Nadir: How the cost of living crisis has taken so many in broken Britain to the depths of despair

(Last updated 27 April 2024)

As more and more Britons struggle to put food on the table and begin to realise that the promised ‘Brexit benefits’ were all a work of fiction, the retail landscape has never been so bleak, with high streets filled with empty shops and those that remain open facing an unprecedented rise in shoplifting.

This essay is based around several news articles that individually highlighted some of the impact the cost of living crisis is having, but when taken together show that for many people in Britain today, to misquote Harold Macmillan’s famous rallying call of 1957, they’ve never had it so bad.

Now, a favourite maxim of mine is all about complacency. That, no matter your current standing, things cannot only adversely change, but do so quite dramatically.

“Every day the world turns upside down on someone who once thought they were sitting on top of it.”

Such a downfall can apply to an individual, or a company, sometimes even an entire country. The greater the achievements, the harder the fall will be to take — and the harder it will be to deal with and recover from, especially if we’re talking about the kind of economic downturn the UK is now experiencing.

And despite what Rishi Sunak’s government would have you believe, the results of their economic mismanagement is having a terrible effect on the country.

Wherever you go, wherever you look, the evidence of this impoverishment is clear to see.

The UK has just been ranked by UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund) as having the worst child poverty levels among the richest countries.

“We’ve got a revival of the Victorian notion of destitution.”

Those were the words of Professor Sir Michael Marmot speaking about the grim reality of poverty in Britain on LBC radio (23 January 2024).

At the end of 2023, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation produced a report on destitution. It revealed 3.8 million people in Britain today are in ‘a state of destitution’ which they defined as doing without two or more of six essentials: housing, heat, light, food, appropriate clothing for the conditions and toiletries.

Clearly, the state of the UK economy is the result of many confluencing factors. And whilst few doubt the problem, or profess to know the solution, many still seem oblivious to the extent of the issue and the effect it’s having on innumerable peoples’ lives.

The truth is there are many reasons to be fearful.

Let’s begin by looking at our changing shopping habits.

Regardless of ones financial position, all of us buy food and other grocery items on a regular basis. We have no choice, it’s our most essential purchase.

In recent years, however, there’s been a huge shift in the way we purchase our groceries, both in terms of what we buy and where we buy it as well as how we make our purchases. Our shopping habits have changed dramatically and that in turn has had a dramatic effect on the British high street.

But whilst we’re all aware of the demise of once prosperous retailers, and of continual rising prices in the supermarkets, what is less known is the impact the cost of living crisis is having on retailers in ways that are still rarely reported. Empty shops are clear for all to see, but for those traders still surviving there are many new socioeconomic challenges to overcome.

Before talking about some of those radical changes affecting retail and consumer buying habits, let’s focus on how fundamentally the way we spend our money has changed.

The decline of cash:

One of the biggest changes is the decline of cash, especially coins. Increasingly, it’s nae on impossible to find a use for coins, particularly lower demonination coins such as 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 50p. Not least, there is almost nothing one can purchase for such a small amount.

Beyond the issue of carrying weighty coins on your person, they are inconvenient and, since the pandemic, seen by many as being a health risk. Who wants to handle dirty money?

Especially when today you can go out with just your phone and use it to make all your purchases. It doesn’t get any easier than that. Unless that is you choose to frequent a barber or laundrette, two establishments that still stubbornly insist they will only accept cash. But they are very much in the minority.

It’s no wonder most experts expect cash usage to continue to rapidly decline over the coming years. Indeed, it’s surprising that Sweden is the only country in Europe that’s set to becoming a totally cashless society.

Payments by debit card now account for half of all payments in Britain, the highest ever level.

Despite the pressure of the cost of living and the emergence from lockdowns, it’s been reported that in 2022 nearly 22 million people used cash just once a month or not at all the previous year. That compares with just under one million who mainly used cash.

Whilst paying by cash is still the second most popular method of payment, it now accounts for just 14% of the overall total.

Even getting your hands on cash is becoming more and more difficult.

While as recently as August 2023, the Treasury announced banks would face fines if they failed to provide free access to cash withdrawals for consumers and businesses and that free cash withdrawals and deposits must be available within one mile for people living in urban areas, or three miles in rural areas, the fact is ATM’s are rapidly disappearing, a trend largely due to banks and building societies closing their branches.

One beneficiary of this is the Post Office, whose network saw the highest number of cash transactions on record between June and August 2023. As bank branches close, those Post Offices that still remain open — and they too are closing rapidly — are being used by those who prefer cash.

The use of cheques has also continued to decline rapidly with the average person now writing one less than once every two years. In fact most banks no longer automatically send chequebooks to their customers.

