Food insecurity high as affordability shapes diet choices

The Food Foundation is calling for urgent action, including expanding support schemes such as Healthy Start, and a Good Food Bill with legally binding targets

Food insecurity remains high across the UK, with the latest data from The Food Foundation highlighting the continuing challenge of ensuring everyone can access an affordable, healthy diet. 

The figures, gathered by YouGov in July 2026 and independently analysed, show that one in eight households (12%) are affected by food insecurity, with some groups disproportionately affected. This includes more than one in three households receiving Universal Credit (35.9%), alongside one in six households (16.7%) with children. 

In addition, 27.1% of single parent households and 19.2% of households with someone affected by disability also reported food insecurity.

The findings underline the importance of food insecurity as an early indicator of wider public health pressures, highlighting where affordability, access to nutritious food and health inequalities overlap.

Affordability remains a significant barrier. Two-thirds of respondents (65%) said that if fruit and vegetables were more affordable, it would help their household eat more of them. The same proportion said discounts or offers on fruit and vegetables would make a difference, while half (50%) said being able to buy them using vouchers or loyalty card discounts would help. 

Previous research from The Food Foundation has highlighted the scale of the challenge. Families with children in the lowest income fifth of households would need to spend 85% of their disposable income to afford the government-recommended healthy diet.

Meanwhile, healthier food remains almost twice as expensive per calorie as less healthy options, with the gap continuing to widen.

The pressures are expected to intensify. Rising food prices, driven by factors including geopolitical instability and climate-related impacts on harvests, are likely to place further strain on household budgets. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has predicted that food prices could be 50% higher by November 2026 than in 2021.

Gareth Redmond-King, Head of International Programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said climate change was increasingly affecting food security both globally and in the UK. 

“Our food system is global, and the threat is not limited to developing nations,” he said. “The UK imports two fifths of our food, much of it things we cannot grow here, like rice, coffee and bananas. These crops are being hit by climate change impacts, now being turbo-charged by El Niño, leading to shortages and rising prices.”

Redmond-King said more resilient food systems would be essential but warned that limiting future risks will depend on reducing emissions.

“Food-related ill health remains a huge problem in the UK as millions still struggle to afford or access the nutritious food that would keep them healthy.”

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, said food insecurity remained a major public health concern. “Food-related ill health remains a huge problem in the UK as millions still struggle to afford or access the nutritious food that would keep them healthy,” he said.

The Food Foundation is calling for urgent action, including expanding support schemes such as Healthy Start, introducing a Good Food Bill with legally binding targets on food insecurity and diet-related health, and accelerating prevention measures outlined in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.

The organisation also wants greater support for local authorities to improve access to nutritious food in deprived communities through the government’s Food Strategy and Pride in Place programme.