Low income families feel the heat of rising energy costs

• 85% of The Bread and Butter Thing’s members are worried about their fuel costs this winter

• People on zero hour contracts 3.5 times more likely to have to borrow to pay their bills

• Families already compromising by skipping meals or cutting their energy use

• TBBT membership has grown 89% during 2021

 Award-winning affordable food charity, TBBT’s annual survey reveals that the vast majority of its members are worried about energy costs. With over 2500 people contributing from 54 low income communities across the north of England, the results show that many families will be pushed into debt and hardship.

The Bread and Butter Thing CEO, Mark Game said: “These figures are deeply troubling as they demonstrate how seriously families are struggling to make ends meet in the face of the rising cost of living and soaring energy bills.”

The headline results show that 85% of TBBT members are worried about their energy cost this winter:

·        38% said they will not be able to pay their bills; 1 in 4 of these will have to borrow money to pay their bills.

·        47% said they would cut down on energy use with the remainder uncertain how they will cope.

Many members will be pushed into debt and forced to borrow to cover their bills, particularly:

·        People who are already skipping meals are 4 times more likely to need to borrow

·        People on zero hours contracts are 3.5 times more likely to need to borrow

·        People whose health has been poor in the past year are twice as likely to need to borrow

·        People receiving Universal Credit (UC) or Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) are twice as likely to need to borrow.

There is also a strong correlation for families receiving Free School Meals with 45% saying that they will be forced to make compromises and restrict their energy use and 30% who predict they won’t have enough money to pay their bills.

Mark Game continued: “There’s no getting away from the fact that it’s tough at the moment for thousands of families. The pandemic has wreaked havoc, compounded by the loss of Universal Credit uplift, a rise in the cost of food and other essentials and soaring energy prices on the horizon. These are worrying times for the families that we support who are already stressed and struggling to make ends meet.”

Rises in the cost of living and growing financial concerns are driving increasing need for affordable food support. TBBT has seen its membership grow significantly during 2021. It now has over 23,300 members, a rise in 89% since December 2020. During the year, an average of 750 people joined each month, with a jump to 1400 a month between October to December.

At the heart of TBBT’s work is an affordable food club which works in partnership with communities in areas of high deprivation. Each week, members access quality, nutritious food for a fraction of its high street cost: the food is edible surplus sourced from retailers, manufacturers and growers across the UK. Members pay £7.50 for at least £35 worth of food including fresh fruit and veg, chilled goods and cupboard staples. Low cost period products are also available and members can use their Healthy Start Vouchers, further cutting costs.

“In April, my husband ended up out of work so obviously we've been short of cash. The Bread and Butter Thing has been absolutely fantastic. At the supermarket, it would cost us £130 for the week for all five of us and that's doing it on a budget. I come here and we get five or six bags for £15 of shopping and we only have to go and get a couple of extra bits then. It’s cut our shopping bill to less than half.”

Sholver Hub Member, Oldham

On average TBBT members save more than £25 a week on their food bills, enabling them to focus their spending on other necessities. By creating bespoke packages for each community, TBBT’s work is underpinned by an ecosystem of support from other agencies from employment advice to mental health support. Currently, a particular focus of this work involves fuel and energy guidance with Citizens Advice Bureau visiting hubs alongside TBBT.

Megan Blake, Senior Lecturer in Social Geography at the University of Sheffield, was instrumental in analysing TBBT’s data as part of a longer-term research relationship. Commenting on the results, she said: “Rising costs are undermining the excellent repair work that organisations like TBBT are doing in their communities. There is strong evidence that this sort of intervention, which offers support to people at a neighbourhood scale, is reducing foodbank use. But the tide of rising costs set against stagnant wages, the cut to Universal Credit and soon to be increased National Insurance, means people are still going to be overwhelmed.” 

Mark Game concludes: “TBBT’s principal objective is to build resilience at a community and individual level by enabling people to access quality affordable food and accompanying that with bespoke programmes of support that help people out of poverty and put money back in their pockets to spend on their families and other priorities. ”

“Every week I come and its made a massive difference. Usually I could spend over £100 on shopping just for three people and now I might spend around £30 in a week, and the meals wouldn't be half as healthy as they are. It's not only that, you get to try different things like avocados, which I’ve never had before, and mangoes – different things that you wouldn't generally buy because they are expensive.”

Sholver Hub Member, Oldham

The survey was undertaken in November 2021.