One In Six People In Yorkshire Not Able To Buy Essential Foods

14 percent of people in Yorkshire and the Humber could not buy essential food items in the last fortnight
One in every five Yorkshire and the Humber residents were unable to access non-essential foods
10 percent of Yorkshire residents reported buying less food than usual as a result of shortages

One in six residents of Yorkshire and the Humber were unable to purchase essential food items in the past two weeks, new research can reveal.

14 percent of people in Yorkshire and the Humber could not buy essential food items, and one in five were also unable to purchase non-essential food. Another one in five also found that when they went shopping, items they needed were not available and they could not find a replacement, and nearly 50 percent of people reported less variety in the shops than usual.

The research, conducted by delivery management experts Urbantz, used new ONS data on goods shortages between the 22nd September and 3rd October to discover the percentage of people in Yorkshire and the Humber were unable to access food in that timeframe.

The study also found that one in ten Yorkshire and the Humber residents bought less food than usual because of shortages – a 50 percent jump from the previous fortnight, when it came to the number of people buying less food.

On a UK-wide level, one in six people struggled to buy essential food items in the last fortnight, and nearly a quarter of people couldn’t access other, non-essential items. The North East and the East Midlands were worst off when it came to food shortages, with 21 percent of residents unable to afford essential food.



UK food shortages by region   

Region	% who couldn't buy essential food in last fortnight
North East	21%
East Midlands	21%
East of England	19%
London	19%
Scotland	18%
South West	18%
South East	17%
Wales	17%
North West	14%
Yorkshire and the Humber	14%
West Midlands	12%

A spokesperson for Urbantz, which conducted the study, said:
“With the country facing significant delivery of food and other essentials, it’s important to look at the experiences of families in the UK, and what they have dealt with in the past two weeks when trying to shop for food, medicine and fuel. The impact of the driver shortage is felt across the entire supply chain, all the way through to the last mile - where consumers are faced with fewer choices at checkout and longer delays on their deliveries due to retailers' struggles to keep their warehouses stocked.

Urbantz is a last mile delivery management platform for enterprises designed to respond to the delivery needs of retailers, logistics operators, e-commerce, grocery suppliers and more. https://urbantz.com/