The growth of cashless spending:

Here in the UK, we’re witnessing a huge move away from coins and cash, whether it’s parking meters that only accept card payments or an entire football stadium like the Amex in Brighton which doesn’t accept cash at all.

Increasingly, more and more supermarket checkouts are ‘card only’ and the once common sight of security vans is now a rarity.

Even for small value transactions, where we would’ve once used coins, we’re now more far more likely to pay using a contactless debit card. The typical amount spent for each payment in 2022 was £15.10 and debit cards were used in 57% of all transactions. Cards loaded onto phones and watches are included in the total.

2022 saw increased use of contactless, online banking and mobile payments, although cost of living challenges meant that some people preferred to use cash to help with their budgeting.

For many others, cash has become a thing of the past, something they have no need for.

Turning now to the purchases we make the most often, our visit to the supermarket.

Changing the way we shop for groceries:

Rather than doing one large weekly shop, evidence suggests we’re making more visits to supermarkets but spending small amounts each time. Indeed, the latest figures reveal the average household is now visiting a supermarket more than four times a week.

One of the reasons for this change is we’re becoming more savvy. Research suggests that to beat the soaring cost of living shoppers are much more focused on seeking out deals and best prices.

Indeed, if we don’t like prices in one store, analysis from the research firm Kantar reveals a growing propensity to go elsewhere in search of something cheaper.

Grocery price continue to skyrocket:

This change in shopping habits comes as grocery prices — particularly household staples such as eggs, milk and cheese, skyrocket. As recently as March 2023, food prices had risen at a record rate, climbing 17.5% compared with the previous year.

A month earlier, the Office for National Statistics (ONS), reported that food prices in February 2023 rose at their fastest rate in 45 years, driven in part by fruit and vegetable shortages.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, notes that shoppers are taking action and hunting around for the best value, with the average consumer now visiting three or more of the top 10 retailers in any given month.

Whether on the supermarket aisle, the high street or in restaurants and pubs, consumers are seeing unprecedented prices and enormous price hikes. Even the pound shops are struggling to sell items for a pound, indeed many now have products priced at £1.25 or higher.

Paying more for less:

In order to meet a price point, many producers and retailers have taken to reducing the size or quantity of their offering. There’s a couple less biscuits in a pack and fewer sweets in a bag, cereal boxes are getting shallower and many items can now only be bought in larger quantities so that the packaging is cheaper. The word for this is ‘shrinkflation’ and it’s a growing phenomenon.

On 20 January 2024, the consumer group Which? reported that it was inundated when it asked shoppers for examples of products which were either smaller or contained fewer key ingredients. Examples included mouthwash shrinking from 600ml to 500ml and its price rising by 52p, boxes of tea bags now containing 140 bags compared to the previous 180, bags of crisps shrinking from 150g to 130g and packs of butter now down to 180g from 225g.

They also found recipes for other products had been altered to include fewer expensive ingredients, such as clotted cream rice pudding now containing whipping cream or the amount of beef in a lasagne dropping from 23% to 19%.

Which? concluded that their research showed shoppers were often paying more for less.

The British Retail Consortium put the blame on manufacturers and gave the withering responses that:

“Prices and sizes of products are clearly labelled so that customers can make informed decisions about their purchases.”

Paying for things that were once complimentary:

And if getting less than we’re used to is bad enough, we’re now having to pay for things that we used to get for free. What’s happening at Rick Stein’s fish and chip shop in Padstow, Cornwall is a perfect example, coming under fire from customers for hiking the cost of its condiments.

It wasn’t that long ago if we wanted ketchup, mayonnaise or tartar sauce with our fish and chips, we’d be given them just for asking. Then some establishments began charging a nominal amount, but now one can expect to pay something more significant.

Customers ordering mayonnaise, curry sauce, tartar sauce, gravy or aioli at Stein’s Fish & Chips now have to pay £2 a portion for their condiments.

Responding to claims of profiteering, the restaurant group said it had held prices steady since 2020, but had put them up recently due to “skyrocketing costs.”

Justifying the price increases, a spokeswoman said:

“Food inflation, energy costs, along with rising wages, have driven up the cost of production significantly. As result, we have reluctantly, along with many others, had to pass on some of the costs to our customers.”

There’s no doubt costs have risen significantly. In July 2023, the price of sauces and condiments had risen 28.4%, although that was down from 34% in June and 35.1% in May.

Despite this, Stein’s might have been better to increase the price of its fish and chips eaten at the restaurant from its current £16.95 while charging less for its condiments or making them complimentary. Judging by the reaction of some of their customers, it’s clear they resent paying for something they used to get for nothing a lot more than they do paying a little more for their main course.

