One in five workers have skipped meals to make ends meet in past year, survey finds

Working households going without food or heating, TUC finds

Ben Chapman
Friday 27 September 2019 15:23 BST
Comments
Of 2,700 people polled in July this year, 30 per cent said they would not be able to pay an unexpected £500 bill – up from 24 per cent in 2017
Of 2,700 people polled in July this year, 30 per cent said they would not be able to pay an unexpected £500 bill – up from 24 per cent in 2017

One in five workers has skipped meals over the past year to make ends meet, according to research by the Trades Union Congress.

When asked the same question two years ago, one in eight respondents said they had gone without food because they were short of money.

This year almost a fifth said they have gone without heating because they were unable to pay for it, while a similar proportion said they had pawned or sold possessions to pay the bills.

Of 2,700 people polled, 30 per cent said they would not be able to pay an unexpected £500 bill – up from 24 per cent in 2017.

Two-fifths of respondents said their biggest concern about work was that their pay was not keeping up with living costs, while one in 10 said they had been unable to pay their rent or mortgage on time.

The figures highlight a “toxic mix” of insecure work, low pay and weak wage growth that has hurt living standards for millions of Britons, the TUC said.

Frances O’Grady, the union body’s general secretary, pointed the finger at Boris Johnson for failing to take action.

“Any responsible prime minister would be urgently dealing with Britain’s cost of living crisis,” Ms O’Grady said.

“But instead Boris Johnson is threatening to make things much worse by forcing through a no-deal Brexit.

“He must stop playing games with people’s livelihoods and rule out no deal once and for all.”

Last week, debt charity Step Change said it had received a record 331,000 calls to its helpline in the first half of the year, including a “worrying” proportion of callers who were falling into debt due to reduced income, illness or because they rely on credit to pay for day-to-day living expenses.

Unsecured debt rose to an average of £15,880 per household in the first quarter of 2019 – a £1,160 increase on a year earlier, an analysis by the TUC published earlier this month found.

Ms O’Grady added: “Having a job should mean you can provide a decent life for your family.

“But after a decade of low pay, rising insecurity and public spending cuts, millions of working people are struggling to afford even the basics.”

Margaret Greenwood, Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary, said the survey provided “damning evidence” of the reality faced by millions of workers on low pay.

“Families are being left with impossible choices of whether to pay for food, heating or rent,” she said. “Instead of addressing low pay and insecure work, Boris Johnson is threatening a no-deal Brexit that would have a disastrous impact on jobs and living standards.”

This week, shadow chancellor John McDonnell unveiled a series of policies aimed at improving conditions for UK workers. A Labour government would move towards a 32-hour working week, raise the minimum wage to “at least £10 an hour”, ban zero-hours contracts and give all workers full employment rights from day one of employment, he pledged.

He said he believed in “working to live, not living to work”.

Eyes will now turn to the Conservative Party conference, which is scheduled to get underway on Sunday.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in