Hunger in the United Kingdom, the most dramatic balance of the worst inflation in 40 years

When her two sons ask her for

, Aislinn Corey, a London preschool teacher, spreads a blanket on the floor and plays "picnic."

She takes an orange or apple that she picked up from the preschool food bank and cuts it into thirds to share.

"We do it as an activity," he said.

"That way they don't know that mom is in trouble."

She says that dinners are often reduced to "pasta pasta pasta," and that

so there is more for her children.

Staff deliver food and household items to a food bank, in Battersea, London.

Photo: Mary Turner/The New York Times

In a scenario where the cost of food and heating has been breaking records in recent months, the signs of distress are everywhere.

The BBC has posted

(about $1.23) per serving.

Some schools

.

And many communities have opened "warm spaces," heated public rooms for people with cold homes.

Hungry working families

But in Britain,

one of the most shocking signs of the cost-of-living crisis is that growing numbers of workers are finding it

.

Some come

first time .

"It's appalling that it's working people who come to us," said Vicky Longbone, a church minister who runs a food bank in Derby, central England.

Children's shoes and books are also handed out at food banks.

Photo: AFP

For the hardest-hit working families, the

.

Job growth has left Britain with fewer households out of work, but many of those who found a job continued

, leaving them vulnerable when inflation peaked a few months ago. 41-year high and wages failed to keep up.

Austerity measures under a decade of Conservative-led governments have also reduced the subsidies many low-income families receive, including working households.

As of 2016 Britain has had

for most workers, benefiting some of the lowest earners.

But many of them still can't get enough work hours, and wages for low-income workers have grown more slowly in Britain than in other Western countries such as Germany and France.

A coat rack for coats that can be donated or worn, in the "Second Chance Cafe" at St. Mary's Church in the Stoke Newington neighborhood of London.

Photo: Mary Turner/The New York Times

"Things are harder because the last ten years have been horrible," said Greg Thwaites, an economist at the

, an independent think tank that specializes in living standards.

In October,

over the previous year.

The cost of energy and food fueled inflation, which disproportionately affected lower-income families, who spend the lion's share on basic necessities.

The increases slowed slightly in December, but consumer prices continued to rise more than 10% year-on-year.

children go hungry

While some key statistics are not yet available, such as the latest annual child poverty figure, there are clear indications that many workers, including working parents, are under severe stress, as well as

at home.

Tomato cans at a food bank.

Photo: AFP

Although the percentage of working families using food banks is still very small, it currently represents a sizeable portion of users.

The Trussell Trust, which runs food banks across the country and registered more than 300,000 new users in the first half of last year, reported that a fifth of its clients as of mid-2022 came from households with one person working.

In London, the

, up from 330 the year before.

Some schools have started offering

to all students, not just those who are entitled to them through the welfare system, and the school principal in a deprived area of ​​the city said that more and more children and parents had started to rely on the free toast that the school hands out at the door for breakfast.

The Felix Project, which supplies surplus food to organizations across London, said half of the 183 charities it supports had recently reported that full-time public sector workers

.

At the end of another busy shift, Kingsley Fredrick, who works at an east London food bank, said: "There are ambulance staff and teachers who go to the food bank. What does that say about a community, about a country? ".

People also look for clothes at food banks.

Photo: AFP

Low-income Londoners are bearing the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis, according to an analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a British research institute, with the added pressure of rising rents.

But the crisis has spread well beyond the capital: Scotland and the north of England have also been hit hard.

One recent night, Alicia Marcano, a 46-year-old nurse, made her first visit to a food bank in the London borough of Hackney.

She listened attentively to the instructions of the volunteers and, with downcast eyes,

.

"This is new to me," she said.

In recent months, she had saved money by preparing sausage and hamburger lunches for her 12-year-old daughter instead of paying for school lunches.

"Normally I wouldn't give you something like that," he said.

"But it's cheap."

Some Conservative Party lawmakers argue that the demand for food banks

.

One of them, Lee Anderson, pointed out that the real "challenge" is that food bank users "can't cook properly, can't prepare a meal from scratch, can't plan for spending."

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said the government recognized families were struggling and had recently allocated billions of pounds to help people pay bills during the cost-of-living crisis.

The Resolution Foundation explained in a recent report that with these measures the government had rightly given priority to lower-income families.

But a YouGov survey commissioned for the report found that

but had not eaten due to lack of money in the past month.

Before the pandemic, that figure was 5%.

The government also notes that child poverty fell during the peak years of the pandemic, but experts said the decline was likely linked to government pandemic subsidies that have now ended.

Hunger in the UK due to high inflation.

Photo: AFP

Christalla Jamil, CEO of a group of 10 schools in some of London's most deprived areas, said she was seeing the effects of the cost-of-living crisis on a daily basis.

Some kids have started bringing

, which their parents have gotten from school food banks.

Some teaching assistants have even started turning to the food bank.

"It's heartbreaking," he said.

"And it's more heartbreaking because it's about all of our people."

Chefs in Schools, a charity that specializes in school meals, said teachers had reported children stealing food from their peers to take home and hiding in the playground when they hadn't brought anything for lunch.

"We are one of the richest countries in the world," said Naomi Duncan, CEO of the solidarity organization.

"We can make things better for our children."

More than a third of children in England receive free school meals, according to the government, as do all children in the first three years of school.

But charities argue that many older children from low-income families

because their parents earn more than the aid limit, which for many is £7,400 a year.

A volunteer at a Trussell Trust food bank at St. Mary's Church in the Stoke Newington neighborhood of London.

Photo: Mary Turner/The New York Times

For some children, school meals have recently become the only reliable and nutritious meal of the day, say teachers and charities.

Sharon Grant, a part-time cashier at a London Asda supermarket, said the cost of energy lately has often left her with little or no money for food.

Like many low-income people,

, entering the money at a meter in her apartment.

With the cold of winter, the 50 pounds she puts on the counter can only last a couple of days.

Sometimes, she feeds her twin 15-year-old sons and her 11-year-old daughter cereal for dinner.

On the worst nights, she has nothing to give them, and she has noticed that they have started having problems with homework.

"They are not as bright as before," he lamented.

"

."

c.2023 The New York Times Company

Translation: Elisa Carnelli

look too

In his first Christmas speech as king, Carlos III highlighted "solidarity" amid rising prices in the United Kingdom

Where is my boy?

British restaurants seek staff after Brexit