Numbers of hungry and malnourished households in the UK are on the rise because of climate breakdown and inflation, government figures show, with poorer, younger and disabled people hit hardest.
Many households worry about food running out, cannot afford balanced meals, experience hunger and have missed meals in the past 30 days, the figures reveal.
Data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs shows the proportion of households that are considered “highly food secure” fell from 87% in 2019-20 to 83% in 2022-23. The proportion considered food secure – including those that are “mostly food secure”, meaning affording a balanced diet is only sometimes a worry – fell from 92% to 90% over the same period.
Farmers drove about 80 tractors to Westminster on Wednesday to protest over changes to inheritance tax and cuts to agricultural subsidies that farming groups argue will put farms out of business and further affect food security. They have accused the UK government of not taking the issue seriously.
The Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said: “These statistics are a stark reminder of just how important farming communities are to the rest of the country as producers of food and the stewards of our countryside. The failure of both the Conservative and Labour governments is that their agricultural policy actively disincentivises the production of food. This is as outrageous as it is foolish.”
Tom Bradshaw, the president of the National Farmers’ Union of England and Wales, told the environment, food and rural affairs committee on Wednesday that the government was putting food security at risk. He said: “With food, we are producing at very, very low returns, supporting the whole of society,” and he called for changes to how farmers are paid for their food.
The Defra report says: “There has been a notable decrease in food-secure households (defined as access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life) which has coincided with increased financial pressures to household budgets from both high general inflation and high food inflation.”
The decrease in food security hits more vulnerable demographics the most. Low-income and disabled groups are at disproportionately high risk of household food insecurity and its potential negative impacts. Among households with disabled people, 84% were classified as food secure in 2022-23, compared with 94% of households without disabled people.
In England, the lowest rate of food security is in the north-west (87%), followed by the north-east, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the West Midlands, each on 88%. Food security was highest in the east, south-east and south-west of England, all on 92%. Among the countries of the UK, Scotland had the lowest percentage of food-secure households at 89%, while Northern Ireland had the highest at 91%.
Young people are suffering the most: households headed by people aged 16-24 had the lowest level of food security, with only 79% classified as food secure. In households headed by individuals aged 25-34 and 35-44, 87% are food secure. In households where the head is aged 85 and over, as well as those headed by 75- to 84-year-olds, 98% were food secure.
Lower-income groups were less likely to eat healthily, the report also found. The poorest households consumed on average 42% fewer fruits and vegetables than recommended. The richest households eat 13% fewer.
Overall, access to food and a balanced diet in the UK is threatened by climate breakdown, food inflation and Brexit, the report says. The UK produces about 60% of the food its inhabitants consume, with 40% coming from imports.
The report found much of the imported food comes from areas that are threatened by drought or floods which are being exacerbated by global heating. Inflation, partly caused by global instability and war, has pushed up the cost of farming, and leaving the EU has meant imports from the UK’s largest external source of food have decreased since 2021.
“The events of the last three years show a trend of high volatility or weakened stability,” the report says. “The impact of geopolitical and climate events has been to drive up prices of inputs to food production, such as energy and fertiliser and food itself. This has created a challenging business environment for the food sector.
“As a result of the increased costs, food inflation in the UK reached its highest point in 45 years, and was higher than general consumer price inflation compared to 45 years ago. UK food price inflation was among the highest of the G7 economies in 2023, suggesting challenges to UK resilience to price shocks linked to the UK’s energy supply.”
The report also found Brexit continues to affect the food supply chain, because “agrifood sector labour shortages continue and are compounded by significantly more restrictive access to EU labour since freedom of movement with the EU ended in 2021”.
