HUNGER and hardship in the UK are costing the Government £75 billion a year in additional public-services and other costs, new research from the Christian foodbank charity Trussell suggests.

The charity sets out the figures in a report, Cost of Hunger and Hardship, published on Wednesday.

Its 2024 report of the same name estimated that, in 2022 to 2023, nine million people in the UK, including three million children, were facing hunger and hardship (News, 11 October 2024) — a measure created by Trussell (formerly the Trussell Trust), which has a network of more than 1400 foodbanks. This figure had increased by one million since 2019, Trussell said. A further 425,000 people are projected to face this situation in the next three years, if nothing changes.

Trussell defines hunger and hardship as a median being between “deep poverty” — living 50 per cent below the poverty line, and “very deep poverty” — living in a household with an income (after housing costs) that is equivalent to less than 40 per cent of the UK median.

The economic modelling for its latest report was conducted by WPI Economics, supported by qualitative research by Humankind Research. It estimates that, in 2022 to 2023, hunger and hardship cost the UK £13.7 billion in public-service costs, including £6.3 billion on health care, £1.5 billion on education, £2.9 billion on children’s social care, and £3.1 billion on homelessness and rough sleeping.

This is based on research on the effects of poverty on mental and physical health, relationships, early education experiences and outcomes, people’s ability to find secure, quality work over “low-paid, unstable jobs with unpredictable hours and wages”, and a lack of affordable housing pushing people into poor-quality and overcrowded homes.

In the same period, the cost to the economy was £38.2 billion, it says, made up of reduced employment (£23.9 billion) and lower productivity (£11.3 billion). Fiscal costs are estimated at £23.7 billion, of which £18.4 billion are lower tax revenue and £5.3 billion are higher social-security spending.

The estimates in the report do not include the impact of debt or the additional costs of disability, it says, meaning that it should be viewed as “an underestimate of the true scale” of the crisis.

“There is a clear economic case for action to reduce the number of people facing hunger and hardship,” Trussell says, which would have “substantial benefits for society, the economy, and the public purse”.

There is, therefore, a “moral imperative” to eradicate the need for foodbanks, which can be done only by increasing people’s financial resources so that they are not immediately pushed into poverty and foodbank use by job loss or an unexpected bill.

The report concludes by recommending that the Government implement the essentials guarantee, which would ensure that everyone had a protected minimum amount of support in Universal Credit to afford essential items to live. This alone would drive about £17.6 billion in annual economic and fiscal benefits, the report says, as well as lift 2.2 million people out of hunger and hardship by 2026.

Boosting incomes would create £5 billion and lift 564,000 people out of hardship. Uprating and maintaining local housing allowance rates would create £1.5 billion and lift 265,000 people out of hardship, the report says. Finally, it urges the Government to scrap the two-child limit, which, it says, would create £3.1 billion and lift 670,000 people out of hardship.

“There is still time for reset, with the upcoming child poverty strategy, Spending Review and Autumn Budget 2025 all providing opportunities to set out a more ambitious agenda.”

The director of policy, research, and impact at Trussell, Helen Barnard, warned, however, that the Government’s planned cuts to disabled people’s social-security payments risked “plunging even more people into hunger and hardship . . . damaging their health and prospects even further. There is a better way. Turning this tide would have huge benefits, not just to individuals, but for us all.”