Category Archives: UK cost of living crisis

No point in food price measures without targeting small stores, Which? warns

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Consumer group tells chancellor ‘blanket approach’ will not address poor households’ access to affordable food

UK ministers’ efforts to reduce soaring food shopping bills “won’t touch the sides” without measures to make small grocery stores more affordable for low-income households, the chancellor has been warned.

Which?, the consumer group, has written to Jeremy Hunt over concerns that a blanket approach to lowering supermarket bills will not address the problem of accessibility to affordable food, after reports that ministers are considering a voluntary price cap scheme.

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Why it’s not quite back to the 70s with talk of food price controls

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Statutory caps were brought in under Heath, now the government wants a voluntary store scheme to meet Sunak’s pledge to halve inflation

A cost-of-living crisis. Pressure on the government to step in to help hard-pressed consumers. Calls for supermarkets to cut prices on staple food items. Substitute Rishi Sunak for Ted Heath, step into a time capsule and journey back to Britain in 1972.

Let’s be clear: ministers are not considering imposing the sort of statutory price controls on a loaf of bread, a pint of milk or a bar of soap that were put in place half a century ago. Not now and not ever, according to Whitehall sources. But it has emerged that Sunak and his team are certainly not averse to the big supermarkets coming up with their own voluntary agreement to reduce the cost of the weekly shop.

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UK food inflation falls in May, raising hopes prices may have peaked

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British Retail Consortium says rate fell from 15.7% to 15.4% even as rise in overall shop prices hits fresh high

Food inflation in the UK fell in May, lifting hopes that the rapid increase in grocery prices may have reached its peak after keeping the broader consumer prices index painfully high so far this year.

After more than a year of sharp increases in the price of food, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said annual food inflation eased this month from 15.7% to 15.4%, even as the overall rise in shop prices hits a fresh high.

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‘Shops will close’: soaring cost of potatoes batters British chippies

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The once humble, low-cost staple more than doubles in price, putting many fish and chip shops at risk

Whether it’s fried, baked or mashed, potatoes have traditionally been a low-cost staple food in the UK – but not any more.

A surge in costs is clobbering high street chippies, while in the supermarket, oven chips and the once humble baking potato are casualties of soaring grocery prices.

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Rishi Sunak warned over possible UK recession in 2024

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High inflation likely to push interest rates above 5% and force up mortgage and loan payments just ahead of election

Rishi Sunak has been warned the UK economy could be in recession next year as stubbornly high inflation pushes interest rates to more than 5% before the next general election.

Setting the stage for a further rise in borrowing costs on mortgages and loans for millions of households, economists predicted the Bank of England could be forced to drive Britain’s economy into a recession to tame inflation.

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Chelsea flower show embraces trend for grow-your-own veg

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Supermarket shortages mean community food projects will have a prominent place in this year’s show

Supermarkets have rationed fresh fruit and vegetables in recent months as a combination of Brexit, bad weather and labour shortages has hit supply and driven prices up.

Those shortages have led to a surge in people growing their own, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, and that trend will be reflected at the Chelsea flower show from 22 May.

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Treasury analysing whether removal of tampon tax has lowered prices

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Cost of period products has risen and campaigners say saving is not being passed on by retailers

The Treasury is analysing whether the removal of the “tampon tax” – trumpeted last week by Rishi Sunak as one of the benefits of Brexit – has helped lower prices at all, amid concerns the saving is not being passed on by retailers to women.

Responding to a written question from the Labour MP Ruth Cadbury, the government said a tax reduction was able to “contribute to the conditions for price reductions” and it was “looking into whether this important zero-rating is being passed on by retailers to women as intended”.

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‘The whole thing stinks’: UK water firms to pay out £14.7bn in dividends as customers foot sewage costs

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With cost of cleanup to be passed on to bill payers, analysis shows they will also pay £624 more by 2030 to fund investor payouts

Water companies will pay an estimated £14.7bn in dividends by the end of this decade, while making customers pay for new investment to stem the tide of sewage pollution in seas and rivers, analysis for the Observer has revealed.

Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron denounced the billions going to shareholders as “absolutely scandalous” while families struggling with the cost of living would be facing increases in bills to pay for the sewage cleanup.

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Energy bills could fall to average of £2,053 as Ofgem prepares to lower cap

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But campaigners say it will not give much relief to struggling households as government support ends

Household energy bills could fall to an average of £2,053 a year this summer as the regulator prepares to lower its cap on energy prices next week, according to analysts.

However, campaigners have warned that the lower cap on energy bills, to be announced on Thursday, is unlikely to provide much relief to households that struggled to pay their bills over the winter because the government’s support schemes have come to an end.

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Asda plans 5% pay cut for about 7,000 workers just outside London

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Supermarket is consulting about removing a 60p an hour supplement at 39 stores outside M25 despite the cost of living crisis

Asda is planning to cut pay for about 7,000 workers in stores close to London by about 5% despite the surge in the cost of living in Britain.

