TWO-THIRDS of low income families struggle to buy essentials such as clothes, heating and food, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) warned yesterday.
The anti-poverty charity revealed that a record 62% of those families were unable to afford an essential item in the past six months.
That is the equivalent of 7.4 million households struggling in poverty, up from 7.1 million a year ago.
Almost half of those surveyed had skipped a meal or cut portion sizes to save money.
Newly appointed Prime Minister Andy Burnham has promised to set out how he will ‘give people some breathing space, help with the cost of living,’ including cutting VAT on electricity bills from October.
‘Any extra help with their energy bills will be welcomed by older people, who we know worry hugely about the cost of fuel and often ration their heating, putting their health at risk, to ensure they can make ends meet,’ said Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK.
‘But the charity would now like the prime minister to go further and increase the value of the Warm Home Discount, to cover all households on low incomes.’
JRF’s chief economist Chris Belfield said: ‘Andy Burnham starts his time as prime minister at a time when the cost-of-living crisis has never been more widely felt.
‘Government policy can work. We need greater intervention to control rental prices, make energy affordable and improve the adequacy of Universal Credit so everyone can afford the essentials.’
The figures come from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s poverty tracker, which surveys about 4,000 people from households in the lowest 40% of incomes.
The charity noted that food inflation averaged 4.1% between May 2025 and May 2026, compared to 3.6% for overall inflation, which has greater impact on lower-income households because they spend more of their income on food.
Elaine Yates, 77, says money worries mean she ‘can’t remember’ the last time she used her oven to cook a hot meal.
‘I don’t look after myself. I can’t remember the last time I put the oven on. I have got an air fryer that I probably used about three weeks ago.
‘I had two slices of toast yesterday and two Weetabix and fruit is all I’ve had to eat today.’
The pensioner lives by herself in rural Northamptonshire after being widowed five years ago. Following 20 years as a full-time carer for her husband, her finances are ‘extremely tight’, so she has felt particularly vulnerable to price rises since he passed away.
‘It’s really hard times, not just for me, but for thousands of others. My car costs me an arm and a leg.
‘The fuel prices are rocketing up again, and I live in a village, so I need a car because I’ve got arthritis and I can’t walk very far. I spend about £50 a week on petrol, which is more than my food bill.’
