HUNGER and hardship are costing the Scottish economy £5.6 billion each year, according to fresh research.
Anti-poverty charity Trussell (formerly The Trussell Trust) has released a report which details how Scotland’s economy loses out on over £2.9bn each year due to reduced employment and lower productivity because of the ways in which hunger and hardship can harm people’s chances of gaining and maintaining stable employment.
The public purse also loses out on over £1.4bn in income from tax revenue each year and needs to spend an additional £405 million on social security payments as a result of people facing hunger and hardship in Scotland, the paper said.
The charity has also found hunger and hardship are costing the UK Government £75bn a year and is calling on Labour to rethink planned cuts to support for disabled people and reform Universal Credit.
Planned changes are set to make it harder for people to qualify for Personal Independence Payments, with the Office for Budget Responsibility estimating 52% of claimants will lose their entitlements.
Trussell's Scottish-specific report found failure to address hunger and hardship in Scotland leads to £860m in additional spending each year on public services like the NHS, schools, children’s social care, and more.
Over half of this figure is spent on healthcare in Scotland alone, due to how hunger and hardship is linked to worse physical and mental health
While pressure is being applied to the UK Government, Cara Hilton, senior policy and public affairs manager at Trussell, said the Scottish Government also has "significant powers" to turn the tide on hunger and hardship.
"Trussell's major new research demonstrates the huge impact of hunger and hardship on Scotland's public services and the cost of failing to act," she said.
“The Scottish Government has significant powers to turn the tide on hunger and hardship and must take bold and decisive action in Programme for Government next month, so no one else has to experience hunger and hardship under their watch.
“Not only is it the right thing to do, its common sense for our economy. Scottish and UK governments have both a moral and economic responsibility to act. There is no time to lose.
"At the same time, we are calling on Holyrood to use its voice to urge the UK Government to rethink its cruel cuts to disability benefits, which risk pushing more disabled people to the doors of food banks.”
Across the UK, Trussell is calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished, which it says would lift 27,000 people in Scotland out of hunger and hardship by 2025/26.
This would lead to a reduction in costs to the economy, public services and public purse of £115m, the charity says.
The Cost of Hunger and Hardship report includes analysis from economic and public policy experts WPI Economics.
