A new study has revealed how hardship in the UK is affecting public services, specifically in primary education and primary and community healthcare.

The research, conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), explored the pressures that UK public services are under due to hardship. JRF defined hardship in the study as “people going without essentials like food, heating and appropriate clothing because they can’t afford it”.

In the survey, JRF polled staff in primary education and primary and community healthcare (GP surgeries, for example) and found that nine in 10 said pupils or patients experiencing hardship has had an impact on them as staff, or on their colleagues or the wider organisation they work for. Moreover, 70% of them said supporting people who can’t afford the essentials was a challenge in their organisation, and of that 70%, two-thirds say it makes it harder for them to do their job well.

While running focus groups as part of the study, teachers spoke of being unable to start teaching on time because they had to leave the classroom to deal with distressed parents facing homelessness or find warm clothes and food for children who were going without. Meanwhile, staff from healthcare settings discussed GP appointments being used to get prescriptions for over-the-counter medicine, such as Calpol, because the patient couldn’t afford to buy them at the pharmacy, or even ask for letters to stop evictions. Almost half of the respondents from primary care, and a third in primary schools, said that they were providing a food bank as part of their service.

With the UK taking to the polling stations on 4 July, JRF has called on political parties to “address hardship at source” ahead of and after the general election. “Hardship has reached a shameful level in our country, with almost 4 million people finding themselves in destitution in a single year – unable to keep themselves dry, warm and fed,” said Katie Schmuecker, principal policy adviser at JRF. “As the parties compete to lead the UK after 4 July, we need them to get serious about tackling the scale and depth of hardship which is afflicting millions and holding families back from building better lives.

Continuing to call on politicians to do more to address hardship across the UK, Schmuecker expressed: “Primary schools and GP services are staggering under the weight of hardship – it shouldn’t fall to them to ensure families are not going hungry. As a country we need our politicians to address hardship at source, not look the other way.

“We still need to hear from all our politicians on how they’ll take urgent action to support families, as well as setting out bold, long-term solutions which ensure that everyone in our country can at least afford the essentials.”

Images: Getty; Stylist