Resources

Below, you’ll find a list of resources you can access to learn more about poverty and food bank use in the UK, as well as other related issues. Some of these resources are online for free; others are available to rent or purchase. Please note that inclusion on this list does not equal endorsement. All views expressed within the works listed are the creators’ own and do not represent the Trussell Trust’s views. 

Online resources 

• ‘What is poverty?’ This page from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) explains definitions and measurements of poverty in the UK, as well as introducing the causes of poverty and how we can solve it. 
• ‘Poverty in the UK: a guide to facts and figures’ (2019). This page gives an overview of poverty in the UK, focusing on how it’s defined and measured  
• UK Poverty 2019/20 and Talking About Poverty toolkit. Here you’ll be able to download JRF’s most recent annual report on the nature and scale of poverty and access their Talking About Poverty toolkit to help you become part of a collective voice for change. More resources linked to the Talking About Poverty project are available here. 
• State of Hunger (2019). This report is the most authoritative piece of independent research into hunger in the UK to date, commissioned by the Trussell Trust. You can access the full report and summary via this site.  

Books 

• Narrative Power and Collective Action by Isabel Crabtree-Condor (2020). This anthology looks at the power of narratives and how we can change them for social good. Free to download. 
• Rife: Twenty-One Stories from Britain’s Youth by Nikesh Shukla (2019). This anthology of young writers from Britain covers a range of topics, including money, mental health, and inequality. 
• Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain by James Bloodworth (2018). The author spent six months living and working across Britain and discusses how working-class communities have been affected by the changing jobs landscape. 
• Breadline Britain: The Rise of Mass Poverty by Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack (2015). Based on the most extensive research available at the time, this book tracks changes in deprivation and shows that the driving forces of poverty lie in socio-economic systems. 
• Lowborn: Growing Up, Getting Away and Returning to Britain’s Poorest Towns by Kerry Hudson (2019). In this memoir, novelist Kerry Hudson revisits the towns she grew up in to discover what being in poverty really means in Britain today. 
• Skint Estate: A memoir of poverty, motherhood and survival by Cash Carraway (2019). This memoir is a first-hand account of living in poverty and the impact of austerity. 
• Austerity Bites: A Journey to the Sharp End of Cuts in the UK by Mary O’Hara (2014). Drawing on first-person interviews, this book explores the impact of austerity in 2012/13. 
• Hunger Pains: Life inside Foodbank Britain by Kayleigh Garthwaite (2017). While working in a Trussell Trust food bank, the author conducted hundreds of interviews with people who needed to use the food bank, giving an insight into the realities of food bank use. 

Watch 

• This is poverty (2020). This short film from JRF and Connected Pictures focuses on the experiences of seven people from around the UK. Free to watch on JRF’s website.  
• Living in Poverty (2017). In this documentary, rapper Professor Green speaks to young people living in poverty and hears their stories. Free to watch on YouTube. 
• A Northern Soul (2019). Director Sean McAllister returns to his hometown, Hull, and tells the story of a changing city hit by spending cuts and divided by Brexit. 

• I, Daniel Blake (2017).  In this film, we see characters trying to navigate the benefits system and find ways to survive while in poverty. 
• Billy Elliot (2000). Set in a north east mining town during the miners’ strikes, the film follows an 11-year-old boy who dreams of being a dancer. 
• Half Way (2016). This film follows one family as they wait to be rehoused by the council, giving an insight into the housing crisis. 

Related issues 

• ‘Poverty and health. How do our money and resources influence our health?’ This infographic from The Health Foundation looks at the impact of poverty on health. 
• ‘Poverty and mental health’ The Mental Health Foundation looks at the relationship between poverty and mental health.  

• ‘Child poverty facts and figures’ The Child Poverty Action Group provides an overview of the facts and figures on child poverty in the UK.   
• ‘What is child poverty?’ This page from The Children’s Society looks at child poverty and why it’s on the rise. 
• ‘Measuring poverty 2020‘ This report from the Social Metrics Commission looks at a new measure of poverty, and was released in 2020 during the Covid-19 crisis. You can also watch a video with an overview of the report here. 
• ‘The impact of austerity on Black and Minority Ethnic women in the UK’ The Runnymede Trust summarises the impact of austerity on BAME women in the UK.  

• Nearly half of BAME UK households are living in poverty’ This recent article in the Guardian reports on ethnicity and poverty.