Posted on 07/10/2022 by Evolve in Blog
Hygiene poverty is not being able to afford many of the everyday hygiene and personal grooming products most of us take for granted. The reality of low income is that is restricts people’s options, leaving us caught between being able to heat our homes, pay the rent, eat or be clean.
Over 14 million people in the UK live in poverty - that is one fifth of our population
Two thirds of those defined as living in poverty work.
We know that long before people go to a food bank, they stop buying toiletries.
Over one third of people living in the UK and over half of 18 to 24 year olds have had to go without hygiene or grooming essentials or cut down on them due to lack of funds.
8 in 10 primary school teachers say that they’ve seen a rise in the numbers of children coming to school unwashed or not looking presentable in the last five years and have found themselves intervening at an increasing rate. Nearly half of all teachers said they had seen bullying because of hygiene issues.
3 out of 10 teachers regularly buy their pupils toiletry essentials.
The Hygiene Bank's story started with the film ‘I Daniel Blake'by Ken Loach, A moving and harrowing film that exposes the harsh realities of those in our society who fall through the cracks. It portrays a place in which empathy has little place and no allowance is made for the chaos of everyday life.
