Latest food insecurity tracker shows seven million adults going hungry

The latest Food Foundation Food Insecurity survey, published today, shows that for far too many households across the UK, hunger continues to be a reality.

Key findings:

• 14% of households - an estimated 7.3 million adults - were affected by food insecurity in January 2025. 
• 5% of households reported not eating for a whole day because they could not afford or get access to food. 
• Households with children, single-parent families, those in receipt of Universal Credit or living with a disability continue to be much more likely experience food insecurity. 
• Food insecure families were more likely to cut back on healthy foods like fruit and vegetables.
• Free School Meals are not currently reaching all who need them: for households with children not on Free School Meals, the latest survey found that 1 in 9 (12%) had smaller meals or skipped meals because they couldn’t afford or access enough food.

See the full results from the latest survey on our Food Insecurity Tracker here.

Tilda Ferree, Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer: "Since the previous Food Insecurity survey, conducted just days before the new Government came into post in July 2024, we have seen almost no improvement in the levels of food insecurity reported.

"It’s imperative that this Government uses opportunities like the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, Child Poverty Taskforce and Food Strategy to ensure that all households can access and afford sufficient healthy food.

"This should include strengthening Free School Meals, the Healthy Start scheme and ensuring that wages and benefits are enough to afford healthy food."

Our Executive Director Anna Taylor live on GMB

For further insight into the figures listen to our latest podcast with Senior Advocacy and Policy Officer Tilda Ferree.