Cambridgeshire food bank user 'disgusted' to fall into poverty
Almost six million low-income households have skipped or cut down on meals because they can't afford food
Last updated 21st Jun 2023
Almost six million low-income households either skipped or cut down on meals because they can't afford food, and some in Cambridgeshire are feeling the pinch.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's (JRF) cost of living tracker also found 2.3 million of these households on universal credit have been forced to change the food they buy.
This is despite a report published earlier this year showing the East of England record one of the lowest poverty rates in the UK.
Ian, not his real name, is a former pension specialist from Cambridgeshire and has been attending a food bank for around two months.
“If it wasn’t through the food bank, then sometimes I wouldn’t be eating at all,” he said.
“The universal credit would be sufficient to get some things but not everything and as prices rose, things were getting harder to get and now it’s the basics.
“There’s enough food (he takes from the food bank) for three meals a day for two days, so I manage to make that stretch for at least a week.”
'Record financial support' for those in need, says government
The JRF tracker, which consists of 4,000 households on low incomes, found that 2.3 million low-income households on universal credit have been forced into changing the kind of food they buy.
And three quarters of low-income households went hungry, cut down or skipped meals in the last 30 days.
“My gas and electric bill was £29 a month and now it’s gone up to £54 a month,” said Ian.
“That’s got to come out of my universal credit but if it comes out of that, something has to go and it’s always the food that goes.
“I feel disgusted; I’ve worked all my life and when I do retire, I understand I’m going to get a full pension.
“But then I’m going to have the same trouble because the pension is so low; it’s not going to cope.”
A government spokesperson said it’s providing “record financial support to those who need it most”, including a £94 billion cost of living support package and helping families through its household support fund.
But for Ian, he does not see the situation getting better any time soon.
"For people my age, we have to rely on the food bank"
“There’s lots of jobs around but they’re jobs for younger people, but for people my age we’ve got no chance of getting a job because employers want the younger people,” he said.
“For people my age, we have to rely on the food bank; I’m 65 and I just can’t afford to pay my bills and eat at the same time.
“You see people asking for pay rises because they haven’t got enough money to pay their bills and buy food with.
“It’s a circle; as people get more money, the cost of living goes up and food prices go up and makes it worse.”