• Home
  • About us
  • People
  • Blog
  • News
  • Video
  • Webinars
  • Seminars
  • Podcasts
  • Publications
    • Journal Articles
    • Working Papers
    • OxHRH Annual Report
    • Books & Chapters
    • U of OxHRH Journal
  • Events
  • Journal
  • Oxford Pro Bono Publico
    • History and Impact
    • Team
    • Working with OPBP
    • Project Database
    • Internship Programme
  • Home
  • About us
  • People
  • Blog
  • News
  • Media
  • Events
  • Publications
  • Journal

Going Hungry? The Human Right to Food in the UK

Jonathan Butterworth - 6th May 2014
OxHRH
Socio-Economic Rights and Labour Rights
UK supermarket
Growing numbers of people can't afford to provide the basics for their families.

The Government is legally required under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 11) to secure the human right to adequate food for everyone in the UK. But in recent years we have seen large increases in the levels of malnutrition, hunger and food bank usage, all of which are indicative of the UK being in breach of its international legal obligations in respect of the right to food.

In the 2014 Just Fair Consortium monitoring report “Going Hungry? The Human Right to Food in the UK”, we learn how and why this is so.

How do we know there is a problem?

The numbers of people given three days’ emergency food by Trussell Trust food banks has risen exponentially from 26,000 in 2008-09 to 913,138 in 2013-14, as growing numbers of people can’t afford to provide the basics for their families, and are forced to choose between heating, eating or paying for housing costs.

The effects of this state of food insecurity are widespread and dramatic. Public health experts have warned that the rise of malnutrition in the UK “has all the signs of a public health emergency”, with a 74 per cent increase in the number of malnutrition-related hospital admissions since 2008-09.

Women, children and people with disabilities have been particularly adversely affected. Single mothers report having missed meals so that their children can eat. At times they cannot even ensure their children are adequately fed. And this is whilst experts warn that child poverty is expected to increase in the near future.

What are the causes of the problem?

In the Just Fair Consortium monitoring report, “Going Hungry? The Human Right to Food in the UK”, we have learnt that nutritious food is becoming too expensive for many people on low wages or benefits. The fall in the real value of wages has meant that the number of working poor who are hungry or unable to afford nutritious food has increased.

Evidence also shows that hunger has been fuelled by the inadequacy of social security provision and the processes by which it is delivered. People already on low incomes have been made even poorer by the under-occupancy penalty, the abolition of crisis loans and community care grants and the decision to cap increases in benefits to one per cent rather than indexing them to inflation. The squeeze on social security has been compounded by payment delays and sanctions which leave some people with no income at all – 31 per cent of those visiting Trussell Trust food banks do so because their benefits have been delayed, and 17 per cent because of changes to benefits.

Even though they are spending more, people have been forced to cut the amount they eat and eat more poor quality, unhealthy food. From 2007 to 2012, expenditure on food rose by 20 per cent, but the actual volume of food consumed declined by 7 per cent, as household incomes for poorer families have been put under greater stress whilst prices have increased.

What is required to address the problem?

We cannot allow the gap between wages, benefits and food costs to continue to grow. We cannot permit food banks to become a substitute for a comprehensive social security system. We cannot allow malnutrition rates to continue to rise. Securing the human right to food must become a national priority.

We call on the Government to draw up a national right to food strategy and action plan, including an assessment of the state of enjoyment of this right. Any further deterioration in income levels which undermine people’s ability to access food, shelter and basic services must be avoided. We urge the Government to close the gap between income and food costs.

The Government must take urgent action to reduce benefit delays, review how benefit sanctions and welfare reforms are being implemented and reduce unnecessary hardship, hunger and distress. We call on the Government to mobilise all available resources, and make full use of its tax and spending powers, to deal with the national food emergency.

Author profile

Jonathan Butterworth is co-founder and Director of Just Fair. He previously acted as an ESCR consultant for Democratic Audit, an adviser to the British Institute of Human Rights, and was a teaching fellow at UCL.

Citations

Jonathan Butterworth, “Going Hungry? The Human Right to Food in the UK,” (OxHRH Blog, 6 May 2014), <http://humanrights.dev3.oneltd.eu/?p=6891> [date of access].

Comments

  1. Pingback: Putting food on the table: the human right to eat in the fifth richest country in the world - The Trussell Trust

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related blog posts

Domestic Workers in South Africa Lead the Way in Advancing Social Protection for Precarious Workers
From contract to role: using human rights to widen the personal scope of employment protections
The Green New Deal: On Systemic Justice and the Limits of a Human Rights Framework

Related events

A Better Future for Women at Work: Legal and Policy Strategies
Joint

Related news

OPBP Project on the Rights of Uber Drivers

Contact Us

oxfordhumanrightshub@law.ox.ac.uk

Oxford Human Rights Hub
The Faculty of Law, University of Oxford,
St Cross Building,
St Cross Road,
Oxford OX1 3UL

© 2019 Oxford Human Rights Hub | Site by One


Sign up for the OHRH Newsletter

Your email address*:

New email sign up
reCAPTCHA
* Find out how we use your data