Chapter 4: Ensure a healthy standard of living for all

Food insecurity is when someone struggles to afford or access enough food.
(Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. (1996). Report of the World Food Summit.)

It is measured in terms of severity: high, marginal, low and very low food security.
(Food and Agriculture Organisation. (2015). Voices of the hungry.)

Those experiencing low and very low food security will have skipped meals, have not eaten when hungry, or have not eaten for one full day.
(Taylor A, Loopstra R. (2016). Too Poor to Eat - Food Insecurity in the UK. The Food Foundation.)

Food insecurity may be long term, temporary or cyclical. It can be influenced by a number of reasons, such as income, employment, ethnicity, and disability. The main reasons why people need to access a food bank include problems with the benefit system, changes to family circumstances, ill-health and lack of support.
(The Trussell Trust (2022). End of year stats)

During the pandemic, the main reasons why people experienced food insecurity were found to be because they didn't have enough money (55%), because of isolation (31%) and lack of access and supply (23%).
(The Food Foundation. (2022). Food foundation release new report showing pandemic effect on food insecurity remains a crisis)

The risk for food insecurity increases when money to buy food is limited or not available. Food price inflation hit 4.3% in February 2022, the highest rate since 2013 and is projected to continue to increase.
(Davey J (2022). UK grocery inflation hits 4.3%, Ukraine conflict adds to pressure - Kantar.)

This means that food insecurity is expected to worsen. 

Since the 2008 recession, food insecurity has become more common in the UK, with numbers at a record high. In 2019/20, 1 in 5 of UK households with incomes of under £200 a week reported food insecurity.
(Department for Work and Pensions. (2021). Family Resources Survey: Financial year 2019 to 2020.)3

Now, more than 1 in 6 people are experiencing food insecurity.
(The Food Foundation. (2022). Food insecurity tracking)

Food insecurity is even higher in single parent households and for households with children getting Free Schools Meals, where two in five have reported food insecurity in the past six months.
(The Food Foundation. (2022). Food foundation release new report showing pandemic effect on food insecurity remains a crisis)

Regional differences in food insecurity mean that numbers are highest in the North East of England, where one in three households are food insecure. Numbers are highest among women and children, with more than one in four who are considered food insecure. This number increases to almost half of households with three or more children.
(The Food Foundation. (2022). Food insecurity tracking)

There is also an increased risk of food insecurity for ethnic minority population groups, who are twice as likely to be food insecure. Adults who identified as being limited a lot by health problems or disabilities were five times greater levels of food insecurity than those without.
(The Food Foundation. (2022). Food foundation release new report showing pandemic effect on food insecurity remains a crisis)

With the cost-of-living crisis expected to last at least two years, it is likely that the number of women, children and families living in food insecurity will get even higher. Lack of food is the presenting problem. However, inadequate income is the root cause of food insecurity. Over half of households on Universal Credit have food insecurity,94 and it is these households that are thought to be more likely to be affected by the rising gas and electricity costs.
(The Food Foundation. (2022). Food foundation release new report showing pandemic effect on food insecurity remains a crisis)

This means that these households will be using their appliances less for cooking, eating cold meals, they are turning the fridge and/or freezer off and washing dishes in cold water. Food insecurity is a public health concern because it can affect the type and amount of food eaten, and thus affect physical and mental health. It can also affect social health as people are unable to take part in 'normal' food experiences, like eating out or inviting friends over, and can begin to feel excluded from daily social life. We know that having a healthy balanced diet is important for good health, therefore people who are most impacted by the cost-of-living are more likely to have a poorer quality of diet. 

The cost-of-living crisis and cuts to crucial support services are mostly impacting single mother households, pushing them into the depths of despair. There are 146 single-mother families per 1,000 families in the North East compared with 24 single-father families per 1,000.
(ONS. (2022). Families and Households in the UK: 2021.)

This equates to 309,000 single mother families and 50,000 single fathers in the North East.65 70% of single mothers are admitting to going hungry to feed their children and skipping baths or showers to keep help save their money for soaring bills. 

These inequalities make women more vulnerable to low income and poverty, a cause of food insecurity. 

This also means that our children and young people are at increased exposure to food insecurity, and the cycle continues. 
(ONS. (2022) Annual Population Survey: April 2021 - March 2022 (Accessed from NOMIS))

Across high-income countries in Europe, the UK has done the most research exploring how food insecurity impacts on women's health and wellbeing. Speaking to women with lived experience of food insecurity shows that they have poorer physical, mental, and social health.
(Bell Z, Scott S, Visram S et al. (2022). Experiences and perceptions of nutritional health and wellbeing amongst food insecure women in Europe: A qualitative meta-ethnography. Social Science and Medicine. 311.)

It is important that we listen to women who have experienced food insecurity to better understand how this impacts on their lives. Here, we have explored the lived reality of food insecurity for women in Gateshead.