Rising inflation and high living costs in the UK have led to a rise in cases of shoplifting. (Image: Shutterstock)
Rising food prices are destabilizing household finances and raising poverty levels in the country, as people run out of options and are forced to resort to petty theft and food banks.
The cost-of-living crisis in the UK is forcing young adults to commit petty thefts like shoplifting and also pushing them to borrow funds or take credit loans, slowly pushing them towards a more precarious financial situation.
Latest data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the cost of imported food prices rose by a quarter in the last year, forcing one in five Brits seeking financial assistance to pay for food, with young adults being the worst affected.
A report by the Metro said that one in 10 young adults admitted to stealing items from supermarket self-checkouts to cope with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis in the UK.
The latest figure for inflation is a challenging 10.4%, which has caused food and fuel costs to remain staggeringly high for several months.
Families grappling with higher price tags have seen food and non-alcoholic drink costs rise by 19.1% and in some cases the prices have doubled.
At self-checkouts, one in 25 adults have admitted to intentionally not scanning or incorrectly scanning items they cannot afford.
Basic necessities like children’s medicine Calpol are among the most shoplifted items in the UK and security tags are becoming increasingly common, even on items such as milk and cheese.
A survey of 2,000 adults by the money-saving app ZipZero revealed that 8% go into their overdrafts or borrow from friends and family to pay for groceries, while 5% have started using food banks.
Food banks in the UK witnessed record numbers of food parcels being distributed in the past year, registering a 37% increase from the previous year.
Over the course of the past year, the Trussell Trust, a UK-based charity network that operates food pantries, distributed a record number of food parcels. They handed out over 3,000,000 food packages in 2022-23, which represents a 37% increase from the previous year.
Another shocking statistic is that one among every five food bank users are currently employed, signalling that with food, fuel, rent, broadband, taxes and interest rates all on the rise, Brits are struggling to make ends meet.
Shockingly, one in five food bank users are currently employed. With food, fuel, rent, broadband, taxes, and interest rates all on the rise, many Brits are struggling to make ends meet.
ZipZero chief executive Mohsin Rashid expressing concern over the cost of living crisis said that Brits have been resilient but they can not depend on coupon-clipping and hunting for discount yellow stickers for long as they are “running out of room to manoeuvre”.
“With a staggering number of adults actively turning to petty theft and food banks to reduce costs, food inflation is changing social norms and redefining life standards in the UK,” Rashid was quoted as saying by the Metro.
