Cost of Living Crisis: The Impact on Mental & Physical Health

Previously we’ve taken a look at how the cost of living crisis disproportionately affects the most vulnerable in society. This blog carries on in the same vain by exploring the psycho-social and physical impacts people face when they are unable to afford healthy food, heating, and clothing.

In the year 2022-23 the typical working-age household will experience a 4% fall in income, according to the Resolution Foundation. They give the example of a single parent, working 20 hours per week, with one child, earning an income of £18,265, a low-to-medium wage. With the already outlined expected price-hikes, as well as changes to Universal Credit, and the changes to tax and allowances, this person’s income will fall by £584 less than it was one year previously.

Evidence show that adding £500 to annual household income improves wellbeing, but according to Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, the negative effect of losing the same amount of money, is twice as great.

By removing approximately £10 per week from someone who is struggling to get by, we are not just asking people to choose between heating and eating, but potentially asking them to go without either. And this will undoubtedly lead to worsening psychological and physical health.

The stress that we place on people who need to worry about how to put food on their table, or clothes on their children’s backs reduces the intellectual bandwidth of those in these situations, making it harder to improve their situation, and leading to stressful environments for their children, potentially permanently effecting their development. It is not that bad choices lead to people being poor, but living in poverty that leads to those “bad” choices.

Research from the Food Foundation shows that households in the bottom 10% for household income would need to spend 74% of their income on food if they were to follow the guidance for healthy eating. Education on how to cook is not a solution to the problem of poor health, eradicating poverty is.

In the UK their is too much reliance on food charities to to help people, especially those with chronic health conditions, whose households make up 75% of food bank users. It has come to be expected that those with multiple health conditions should survive by accessing help provided by food charities. When we consider our own futures, and the likelihood of someone in our own household becoming unwell, this should concern us all.

It must be said that the food charities, their employees, and their volunteers continue to do incredibly important work and that, of course, they have been lifelines to many people. But the dependence on them from the Government means that those in power are able to carry on as they are, not helping people who need it the most, whilst introducing legislation that makes it even harder for them to live healthy and dignified lives.

During the pandemic, there was a £20 uplift in Universal Credit available, and during the time that it was available, 37% fewer households reported being in food poverty as a direct result of such a small increase. This demonstrates just how simple it is to help, and it is very worrying that this uplift was withdrawn and that we are now seeing the numbers of households in food poverty increasing again.