One in 10 UK households are food-insecure, Food Foundation study shows

Food insecurity in the UK has remained stubbornly high over the last five years, with one in 10 households still affected, a new report from The Food Foundation charity has revealed.

This 11 per cent figure rises to 15 per cent (one in seven) for households with children.

According to the study, families face challenges in accessing enough food to eat, with more nutritious foods like fruit and vegetables often sacrificed in food-insecure households.

More than three quarters (78 per cent) of the population also said that they would eat more healthily if these items were more affordable.

Of the food-insecure households, 64 per cent report cutting back on fruit (vs. 14 per cent of food-secure households) and 50 per cent report cutting back on vegetables (vs. eight per cent of food-secure households) because of money worries.

Shona Goudie, policy and advocacy manager at The Food Foundation, said: “Food insecurity in the UK is a political choice, not an inevitability. The government must demonstrate its commitment to tackling this issue by setting clear targets to protect people from food insecurity and building national resilience.

“Over the last five years overall levels of food insecurity have remained persistently high but have fluctuated considerably demonstrating how rapidly conditions can change – either for the better or worse.

“These fluctuations reflect external events, but also policy measures taken by the government. The government must use its forthcoming Child Poverty Strategy to commit to halve the number of children experiencing food insecurity.”

Knock-on effects

Beyond being a social justice issue, food insecurity seriously harms physical and mental health, undermining people’s wellbeing, straining the NHS, reducing productivity, and ultimately weakening the economy, The Food Foundation points out.

The research shows that as struggling households with children are pushed to buy cheap, calorie-rich, nutrient-poor foods, we are also seeing that children from the most deprived fifth of the population are nearly twice as likely to be living with obesity as those in the least deprived fifth by their first year of school.

Similarly, children in their last year of primary school in the most deprived areas are more than twice as likely to have experienced tooth decay in their adult teeth compared to those in the least deprived areas.

These examples illustrate how the food system reinforces social inequalities from early childhood, the report says. And addressing food insecurity is essential to advancing several government priorities. These include reducing reliance on food banks, addressing disparities in life expectancy, breaking down barriers to opportunity, reducing child poverty, and having the healthiest generation of children ever.

Failure to address barriers that prevent low-income families from accessing and affording a healthy diet will undermine these goals.

Inflationary pressure

The UK inflation rate remained stable at 3.8 per cent in September, which was lower than expected, with food prices increasing at their slowest rate in more than a year as inflation remained unchanged for the third month in a row.

Nevertheless, The Food Foundation’s Basic Basket Tracker – which measures the weekly price of a basket of food for an adult male and adult female as part of a reasonably costed, adequately nutritious diet – shows that from April 2022 to October 2025 the price of the woman’s basket (non-loyalty card) has risen by 27.4 per cent and the price of the man’s basket (non-loyalty card) has risen by 30.2 per cent.

Calls for government support

The Food Foundation has also tracked food insecurity levels since March 2020. Over this relatively short time frame, food insecurity levels have remained persistently high, but have also fluctuated from seven per cent of the population to 18 per cent.

According to the foundation, this shows both that the UK food system remains vulnerable to external shocks, but also that levels can be quickly reduced or increased depending on the policy choices made by government in response to external factors.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, the government increased Universal Credit payments by £20 per week. The uplift was then removed in October 2021 even though the cost of living was rising.

In line with The Food Foundation’s data, the government’s own data shows the uplift reduced food insecurity among those who received it, and that food insecurity rose again when it was removed.

The Food Foundation is calling on the government to commit to reducing child food insecurity levels in its upcoming Child Poverty Strategy. This includes:

• Setting a target to halve levels of food insecurity;
• Removing the two-child limit and strengthening nutritional safety net schemes that support low-income families, such as: expanding Healthy Start to all families on Universal Credit and ensuring all children eligible for Free School Meals can benefit from them by removing barriers that currently prevent families from registering.

Vic Harper, CEO of The Bread and Butter Thing, which runs affordable food clubs using surplus food, concluded: “This isn’t just a cost-of-living crisis. That implies a short sharp situation. Food insecurity has become chronic for many families… We need structural change.”