Which Types of Family are at Risk of Food Poverty in the UK? A Relative Deprivation Approach

Abstract

Not enough is known in the UK about how economic phenomena and policy changes have impacted families' ability to feed themselves. This article employs a novel way of identifying the types of UK families at risk of food poverty over time. Applying a relative deprivation approach, it asks what counts in the UK as a socially acceptable diet that meets needs for health and social participation and how much this costs. Comparing this to actual food expenditure by different family types, between 2005 and 2013, it identifies which are spending less than expected and may be at risk of food poverty. The analysis finds the proportion has increased over time for most family types and for lone parents and large families in particular. The discussion considers findings in light of changing economic and policy contexts and the implications for policy responses of how food poverty is defined and measured.

Eating with Friends, Family or Not at All: Young People's Experiences of Food Poverty in the UK

“…The cases are chosen to exemplify some of the poorest families across the two areas: all three are lone mother households, two currently living on benefits and, in one family, the mother has no recourse to public funds because of her legal status. Lone parents are known to be the most likely to be spending less on food than that needed to meet the Food Budget Standard as part of research into the Minimum Standard Income (O'Connell and others, ). Moreover, the three families represent key targets of current UK public policy and public discourse: migrant households without the right to live in the UK are at risk of destitution and deportation and lone parent families, who have long been the butt of policies that have sought to reduce ‘dependence’ on the state (O'Connell and Brannen, ).…”

Socio-demographic characteristics, diet and health among food insecure UK adults: cross-sectional analysis of the International Food Policy Study

“…FI was found to be associated with the presence of common mental disorders and poorer health among mothers in the Born in Bradford cohort (20,21) . Single-parent households and households with more children have also been reported to have increasingly higher risk of FI compared to other household types (22) . Some UK studies have examined associations with FI using food bank usage as a proxy measure of FI.…”

Food insecurity in Europe: Who is at risk, and how successful are social benefits in protecting against food insecurity?

“…Furthermore, the skills, knowledge, physical capacity and time investments entailed in food provisioning will influence the strength of relationships between income and food insecurity (Borch and Kjaernes, 2016;Beagan, Chapman and Power, 2018). Indeed, the elevated risk of food insecurity among lone-parent households and people with disabilities identified here and in previous research could reflect more constrained opportunities to protect food consumption among these groups (O'Connell et al, 2018). Policies that widen the availability of affordable childcare and social care provision for people with disabilities could prove valuable in mitigating the greater risk of food insecurity in these groups.…”