
- The Food Foundation (2024) Press Release: Call for the new government to reduce children's food insecurity as part of child poverty taskforce. Call for new government to reduce children's food insecurity as part of child poverty taskforce | Food Foundation
- Feeding Britain (2024). Home - Feeding Britain