And with more and more of us making decisions based on TripAdvisor reviews, avoiding negative comments is a key priority for any business.

However, mixed in with a number of good reviews, some customers said they were “very disappointed” by the charges. One user wrote:

“On top of the £16.95 for cod and chips, you were expected to pay an additional £2 for condiments such as tartar sauce or mayo. We are regular visitors to Padstow and will not be eating here again.”

Rising food prices have been been blamed on Russia’s invasion in Ukraine which has resulted in higher energy bills and restricted supply of grain.

On top of that, crop failures and reduced harvests linked to climate change also mean restrictions on some produce pushing prices up. According to the trade journal The Grocer, Heinz is leading the way, hiking prices far more than any of its rivals across numerous products. In just a year, the company has doubled the price of some products, with the nation’s favourite tomato ketchup — the 910g bottle — rising 60% from £2.49 to £3.99.

The cost of living crisis is having such a big effect that a number of media outlets now even have dedicated Cost of Living correspondents and newspapers and magazines are packed with money-saving tips.

The impact of the cost of living on living standards:

According to September 2023 figures from the Office for National Statistics, nearly half of adults say they’re now buying less food due to higher prices. What’s more, in May 2023 one in twenty said that in the previous two weeks they’d either ran out of food or didn’t have the money to buy more.

So-called food insecurity is defined as skipping meals because you can’t afford them, not eating enough to satisfy your hunger or going a whole day without eating because of the cost. In 2023, some 22% of families with children were suffering food insecurity.

Another group who are especially struggling are students. Many say they had to cut back on food in the last academic year as the cost of living soared. Careful budgeting wasn’t enough to keep costs down, forcing some to skip meals, take on debt or dip into savings. No surprise then that nine out of ten students say they’re worried about the cost of living.

Like many, the single biggest outlay for students is accommodation, but as competition for a dwindling number of properties has surged, in most UK towns and cities the cost of renting somewhere to live has risen sharply.

Meanwhile, food prices have also gone up over the last year and supermarkets have been accused of keeping prices higher than they need to be to the extent that regulators have told them to make pricing clearer.

To help with rising costs, some students are skipping meals or leaving the heating off. Many are working extra hours, sometimes in multiple jobs, or relying on support from family.

Unsurprisingly, students are saying their university experience is poorer as a result, with the strain of the rising cost of living affecting their academic performance, skills development, health and wellbeing.

But it’s not just students who are suffering. According to a BBC Good Food Nation survey carried out in August 2023, more than a quarter of consumers are eating less healthily due to the cost of living crisis, with many turning to ready meals and processed foods. The survey also revealed that close to a third of shoppers, some 28%, have changed their supermarket due to cost of living considerations.

The shoplifting epidemic:

The rising cost of living and the number of people struggling economically is having another negative effect on the high street already facing an epidemic of empty shops. Shoplifting is on the increase. And by massive amounts. Sussex Police, for example, report that the number of caught shoplifters across East and West Sussex is up by more than 56%! And that figure only accounts for shoplifters who were arrested.

On top of this, there are more and more cases of organised looting. In recent times, there has been social media-inspired looting on London’s Oxford Street, where pillaging gangs overrun stores taking whatever they wish.

But while theft on that scale may be a rarity, organised looting is a growing trend.

On 15 September 2023 this was something the Guardian reported on. The article included an interview with the manager of a Leeds branch of the Co-op, who said that in recent months he and his staff had been threatened with razors, knives, screwdrivers, needles and hammers by shoplifters who in his words “have become more brazen and aggressive.”

He went on to say that shoplifters are not taking one or two items, but hundreds of pounds’ worth of stock, anything that can be re-sold. Most are repeat offenders who know the police don’t have the resources or can’t attend quickly enough.

And unlike the traditional lone shoplifter of the past, stores like the Co-op are now facing gangs who will climb over kiosks and brazenly empty shelves into rucksacks, construction bags, trolleys and even wheelie bins.

The Co-op, which has a portfolio of more than 2,000 stores, has said it had recorded its highest-ever levels of retail crime, shoplifting and antisocial behaviour in the six months to June 2023, with almost 1,000 incidents each day. It claimed that police failed to respond to 71% of serious retail crimes, and even said that they were considering whether it was safe and commercially viable to keep some of their branches open.

Co-op’s own Director of Publicity had this to say:

“I think there’s a real danger that businesses — I don’t just mean a couple, I mean all businesses — will look at some shops and think that it’s not commercially viable, because we’re spending so much to keep colleagues safe, to try to keep the product safe, that actually, whatever profit that we do make is being spent on that.”

