A QUARTER of retail workers are missing meals because they have to choose between buying food and paying other essential bills, their union said today.

A survey by retail union Usdaw found that 25 per cent of members said they skipped meals so that they could pay other bills.

The shock findings come on top of a report released by Civil Service union PCS that a third of members it surveyed are skipping meals because of their financial situation.

Usdaw surveyed more than 5,500 staff, mainly low-paid key workers who enabled the public to shop during the pandemic and successive lockdowns.

Its findings include that 70 per cent have taken out unsecured loans, with 60 per cent of these struggling to repay them, while almost half of those surveyed struggle to get to work because of travel costs. 

The number missing meals has multiplied by five times since last year from one in 20 to one in four.

One member said: “I’ve gone over my credit card limit to put food on the table and pay my bills.”

Another said: “I'm cutting food for myself so I can at least feed my child and pay the bills.” 

One warned they are “giving up on ever being able to afford a house or family” and another said: “Too many threatening letters: I can’t cope any more — there is nothing left to pay them.”

Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis said the union’s cost-of-living survey “lays bare the struggle low-paid workers are experiencing just to make ends meet.”

This week Usdaw is running stalls to win public support for its campaign for a New Deal for Workers.