Nearly a third of private renters have run out of food and been unable to afford more, according to polling for the food bank charity Trussell released ahead of next week's Budget.
The Ipsos survey, shared with PoliticsHome before its full publication on Wednesday, found that 30 per cent of private renters had run out of food and could not afford to buy more. One in five respondents (19 per cent) to the online poll of 5,614 UK adults said they had cut back on food in the previous three months to pay for essentials including housing costs, transport to work or heating.
Trussell is using the figures to press the government to unfreeze Local Housing Allowance, the benefit that helps private tenants on low incomes with their rent. Rates have been held at the same level since April 2024.
Among private renters receiving the allowance, 54 per cent said they had run out of food in the previous 12 months and could not afford more, the poll found. Those renters were also more likely than other private tenants to report overcrowded accommodation (27 per cent against 18 per cent), unaffordable housing (24 per cent against 13 per cent), feeling insecure in their housing (22 per cent against 10 per cent) and problems with their landlord (15 per cent against 7 per cent).
Helen Barnard, Trussell's director of policy, research and impact, told PoliticsHome the findings showed "the extent to which high rents are driving people into pretty desperate situations".
"We see a lot of people at food banks where one of the reasons they've had to come is because they have had to spend the food budget on rent, because they're trying to keep up on rent because of that very real fear of homelessness," she said.
A government spokesperson told PoliticsHome: "We're determined to turn the tide on poverty, and our recent statistics show that effort is making a difference". The spokesperson said household incomes had risen 5 per cent in real terms, food bank usage had fallen and food insecurity was down.
Trussell's own figures, published in March, showed its network distributed 2.6 million emergency food parcels in 2025. The charity said the total had fallen but remained significantly higher than before the pandemic.
The fieldwork was carried out between May and July. The number of private renters and allowance recipients among the 5,614 respondents has not yet been published, and the research was commissioned by a charity campaigning for a specific change at the Budget.
Trussell wants the allowance relinked to the cheapest 30 per cent of local rents, the basis on which it was set in 2011. The charity estimates the change would lift 105,000 people, including 40,000 children, out of severe hardship by 2028-29. The Resolution Foundation has put the cost at £2.3bn in 2029-30.
The charity said in November 2024 that the end of the previous freeze that April was one possible reason for a 4 per cent dip in food parcels over the following six months. In its response to the Autumn Budget 2025, it said the government had made no commitment to uprate the allowance and that private renters receiving housing support would be around £700 a year worse off by 2029 if the freeze continued for the parliament.
The new figures follow a separate Trussell estimate, reported by The Guardian in September, that 62 per cent of private renters receiving housing support had gone without food and heating in the previous six months. That estimate used a different measure and reference period from the figures released on Monday.
Trussell is due to publish the full report on Wednesday.
Join the Discussion
Have something to say? Join the conversation!
Sign in to share your thoughts and engage with other readers.
Sign In Create AccountNo comments yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this article!