East Midlands families turn to hygiene bank amid rising hygiene poverty

People across the East Midlands are struggling to afford basic hygiene products like soap, toilet roll and deodorant, according to new figures.

Harborough Hygiene Bank says more local families are turning to them for help, including many facing hardship for the first time this year.

Judy Rowley, from the Leicestershire hygiene bank, says:

"Hygiene poverty is a growing issue, as money isn't stretching far enough for local families."

The Leicestershire branch has already handed out 400 care packages to people in need in the local community.

It comes as a national survey found nearly a fifth of adults in the UK said their household had gone without hygiene products such as toilet roll and deodorant, in results described by charities as "a wake-up call".

Some 43% of those polled admitted to having avoided seeing friends or family because they could not afford essential hygiene items or cleaning products in the past six months.

The survey, carried out for charities The Hygiene Bank and In Kind Direct, found 41% of respondents experiencing so-called hygiene poverty were doing so for the first time this year.

Hygiene poverty was defined as being unable to afford basic hygiene products such as soap, shampoo, deodorant, nappies or washing-up liquid in the past six months.

The charities' report said: "As the cost-of-living crisis intensifies, more people are going without items we often take for granted, like soap, toilet rolls and deodorant."

"The issue is not the price of a single item, such as a cheap toothbrush; it's that people's incomes are not enough to pay for everything they need," the report said.

The charities also warned that while younger adults, parents, renters and low-income households were all disproportionately affected, the "new face of hygiene poverty includes working families and those on higher incomes who were once financially stable and now describe themselves as unexpectedly unable to afford essential hygiene products".

The online survey of 3,042 UK adults, carried out by Savanta in early June, found that of the 18% in hygiene poverty, almost half were most likely to skip buying toilet roll, at 47%, followed by deodorant at 43%, shampoo at 39%, toothpaste at 34%, and laundry and cleaning products at 38%.

More than a quarter, 28%, reported going without period products.

Michael Gidney, chief executive of In Kind Direct, which distributes products to charitable organisations across its network, said the findings "should serve as a wake-up call".

"In our 30 years' experience, we're seeing that hygiene poverty is no longer confined to the households you might expect. We know it disproportionately affects people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and renters, but we're now seeing it reach families who, until recently, considered themselves financially secure," Mr Gidney said.

"One family told us that, even with two full-time incomes in their household, they're in overdraft and struggling. That's the reality for a growing number of working households across the UK," he said.

Ruth Brock, chief executive of The Hygiene Bank, which works to tackle the problem by delivering essential hygiene and personal care products to people in need, said the research "confirms what our volunteers are seeing every day in communities across the UK".

"Hygiene poverty is growing and is no longer a hidden or marginal issue. More people are facing impossible choices over everyday essentials, causing acute misery and long-term harm," Ms Brock said.

"Hygiene poverty is wrecking lives today and damaging life chances and opportunities for tomorrow. This is simply wrong," she said.

Ms Brock encouraged people to donate hygiene products at drop-off points in Boots stores, or to help out by volunteering.

A government spokesperson said: "We're determined to turn the tide on poverty, and our recent statistics show that effort is making a difference, with household incomes up 5% in real terms."

"Our £1 billion Crisis and Resilience Fund can be used by councils to run schemes such as benefit support checks so everyone knows what they're entitled to," the spokesperson said.

"To ease cost-of-living pressures we have brought forward a wide range of measures including raising the National Minimum Wage and suspending tariffs on everyday staples, leading to lower prices at the till," they said.