Fifth of working class 'struggle to buy food'

Investigators for poverty charity Elizabeth Finn Care discovered that, although 13.5 million people in Britain are still trying to scratch a living below the poverty line, more than one in four those polled believed that tackling poverty was not a priority.

The survey found that, as the recession deepened over the last year, one in five people on low income had been unable to buy food and almost one in 10 did not have enough money to even buy bread or milk.

The charity's campaign director Bryan Clover said: "Shockingly, 5 per cent of workers on low incomes also admitted they have had to call in sick because they couldn't afford the cost of travelling to work."

A Child Poverty Action Group spokeswoman explained that the poverty line is considered to be 60 per cent of a household's income after housing costs have been paid - amounting to £119 per week for a single person and £206 a week for a couple.

"Paid work is not, on its own, a guarantee of being free of poverty, while benefits and tax credits that are supposed to act as a safety net are too low," she emphasised.

Save the Children campaigner Colette Marshall added that "state benefits simply haven't been enough and with rising food costs families cannot afford to give children proper decent food.

"We are facing a crisis," she insisted.