Parents do all they can to put food on the table. These days, it's not enough

Yet in the UK, family food insecurity remains worryingly common, affecting millions of households across the country.

While the government has made several major policy changes to address this challenge in recent months, including the expansion of free school meals and the introduction of its landmark Child Poverty Strategy, events such as conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East continue to drive prices, putting households at greater risk of hunger.

A new survey of 2,500 parents, carried out by Opinium for the Social Market Foundation, aims to shine a light on this reality by asking parents about their own experiences and their children’s to provide a snapshot of child hunger in 2026. The results are concerning.

For instance, 15% of parents reported not having enough food at some point over the past 12 months, equivalent to around 1.3 million families, including 4% going without regularly. Among this group, 59% of parents revealed they had gone a whole day without eating at least once.

The problem goes deeper. When times are tough, parents often sacrifice themselves, prioritising their children’s needs over their own, and are usually the first to experience food insecurity. But our research shows that, due to the severity of many families’ situations, young people are also being affected.

One in five parents said their children had experienced a lack of food, gone without a balanced meal, or relied on limited low-cost food options. Shockingly, 7% reported that their child had gone a whole day without eating because there was not enough money for food, either once a week or almost every week.

Unsurprisingly, the cost of living, including food affordability and energy prices, was commonly cited as a driver of such hardship. Indeed, amid international instability and rising prices, almost half of parents polled said they struggle more today than they did five years ago. Parents on lower incomes, those with more children, and social renters are the groups most likely to experience family food insecurity.

It is well established that there is a strong relationship between deprivation and financial access to food. Poverty is the key driver, and alongside other manifestations such as fuel poverty or arrears on bills, food insecurity is among its most acute symptoms.

The Labour Government has taken significant steps to address child poverty in the UK since arriving in office, bringing the issue to the centre of government policymaking. To ensure childhood hunger is tackled effectively, it must go further. Children are going hungry, and tackling this must remain an utmost priority.

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Jake Shepherd is a Senior Researcher at the SMF.

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