The study found that 23 percent of families with three children and 26 percent of families with four or more children experienced food insecurity in June, compared to 17 percent of households with one or two children and 12 percent of households without children.

This week, Labour suspended seven of its MPs after they backed an SNP amendment to scrap the welfare benefit that limits child benefit to two children per household. Concurrently, new research has uncovered some alarming insights into food insecurity and the effects of the policy on families.

As part of the Food Foundation’s Food Insecurity Tracking progamme, the charity commissioned YouGov to survey 6,177 adults in the UK. The survey revealed that 14 percent of households (an estimated 7.2 million adults) experienced food insecurity in June 2024. 18 percent of households with children reported experiencing food insecurity, compared with 12 percent of households without children.  

Notably, 18 percent of households with children reported food insecurity, compared to 12 percent of households without children. The research also found that among the poorest fifth of the population, households with children would need to spend 70 percent of their disposable income on food to afford a government-recommended healthy diet. “This is clearly not a realistic proportion of disposable income to expect families to spend on food,” said the charity.

By contrast, households without children in the poorest fifth would need to spend 42 percent of their disposable income on food to afford a healthy diet. “This figure is still unfeasibly high and highlights why the UK remains blighted by persistently high levels of food insecurity,” the Food Foundation commented.

The findings highlighted the impact of the two-child benefit cap, showing that 23 percent of families with three children and 26 percent of families with four or more children experienced food insecurity. This compares to 17 percent of households with one or two children and 12 percent of households without children.

Introduced by the Conservatives in 2015 and effective since April 2017, the two-child benefit cap has been a point of contention. Campaigners have long called for its removal, with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby describing it as “cruel,” and “neither moral nor necessary.” Labour has cited spending controls as the reason for not being able to immediately abolish the policy, stating that there would be no change without economic growth.

The Resolution Foundation has estimated that abolishing the two-child limit would cost the government between £2.5 billion and £3.6 billion in 2024/25, but considers these costs “low compared to the harm that the policy causes.”

In response to its new research, the Food Foundation is urging Labour to prioritise reducing children’s food insecurity within the Child Poverty Taskforce and Children’s Wellbeing Bill. They recommend accounting for the cost of healthy and sustainable diets when setting benefit levels and the national minimum/living wage and removing the two-child limit. The charity is also advocating for the new government to provide Free School Meals to all children, starting by expanding eligibility to all children in families receiving Universal Credit and automatically enrolling all eligible children.

Shona Goudie, Policy and Advocacy Manager at the Food Foundation, welcomed the government’s decision to launch a Child Poverty Taskforce but emphasised that immediate action is desperately needed to relieve the families across the UK who are going hungry. She criticised the lack of immediate measures in the King’s Speech and called for decisive action to ensure everyone can afford and access a nutritious diet, which would help achieve goals of making children healthier, reducing pressure on the NHS, and boosting the economy.

 “We urge the government to set reducing children’s food insecurity as a goal for the child poverty task force and Children’s Wellbeing Bill, and to take critical next steps to achieve this including ensuring the national minimum/living wage and benefit levels cover the cost of basic essentials, including food; extending eligibility for nutritional safety nets including free school meals at lunchtime and Healthy Start; and abolishing the two-child benefit limit,” Goudie added.

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