The charity found that failure to tackle hunger and hardship leads to the UK Government spending an additional £13.7bn per year on public services such as the NHS, schools and children’s social care.
Almost half (£6.3bn) of additional expenditure on public services is on healthcare alone, due to how hunger and hardship are linked to worse physical and mental health.
The news comes the day after it was reported that food price inflation is close to a 12-month high.
The cost of hunger
The Cost of Hunger and Hardship report, published today by the Trussell Trust, includes analysis from economic and public policy expert WPI Economics on how much failing to tackle hunger and hardship costs the UK’s economy and public finances.
Informed by interviews with people with lived experience, the report explores how facing hunger and hardship is linked to worse health, employment outcomes and housing security.
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The report finds the UK economy loses out on more than £38bn each year due to reduced employment and lower productivity, because of the ways in which hunger and hardship can harm people’s chances of gaining and maintaining stable employment.
For example, people said how facing hardship led to deteriorating physical and mental health, making it far more difficult to find and stay in work. Others talked about not being able to afford transport or the right clothes to attend a job interview, or not having access to the technology needed to complete job applications.
Reduced tax income
The public purse also loses out on £18.4bn in income from taxes each year and needs to spend an additional £5.3bn on social security payments as a result. This is due to the scarring effects of severe hardship, which can lead to long-term unemployment and lower wages – which can trap people in a cycle of hunger and hardship.
Helen Barnard, director of policy, research and impact at the Trussell Trust, said: “Trussell’s major new research finds that the right thing to do is also common sense for our economy. With a heart-breaking 9.3 million people in the UK experiencing hunger and hardship, including three million children, the UK Government has a moral and economic responsibility to tackle hunger, as more people risk being forced to the doors of food banks if nothing changes.
“The UK Government must move quickly to meet its commitment on ending the need for emergency food, but planned cuts to disabled people’s social security risk plunging even more people into hunger and hardship. Slashing support for disabled people, who most need our collective protection from hunger, is cruel, irresponsible, and out of touch with what the public wants. It risks piling even more pressure on public services and damaging our economy.
“The Government’s plans to make huge cuts to support for disabled people are likely to drive even more people into severe 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.”
Calls to rethink benefit cuts
The Trussell Trust is calling on the UK Government to urgently rethink planned cuts to support for disabled people, and update Universal Credit so that it protects people from hunger and hardship.
The charity is urging the Government to embed an “essentials guarantee” into Universal Credit to ensure 2.2 million fewer people would be at risk of hunger and hardship in 2027, including 720,000 children. It calculated this would lead to a reduction in costs to the economy, public services and public purse of £17.6bn.
Analysis also found that abolishing the two-child limit would lift 670,000 people out of facing hunger and hardship, including 470,000 children. This would lead to a reduction in costs to the economy, public services and public purse of more than £3bn.
The charity also called for the social security system to be simplified and more support provided to ensure that every family claimed the support they were eligible for. It said this would lift 565,000 people out of hunger and hardship and reduce costs to the economy, public services and public purse by £5bn.