The UK’s third biggest supermarket, which was bought by the billionaire Issa brothers and private equity firm TDR Capital in 2020, said it was in consultation about removing a 60p an hour supplement from workers at 39 stores sited outside the M25 but near to the capital.

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Rishi Sunak’s upbeat view on economy stokes claims he is out of touch

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On flight to Japan for G7, PM says ‘economic optimism is increasing’ and insists Brexit is working

Rishi Sunak has been accused of being out of touch with ordinary families after claiming the economy was looking up and people’s household incomes were “hugely outperforming” expectations despite the cost of living crisis.

On a flight to Japan for the G7 summit of world leaders, the prime minister said that despite consumers struggling with high inflation and the cost of food and energy, there were “lots of signs that things are moving in the right direction” with the economy.

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Ann Widdecombe: don’t have cheese sandwiches if you can’t afford them

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Ex-Brexit party MEP says there is no ‘given right’ to low food prices despite families struggling with cost of living

Families should go without cheese sandwiches if they cannot afford the ingredients, Ann Widdecombe has said.

The former Brexit party MEP said there was no “given right” for low food prices, despite being told families “cannot afford to feed their children” and were having to make huge sacrifices as the cost of living crisis deepens.

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No 10 food summit ‘no more than a PR stunt’ and failed to tackle key issues

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Rishi Sunak’s Farm to Fork meeting, the first of its kind, failed to address solutions to inflation, soaring costs and food security, say attenders

Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street food summit has been described as “empty" by food and farming industry representatives, who rounded on the prime minister for failing to discuss soaring inflation or set out measures to safeguard British food production.

The Farm to Fork summit, the first meeting of its kind, brought together farmers, food producers and some of Britain’s largest supermarkets.

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Sunak food summit promises star guest and lots of rhubarb

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It’s hard to see the PM’s talks with farmers, store chiefs and the (rumoured) odd TV star producing concrete proposals

Farmers throwing in the towel amid soaring costs and labour shortages and falling domestic production of some foods have resulted in repeated gaps on British supermarket shelves – much to shoppers’ chagrin.

UK agriculture has had a torrid few years navigating the fallout from Brexit and the pandemic at a time when squeezed consumers are reassessing what they can afford to put in their shopping baskets.

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UK households missing out on £19bn a year in unclaimed welfare benefits

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Complexity of system and perception of government handouts as ‘shameful’ stopping people from accessing much-needed support

Millions of UK households are collectively missing out on at least £19bn a year in unclaimed welfare benefits, at a time when many are forced to use food banks or run up debt as they struggle with rising living costs, according to new estimates.

Lower income households are failing to claim benefits and other cash support for which they are eligible, according to a study by the consultancy Policy in Practice. Some families could be forgoing as much as £4,000 a year.

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Vulnerable UK women forced into ‘sex for rent’ by cost of living crisis

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Some women are turning to escort work to meet basic housing costs, charities warn

Women are increasingly being forced to engage in “survival sex” because of the cost of living crisis amid worsening conditions for Britain’s most vulnerable.

Charities warn rising costs paired with years of underfunding mean women, including those with trauma and mental health issues, are having to turn to sex in exchange for housing or to meet other basic needs.

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Sainsbury’s and Unilever deny claims of profiteering in cost of living crisis

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Supermarket chain and consumer goods company insist they are protecting shoppers from inflation surge

Sainsbury’s and the Marmite maker Unilever have both insisted they are protecting shoppers from inflation, amid accusations that some companies are profiteering from the cost of living crisis.

“We are not profiteering in any form,” the chief executive of Unilever, Alan Jope, said as the consumer goods company insisted it was only passing on three-quarters of its increased costs to customers.

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More than 500,000 people in UK visited ‘warm rooms’ during the winter

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Exclusive: First audit of spaces reveals people visited to due to loneliness as well as to keep warm

More than half a million people visited community “warm rooms” to escape freezing homes and escalating poverty during the winter, according to the first audit of the impact of these potent symbols of the UK’s cost of living crisis.

Warm space projects sprang up in their thousands across the UK in the autumn, as charities, libraries and faith groups responded to soaring energy poverty by opening venues to provide cash strapped people with warmth, free food and a cup of tea.

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Amazon workers in Coventry begin first of two three-day strikes

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Workers gather at picket line on Sunday in ongoing demand for pay increase from £11 to £15 an hour

Workers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse have begun a fresh round of strike action in a dispute about pay during the cost of living crisis.

GMB union members are planning three days of strikes at the huge Coventry centre, known as BHX4, from Sunday 16 to Tuesday 18 April, to be followed by three further days, from 21 to 23 April.

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Shoppers in Great Britain switch to frozen food amid cost of living crisis

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Such products doing ‘notably better’ than fresh items, data from Kantar reported by BBC shows

British shoppers are switching from fresh to frozen food as they try to keep down spending amid the cost of living crisis, retail data suggests.

The soaring cost of the weekly shop has been a significant factor in the squeeze on UK households, with food price inflation running at 18.2% amid high energy prices and shortages of salad vegetable because of bad weather in Europe.

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