One in six Britons not confident they can afford to feed their families – YouGov

A fifth of the public (22%) believe they are now more likely to need a foodbank than they were a year ago, the survey suggests.

File photo dated 26/04/16 of stocks of food at the Trussell Trust Brent Foodbank. (PA Wire)

One in six Britons are not confident they can afford to feed their families, a YouGov poll suggests.

While three-quarters of Britons (76%) are confident they have the money they need for food, a third of the public (34%) say they are less sure they can afford to feed their families than they were this time last year, including 11% who are “much” less confident than they were 12 months ago.

Some 17% say they are not confident they can afford to feed their families, according to the survey of 1,717 adults between October 7 and 9.

Just half of 18 to 24-year-olds (55%) say they are confident they can afford the food they need, compared to between 72% and 89% of older age groups.

While 87% of Britons say they have never had to turn to a foodbank, more than a fifth of the public (22%) believe they are now more likely to need one than they were a year ago.

Of the 9% of people who say they have used a foodbank at some point in their life, 60% visited within the last year, including 15% within the last week.

One in seven Britons (14%) have had to borrow money in order to afford their regular food bills in the past year, the same poll indicates.

There is also a significant generation gap around foodbank use, with one in seven (14%) of 18 to 24-year-olds saying they have used one compared with just 3% of over-65s.

The survey comes days after the British Retail Consortium recorded that food inflation leapt to a record 11.6% last month, while the Office for National Statistics said food and drink were 14.5% higher year-on-year.