Poverty campaigners say some theft is born of desperation.

In September 2023 Laurence Guinness, the chief executive of the Childhood Trust, told The Big Issue:

“I’ve spoken to many children, some as young as seven, who have resorted to taking food from shops because they are hungry.”

Dame Sharon White, the former chair of John Lewis Partnership which owns John Lewis and Waitrose, described shoplifting in the UK as an “epidemic”. Writing in the Telegraph on Sunday, she said high streets in some areas had already become “shells of their former selves”.

But supermarket bosses and retail experts claim the organised criminal gangs are also taking advantage of threadbare policing. Asda chairman Lord Stuart Rose even went so far as to say that shoplifting has become ‘decriminalised’ thanks to the lack of police action.

That’s borne out by the British Retail Consortium who said this summer shoplifting had risen 27% across ten of the largest cities in the UK, with some cities up as much as 68%. Put it another way, there are currently 30,000 thefts from shops every day in the UK!

Devoting its 11 January 2024 front cover to the issue, the Evening Standard headline read ‘Shoplifting epidemic costs us £9.2m a month!’ with the paper claiming:

“Shoplifting is the fastest-growing crime in London and the scale of the problem is so great that some shopkeepers face going out of business.”

With shop thefts having more than doubled in the past three years, reaching 8m in 2022, the BRC estimate that the shoplifting epidemic is costing retailers £953m annually.

The trend has not been limited to large supermarkets. The Association of Convenience Stores, the voice of more than 33,500 smaller shops, said it has recorded its highest-ever levels of shoplifting over the last year, with 1.1m incidents reported to the police.

But according to the Co-op, even when staff apprehend shoplifters, officers attend only 20% of incidents. As per an FoI request submitted by the chain, some forces do not respond to almost nine out of ten serious incidents.

Retailers introduce more deterrents to stop shoplifters:

The company said it had been forced to spend more than £200m to counter criminal behaviour, with measures such as body-worn cameras and headsets for staff and “dummy” packaging for items such as £6 boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates and £6 jars of Kenco coffee to deter thieves from looting or “bulk-shoplifting”.

On top of this it has also hired undercover guards, often former police officers, who can detain shoplifters until police arrive.

Putting a number on the problem, John Lewis’s director of security, Lucy Brown said: “UK retailers spend around £1bn a year in lost stock, plus a further £700m a year in measures to prevent crime.

“Criminals will target items that are easy to conceal, and that are quick and easy for them to resell.”

For Waitrose, that includes alcohol, meat, tobacco substitutes and health and beauty products such as razor blades and toothbrush heads, she said. At John Lewis, it’s wearable tech, fragrances and branded fashion.

The repercussions of self-checkouts:

With many supermarkets — both smaller local branches as well as bigger stores — now supplementing or even completely replacing manned checkouts with self-checkouts, shoppers are now facing a number of new security issues.

Staff are increasingly ‘random checking’ baskets and trolleys to check whether there are any unscanned items. Some, like Asda, are installing cameras and screens at each self-scan checkout point that show people their face as they scan through their products.

After it was falsely claimed the technology collected customer data for targeted ads, in The Mirror (21 March 2023) Asda revealed why they use self-checkout cameras:

“The cameras do not take footage that is recorded or stored. Instead, their purpose is to act as a deterrent to thieves.”

Another relatively new development is the requirement to show your receipt in order to exit the self-checkout area or indeed the store itself.

It’s no surprise that anecdotal evidence suggests that customers despise these measures as they believe supermarkets are now openly showing that they distrust their customers and there are numerous reports of customers being wrongly accused of stealing items by staff.

Stealing to resell:

Stealing to resell is a growing phenomena.

The Co-op said there had been a 41% rise in incidents in its stores in the first eight months of 2023, which they believe is linked to reselling.

“While individuals who are stealing are not stealing for their own consumption, they’re stealing for resale. The cost of living crisis has created a bigger potential market to sell stolen goods into, in particular food goods.”

These goods are resold at car boot sales, pubs, clubs and even in other shops. He refused to elaborate but added:

“Product that’s being stolen from us and Tesco and others is being resold in both informal and formal settings.”

A gang of four men recently looted a Co-op store, with each ransacking a different aisle. They got away with 40 boxes of laundry detergent, 20 jars of coffee, 35 steaks as well as packets of lamb and pork and one even climbed behind the kiosk and grabbed 20 bottles of spirits.

Thieves target parcel delivery vans:

But in addition to targeting shops, thieves are now also focusing on parcel delivery vans. By their very nature, they are perfect targets: a van full of potentially expensive items with absolutely no security apart from the driver. Gangs hold up the driver, threaten him and then unload the parcels to an awaiting vehicle. As a crime, it couldn’t be any easier. With online shopping growing exponentially, there are a plethora of delivery vehicles on Britain’s streets.

