A quarter of three-child families cannot afford food

Impact of two-child benefit cap revealed by charity's report

- HOLLY BANCROFT, AINE FOX

Larger families are more likely to experience food insecurity than families with two children or less, according to research by a charity, which said that the findings show the impact of the two-child benefit cap. Almost a quarter of three-child families were unsure where they would get their meals from last month, data from charity the Food Foundation suggests.

More than 6,000 adults were surveyed in the week leading up to the general election, and the results have been published just days after prime minister Sir Keir Starmer saw off a rebellion by seven of his own MPs in a vote on the controversial policy. John McDonnell, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain and Zarah Sultana were suspended after they voted to scrap it.

The Food Foundation said its research shows that action is “desperately needed” to relieve the pressure on families across the UK who are going hungry. Its online survey asked 6,177 adults in the UK whether, in the previous month, they had reduced the size of or skipped meals because they could not afford or get access to food – or whether they had been hungry but not eaten for the same reason.