Portsmouth residents reveal 'off the charts' food poverty as part of Food Foundation cost of living project

As food prices reach a 40-year high, 7.3 million adults – representing more than 10 per cent of all households – suffered food insecurity last month, a 57 per cent hike since January.

Across Portsmouth and Hampshire, residents are beginning to share their stories as part of new project from food poverty group The Food Foundation, revealing the widespread hardship throughout the area.

Among those scrambling for support is Portsmouth resident TJ, who was a financially secure healthcare assistant on the front line of the Covid-19 pandemic while working at Queen Alexandra Hospital last year.

Now she’s unable to work due to severe morning sickness, and her few benefits leave her raiding her grandmother’s fridge for food.

The 27-year-old, who is six months pregnant, said: ‘I was working at QA for about a year and a half – I was putting three people into body bags on my first shift because I was working in the respiratory ward.

‘I was taking home £500 a week – now my nan is helping me with money.

‘I don’t get enough Universal Credit to get by at all. A few months ago, I was paying less than £10 a week for electricity – now a tenner isn’t lasting three days.

‘I would like there to be more appreciation for key workers – I think “clap for carers” was a cop-out.’

Her experience of living standards in free-fall is the type of story that the Food Foundation hopes to capture with its Breadline Voices project, which is creating a catalogue of stories from people hard hit by rising food and energy prices.

Supporting the project and sharing his story is Fareham disability campaigner Dan White, whose 15-year-old daughter Emily has spina bifida and is reliant on mobility aides.

The 50-year-old campaigner said he is hearing more and more often that disabled people are abstaining from using their energy-intensive mobility equipment in a desperate bid to save money – and his family are in the same position.

He said: ‘A disabled person already spends £500 more than a non-disabled household to maintain a similar standard of living.

‘But it’s getting worse and worse.

‘My daughter relies on hoisting to get her out of bed.

‘Her ceiling hoist needs to be on charge 24/7. We’re switching that off to lift her ourselves. It might only save a penny, but every pence counts.

‘Our energy bill has jumped by £300 a month.

‘I have heard of disabled people refraining from charging their wheelchairs, which means they can’t leave the house.

‘It’s a dark shadow across the whole community.’

Many people are ‘terrified’ that their struggles represent a personal failing, according to working mum Kathleen Kerridge, from Portsmouth, who is also supporting the project.

The office manager says she can’t afford even a short bus ride out of the city without it upending her family’s tight budget – with Kathleen comparing the struggle to war-time rationing.

The 44-year-old, who is currently budgeting for herself, her husband, and their 18-year-old child who is on the autistic spectrum, said: ‘We are living on £100 a week for three of us. We’re spending £55 a week on electricity – it’s killing us. I don’t have anything to fall back on or any savings.

‘I feel like I have just got through World War One and we had a little reprieve and now World War Two is starting.’

Kathleen and her family had previously been hard hit by the squeeze on household budgets after the 2008 financial crisis, which saw her husband made redundant from insurance firm Zurich just as Kathleen was out of work due to ill-health.

Recalling her previous efforts to feed her family on next to nothing, she said: ‘I’m brought to my knees by the sight of pasta and tomatoes.

‘It’s one dish that can make my throat close up. It tastes of my experience of food poverty – pasta and tomatoes tastes like tears and empty cupboards.

‘Pasta-related PTSD sounds as though I was stabbed by linguine in the “battle of penne” – but it’s less of a joke than it sounds.’

The mum-of-four said that there has been an ‘off the charts’ rise in the number of people on Universal Credit who are now in food poverty.

She added: ‘There are so many people in food poverty. They are terrified to speak up, because of how it reflects on you as a parent.’

The Food Foundation hopes its new project will provide a ‘live’ snapshot of how people are living across the country.

Anna Taylor, from The Food Foundation, said: ‘The cost of living crisis is having a devastating effect on low-income families and their ability to secure the food they need to protect their health.

‘The Government needs to realise people are facing a crisis that needs meaningful action, including ensuring benefit are set to a level which doesn’t prevent people from eating healthily. Similarly, businesses need to ensure they are paying all employees at least the Real Living Wage.’

Last month, food banks across Hampshire reported a huge rise in demand, with the Trussell Trust declaring it a nationwide crisis.

The government is expected to announce new measures to address the crisis later in the week, which will follow £9.1bn in support – including an energy bill loan – announced earlier this year.