High streets blighted by empty shops:

In fact, online shopping has risen faster here than anywhere else in Europe and consequentially Britain’s high streets are filled with empty shops. In some towns, there are as many boarded up stores as there are ones struggling to keep their doors open. Indeed things are so bad that John Lewis Partnership’s, Sharon White, even called for a royal commission to “save our high streets.”

My local high street has long been blighted by empty shops. At one point, the town council even arranged for those storefronts to be ‘covered up’ with beauty shots of the town. However, all this did was focus attention on the extent of the problem. Whilst I haven’t counted, I’d estimate at least a quarter of the town’s high street retail space currently lies empty. And the more empty shops, the less appealing the area is for shoppers and the more difficult it becomes to attract new tenants.

For the first time ever, there are now no clothes stores on my local high street, neither are there any shoe shops, travel agents or off-licences. And most of the casualties are the big chains: WHSmith, Holland & Barrett, Thomas Cook, New Look and Peacocks, to name a few.

After its store had lain empty for two years, in April 2024, Peacocks surprisingly announced they would be reopening in May 2024.

Of course there are always people who, no matter what, appear to think their retail idea will be successful, but the churn of empty shops repeatedly proves them wrong. And there’s no doubt another barber shop, hairdresser, nail salon, brow bar or tattoo parlour is not going to attract more shoppers to the town. All those businesses, incidentally, are ones unaffected by online shopping, that you physically need to visit.

As elsewhere, we’ve also seen a rise in the number of vape stores, betting shops and charity shops, none of which enhance a high street. Further along the Sussex coast, the seaside town of Eastbourne was recently revealed to have more charity shops — 35 to be precise — than anywhere else in the country, with Hove coming in second with 33.

Conclusions:

Even the most optimistic optimist would find it hard to see how all these issues will resolve themselves. The truth is, they’re all interlinked. The pace of change today is faster than ever, and so are the ramifications of those changes.

Looking ahead, it’s hard to see anything other than a bleak future for most high streets and for an increasingly large percentage of people who will remain in an extreme state of adversity.

With almost two-thirds of the British people now regarding leaving the EU as more of a failure than a success and the oft-touted ‘sunlit uplands’ of Brexit nowhere to be seen, many will be wishing they could turn back the clock and return to times gone by.

Instead, they find themselves at their lowest ebb, facing a time of unprecedented hardship, having reached a vexatious new nadir.

Writing in The Guardian on 17 October 2023 as the Israeli/Hamas war was in full force, John Crace made this bleak observation:

“While the world holds its breath, the UK inexorably continues to fall apart. Bit by bit everything feels a little worse day on day.”

On 26 April 2024, Andy Beckett wrote an article for The Guardian headlined ‘The cost of living crisis has made the UK a poorer, more anxious nation. And worse is yet to come.’

In it he writes about how consumerism has changed:

“Shopping has become about carefully comparing prices, paying customs duties and finding shrunken products slyly hidden inside the same packaging.”

In response, one reader wrote:

“Sadly, Britain is a fairly docile nation and will tolerate the increasing cost of living crisis for a good while to come. That point, should it ever be reached will come when the working classes are moved to collectively protest on the streets on a grand scale.”

They added:

“It’s a grim fact that no British government will act on the miseries of the very poor until there are riots on the scale of those we once saw.”

Note: As this is a continuously developing story, I will update this essay as and when new information comes to my attention.

About the author: Based in Sussex-by-the-Sea, on England’s south coast, Gary is a creative writer and image-maker. He specialises in creating out of the ordinary portraits of musicians and people with interesting faces, as well as photographing some of the world’s finest flowers and gardens, not forgetting an array of automotive exotica.

On the writing side, he has used his research skills to author deep dives into some noteworthy songs beginning with Bryan Ferry’s ‘These Foolish Things’ ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials, ‘Real Wild Child’ by Ivan and ‘All The Young Dudes’ by Mott the Hoople.

He has also written a biography of Robert Palmer and the stories behind Whitesnake’s blatant Led Zep rip-off, ‘Still Of The Night’, Harry Styles’ anthem to positivity, ‘Treat People With Kindness’ and the little known Queen track ‘Cool Cat.’

Most recently, Gary has penned the fascinating story behind George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four.’ as well as ‘Believe It Or Not’ a look into the rise of fake news.

All these can be found here on Medium, along with his reviews of gigs and events and chats with musicians including the likes of Royal Blood, Joe Satriani and Wolf Alice.