Single parents most likely to skip meals during the cost of living crisis
Single parents are most likely to skip meals because of rising food costs, new Which? research reveals.
Millions of households across the UK are finding it difficult to make ends meet during the cost of living crisis, but Which? has found that parents - especially single parents - are being hit particularly hard.
We're calling on supermarkets to do more to help struggling families as part of our Affordable Food For All Campaign.
Single parents skipping meals
Our monthly Consumer Insights Tracker* found that three in 10 single-parent households surveyed said they had skipped meals due to rising food prices - compared with one in seven of parents in couples and one in seven of all those surveyed.
Source: Which? Consumer Insight Tracker*
A woman from the North West of England said: 'I can’t do anything other than pay bills, and can barely feed my children some weeks. I walk around the supermarket adding up what I can spend.'
Another respondent from Scotland said: 'I’m not eating properly so that I have enough money to feed and clothe my kids and still have enough to put in my electricity meter… I don’t know what I will do once it gets cold… I worry about this daily while trying to make sure my kids are eating as healthily as possible, which is hard when you’re on a budget.'
- Find out more: the most at-risk areas for affordable food
Why are single parents struggling?
Which? analysed data* from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and found that different household types experience different levels of lived inflation.
Single parents and retired households have experienced particularly high lived inflation rates compared with other family types. This is because they spend a greater chunk of their budget on food, energy and fuel, which have all seen large price hikes during the cost of living crisis.
Source: Source: Which? Analysis of ONS Inflation and ONS LCFS data
We've estimated that single parents and retired households spent just under a third of their income on energy, food and fuel from September 2022. This drops to a quarter of their income for couples with children and for single households without children, or a fifth when looking at couples without children.
How are families coping with the cost of living?
All households are spending significantly more of their income on essentials than they did a year ago.
However, the Which? Consumer Insight Tracker research found that parents - especially single parents - are making the most financial adjustments due to the rising cost of living.
Source: Which? Consumer Insight Tracker*
Eight in 10 single parents and three quarters of couples with children surveyed said they had made at least one financial adjustment – such as cutting back on essentials, selling items or dipping into savings – in the past month to cover essential spending. This compares with just six in 10 among everyone surveyed.
Families struggling to make ends meet
Worryingly, one in five single-parent households and one in seven couples with children in our survey said they had missed or defaulted on a vital payment – such as a mortgage, rent, credit card or bill payment – in September and October.
On average, the missed payment for important bills rate was 8.2% across September and October, a big jump compared with 6.2% in September last year.
Pensioners were by far the least likely to have missed a an important payment. However, the single pensioners surveyed were more than twice as likely to report a missed payment than pensioner couples.
Our research also found that one in seven parents would struggle to pay an unexpected but necessary bill of £300. Households with children are also the household type most likely to be relying on food banks.
8% of single parents and 5% of parents in couples we surveyed said they had used a food bank in the past two months. This compares with just 3% of those surveyed overall.
'I'm paying the same price for less'
Paul is an unpaid carer in his fifties. He lives with his wife, adult daughter and son in Milton Keynes. His son has a severe developmental disability.
Talking about his food shopping, Paul told Which?: 'I used to come home with four or five bags, but now it's three bags. I'm paying the same price for fewer products - even with the special offers. Meat is very expensive now. I think Sunday lunch will be a thing of the past.
'I sometimes go without eating as I prioritise food for my son. I've lost a lot of weight since April.'
- Find out more: how to spend less at the supermarket
Which? calls on supermarkets to do more
Which? believes that essential businesses, such as supermarkets, have an important role to play in helping consumers during the cost of living crisis.
As part of our Affordable Food For All campaign, we have published a 10-point plan setting out specific steps supermarkets can take in three main areas: clear and transparent pricing, improving availability of affordable food ranges across all stores, and more targeted promotions for customers who need them most.
We've developed a unique Priority Places for Food Index, with the Consumer Data Research Centre at the University of Leeds, which uses data from a range of indicators to identify where people in different parts of the UK are most likely to be struggling and need most support.
- Do you want to see supermarkets take action? Sign our petition
*How Which? conducted the research
The Consumer Insight Tracker is an online poll conducted monthly by Yonder on behalf of Which?. It is weighted to be nationally representative with approximately 2,000 respondents per wave. Two waves of our monthly Consumer Insight Tracker were merged for this analysis to provide a bigger sample for analysis.
The fieldwork was conducted from 9-11 September 2022, and 12-14 October 2022. The overall sample size is 4,192 adult consumers in the UK. Sample sizes for household groups mentioned are as follows: couples with children (876), single parents (260), couple pensioners (614), single pensioners (392), couples without children (814), single people without children (1,212). Percentages for household subgroups are unweighted and not nationally representative.
‘Lived inflation’ calculations are based on Which? analysis of ONS data on inflation and household spending. Estimated inflation rates are 9.1% for single-parent households and 10.1% for retired households. Please note that inflation rates are based on the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ costs (CPIH) as opposed to the CPI, and refer to the 12 months up to September 2022. Further details on the methodology can be found on the Which? Consumer Insight website.
