Record number of households unable to afford basic essentials such as food, toiletries and heating

Andy Burnham begins his Downing Street premiership “at a time when the cost of living crisis has never been felt more widely”, a charity has said.

New research reveals a record number of households in the UK are unable to afford basic needs such as food and heating, with the crisis increasingly affecting those not traditionally considered struggling.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) reports that an estimated 7.4 million low-income households across the country have been unable to meet at least one basic need in the past six months.

This marks the highest figure since the anti-poverty agency launched its cost of living tracking survey in 2021; this number was 7.1 million just a year ago.

More than half of households not eligible for means-tested benefits such as Universal Credit are now struggling (53 per cent), a significant increase from 47 per cent two years ago.

The analysis is based on a survey of 4,121 households in the bottom 40 percent of incomes conducted between May 7 and June 5.

The JRF report, published on Wednesday, said: “The increase in the number of households deprived of basic needs is driven primarily by those who are less likely to suffer from material deprivation.

“The number of households deprived of minimum needs has increased most rapidly in the last two years among those who are not covered by the income test, those who own property without a mortgage, families without any disabilities or health problems, households without children and households headed by someone over the age of 65.”

On Tuesday, Mr Burnham told his first cabinet meeting that this should be a “livings-covering government” and help those struggling with high costs.

The new prime minister has emphasized his desire to reassure Britons that “help is coming” and has tasked his senior team with “taking that little bit of pressure off people’s shoulders”.

He urged his colleagues to identify measures, both major and minor, that their respective departments could implement to alleviate the ongoing cost of living crisis.

In general, households unable to meet basic needs are those living in UC, headed by people under 25, of black or mixed ethnicity, non-UK nationals and those with three or more children or single-parent families.

According to the latest survey, 84 per cent of households in UC were unable to afford basic necessities in the last six months.

Essential items in the survey included food, basic toiletries, heating, appropriate clothing and shoes.

Mr Burnham began his term in Number 10 by telling the country he wanted to “give people breathing space” and on his second day in the job announced an £850 million tax cut on electricity bills that would save households around £45 a year as part of efforts to “put more money in people’s pockets and bring hope back”.

While the VAT cut was welcomed by experts as a “positive statement of intent”, it warned that it “does not address the scale of the situation facing households” amid predictions that household energy prices will remain high throughout this winter.

Although this week’s figures show grocery price inflation has fallen to its lowest rate since December 2024, the average household’s grocery bill for the year to July is still £156 higher than the same period the previous year.

JRF chief economist Chris Belfield said: “Andy Burnham takes office as prime minister at a time when the cost of living crisis has never been felt more widely.

“This ongoing crisis is not numbers on a spreadsheet, not graphs going up or down, but the inability of families to afford basic basic needs like food, heating and basic toiletries.

“The number of people unable to meet these basic needs has reached record levels: 7.4 million households.

“This is the challenge facing Andy Burnham’s administration, but there are reasons for optimism. Half a million fewer households are unable to heat their homes than two years ago, following the government’s intervention to cut energy bills by £150 a year and falling wholesale energy prices.

“Government policy can work. We need further intervention to control rental prices, make energy affordable and improve the adequacy of universal credit so everyone can afford basic needs.”