Barnsley residents suffering from hygiene poverty and ‘cutting down on showers’ as cost of living crisis bites

Healthwatch Barnsley, which gathers people’s on health and social care services in the county, found that 36 per cent of residents in Barnsley had gone without hygiene or sanitary products due to financial pressures – increasing to 55 per cent in the Dearne.

Of the 139 survey respondents, 36 per cent said they had ‘just enough money for basic necessities and little else’, and 21.5 per cent said they didn’t have enough money for basic necessities.

Of the respondents, almost half (45 per cent) had gone without essential hygiene or sanitary products.

One respondent said they had to ‘cut down on using the shower to save costs’, and another said they found it difficult to ‘choose between food, hygieneproducts and bills’.

The report adds that there has been a ‘marked increase’ of people avoiding dentists to keep living costs down.

“There has also been a rise in the number of people who say that their physical and mental health have been affected by the cost of living increase,” it adds.

The Office for Budget Responsibility warned of a drop in living standards of 3.5 per cent by 2024/2025 compared to pre-pandemic levels.

This is the largest reduction in real living standards since ONS records began in the 1950s.

Julia Burrows, Barnsley’s previous director of public health,said last year that families in Barnsley needed an extra £100 per month to sustain ‘normal levels of living’, adding that the cost of living crisis had ‘disproportionately’ affected Barnsley where poverty was already increasing before the pandemic.