{"id":71,"date":"2023-12-23T11:45:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-23T11:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/cadence-boxall\/?p=71"},"modified":"2023-12-23T11:47:53","modified_gmt":"2023-12-23T11:47:53","slug":"cost-of-living-the-north-east-are-struggling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/cadence-boxall\/2023\/12\/23\/cost-of-living-the-north-east-are-struggling\/","title":{"rendered":"Cost of living: The North East are struggling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The current cost of living crisis in the UK has made spending on everyday items such as food, gas and petrol incredibly limited for many households. For some people, this has meant relying on resources such as food banks, soup kitchens and other organisations to provide food for themselves and their families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food banks and similar support systems <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are currently over 2000 food banks available in the UK<\/a> alone, operating both independently and with The Trussell Trust<\/a>. Sadly, the demand for these organisations increase annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image credit: Food Lifeline<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The latest report<\/a> of independent food banks found that 89% of the organisations had seen an increase in demand from December 2021\/January 2022 to December 2022\/January 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is a staggering yet not overly surprising amount with more and more people being in need of financial help. Statistics<\/a> also found that approximately 2.99million people used a foodbank in the UK between 2022\/23 which is a significant increase from the 2021\/22 financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People of the North East are disproportionately disadvantaged when it comes to food insecurity with 10% of households in the area being deemed as ‘food insecure’<\/a> in 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the highest amount for any region within England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

English Region<\/td>% of Households that were food insecure<\/td><\/tr>
North East<\/td>10<\/td><\/tr>
West Midlands<\/td>9<\/td><\/tr>
North West<\/td>8<\/td><\/tr>
Yorkshire and the Humber<\/td>6<\/td><\/tr>
East Midlands<\/td>6<\/td><\/tr>
South East<\/td>6<\/td><\/tr>
East<\/td>5<\/td><\/tr>
London<\/td>5<\/td><\/tr>
South West<\/td>5<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Table showing ‘Household food security status by country\/region, FYE 2022. Credit: Government National Statistics <\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite governmental help via the cost of living payment in Spring 2023, Trussell Trust Statistics<\/a> found that 73% who received the payment felt that it either didn’t improve their current financial situation or did so only a little bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Infographic: Food bank usage UK – https:\/\/t.co\/aGyojLVQ6U<\/a><\/p>— Cadence Boxall (@boxall_cad7366) December 22, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>