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In the United Kingdom around 4 million adults and almost 1 million children lack at least one basic item of basic clothing, such as a warm winter coat or suitable shoes.

The Dr Foot Foundation works through its partners to distribute shoes to those most at need here in the UK. Through our partnerships with schools, community chaplaincies and non-governmental organisations we are able to supply useable shoes through many access points across the UK.

With household budgets being squeezed year on year, quite understandably families are re re-prioritising  their spending and focusing upon the necessities. Our consumer research shows that footwear in general is considered a desirable and increasingly unaffordable ‘luxury’ item.

In families from lower socio-economic backgrounds, this results in an increase in the number of children who suffer from inadequate footwear. According to Clarks the shoe manufacturer and retailer; over 4 million children in the UK are wearing shoes that are the wrong size. Parents that squeeze their children's feet into the wrong sized shoes can be causing them a lifetime of problems, the most debilitating of which are hammer toes; bunions; Achilles tendon; blisters and corns.

What most people do not realize is that they should be taking as much care of their feet as they do, for example of their teeth. Children's feet tend to grow very fast during the first four to five years. However, it can take eighteen years for feet to fully develop the bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons.

This is why teenage feet need looking after just as much as those of children.
Two fifths of parents admitted to buying shoes that were too big so their children could grow into them over time, thus saving money. When it came to actually purchasing footwear, a quarter of parents said they based their decision on the cost.

This problem is not exclusive to children. Many adults that cannot afford to buy new shoes wear shoes that are worn to such a degree that it can lead to many serious foot problems. According to the Dr Foot Foundation senior podiatrist Abid Hussain, “One of the major causes of foot pain we see on a daily basis is inappropriate shoes. Many people that cannot afford to buy new shoes wear shoes that are worn to such a degree that excessive pressure and strain is put on vital foot structures which can lead to severe, painful and long-term foot conditions”.

Buying the right shoes is not just a fashion choice. It can be one of the most important health decisions you make. On average we walk more than 115,000 miles in a lifetime – that’s more than 4 times the earth’s circumference. Every time we take a step, our feet support us under the pressure of 3 times our body weight. It is essential then that our footwear is appropriate for our bodies.
In 2012 the ESRC carried out the largest and most authoritative study of poverty and deprivation ever conducted in the UK; Poverty and Social Inclusion in the UK.

According to its findings:

• Over 30 million people (almost half the population) are suffering some degree of financial insecurity.
• Almost 18 million people cannot afford adequate housing conditions.
• Roughly 14 million cannot afford one or more essential household goods.
• Almost 12 million people are too poor to engage in common social activities
considered necessary by the majority of the population.
• About 5.5 million adults go without essential clothing.
• Around 4 million children and adults are not properly fed by today’s standards.
• Almost 4 million children go without at least two of the things they need.
• Around 2.5 million children live in homes that are damp.
• Around 1.5 million children live in households that cannot afford to heat their home.

Today 33% of the UK population suffers from multiple deprivations by the standards set by the public. In contrast it was 14% in 1983.

The findings present a remarkably bleak portrait of life in the UK today and the shrinking opportunities faced by the bottom third of local society. About one third of people in the UK suffer significant difficulties and about a quarter have “an unacceptably low standard of living” said Professor David Gordon of the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research in Bristol – and head of the project. “Moreover this bleak situation will get worse as benefit levels fall in real term, real wages continue to decline and living standards are further squeezed.”

“Levels of deprivation today are worse in a number of vital areas, from basic housing to key social activities, than at any point in the past 30 years”, added Joanna Mack from The Open University, who, with Stewart Lansley, devised the methodology of the 1983 study. “These trends are a deeply shocking indictment of 30 years of economic and social policy and reflect a rapid growth in inequality”. This has meant that, though the economy has doubled in size during this period, those at the bottom have been increasingly left behind.

It is also estimated by senior welfare experts that the recent benefit cuts will disproportionately hit the poorest families and push a further 200,000 children into poverty.

In an open letter to David Cameron, published in the Guardian, more than 50 social policy professors warn that the welfare reforms, coupled with previous tax, benefit and public expenditure cuts, will result in the poorest tenth of households losing the equivalent of around 38% of their income.
Around 4 million adults and almost 1 million children lack at least one basic item of clothing, such as a warm winter coat or suitable shoes.

Research by Barnardo's shows how capping benefits will have an effect on the UK's poorest families. It found that low income families were disproportionately affected by inflation, as energy and food bills soared - gas by up to 10%. In fact, because these families spend more of their budgets covering the cost of essentials, inflation hit them a third harder than the UK's richest families last year.

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