6.3 million
About 12% of UK households were food insecure at the start of 2026 — the worst point in living memory.
January 2026
With sources
The evidence
Every figure here cites a primary source — government, regulator, or established think tank. Use the filter to narrow by topic.
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2.2 million
Cutting and skipping meals is now a routine response to food costs in millions of UK households with children.
January 2026
Source: Food Foundation , January 2026
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38%
Food prices rose around ten percentage points faster than overall inflation in this period.
Five years to November 2025
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2.9 million
Food bank parcels for pensioners more than tripled between 2019/20 and 2024/25.
Year to March 2025
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40%
Households containing a disabled adult are around three times more likely to be food insecure than the general population.
January 2026
Source: Food Foundation , 2026
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10.8 million
The hardware to change prices per shopper, per minute, is being installed across the major UK supermarket estates today.
Rollout from early 2026
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2,400 stores
Co-op is installing digital shelf-edge labels across its entire estate within the year.
Announced May 2025
Source: Co-op statement , May 2025
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21% → 31%
The Bank of England recorded the largest planned increase in any pricing tool it surveyed — algorithmic pricing, including AI, is going mainstream.
Bank of England survey, 2026
References
Primary sources behind the figures. Sorted by type — government, primary, industry, press, academic, secondary — and then alphabetically.
- Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 government · 2025
- UK Parliament. In force from 19 June 2025; has relaxed Article 22 prohibition on solely automated decisions affecting individuals.
- Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 government · 2024
- UK Parliament. Section 240 enables the Secretary of State to add practices to the Schedule 19 "in all circumstances unfair" list.
- Food prices and inflation (CDP-2026-0004) government · 2026
- House of Commons Library. Food prices have risen 38% in the five years to November 2025, about ten percentage points faster than overall inflation.
- ICO finds Southern Co-op breached data protection law over live facial recognition government · March 2023
- Information Commissioner's Office. ICO determined Southern Co-op's Facewatch deployment breached UK GDPR on multiple grounds.
- BRC statement on dynamic pricing in supermarkets industry · 2025
- British Retail Consortium. BRC stated publicly that "supermarkets do not use, and have no plan to use, dynamic or surge pricing in their stores". A statutory floor would make that promise enforceable.
- Co-op to digitise all 2,400 stores industry · May 2025
- Co-op. Digital shelf-edge labels across the entire Co-op estate by end-2026.
- Morrisons begins UK-wide rollout of electronic shelf labels industry · October 2025
- Morrisons. 10.8 million electronic shelf labels across all 497 stores.
- End-of-year statistics 2024/25 primary · 2025
- Trussell. 2.9m emergency food parcels distributed; food bank parcels for pensioners tripled vs 2019/20.
- Food Insecurity Tracker primary · January 2026
- Food Foundation. Quarterly UK food insecurity tracker — 6.3m adults, 2.2m children, 40% of disabled-adult households.
- This time it's personal: the rise of dynamic, personalised pricing and what it means for inflation primary · 2026
- Bank of England. Recorded that 21% of UK firms use market-responsive pricing tools today, rising to 31% within a year — the largest planned increase among any pricing tool surveyed.