One easy way to tackle appliance poverty

Shopping vouchers were the single most requested support last year, with 845 vouchers worth £48,000 given to Hyde customers. Vouchers were overwhelmingly used to buy food, which allowed households to spend their income on other living costs, such as rent, energy bills and clothes. This also prevents their circumstances from deteriorating by cutting the risk of them getting into more debt.

While vouchers tend to be needed in a crisis, help with buying white goods – the second most requested support last year – can have long-term benefits. Living without appliances for cooking, washing and refrigeration can have a significant financial impact.

“An estimated 480,000 households or 1.2 million people in the UK are in appliance poverty”

According to the More than making do: Understanding the economic impact of essential household appliances report by the Association of Charitable Organisations (ACO) in 2023, an estimated 480,000 households or 1.2 million people in the UK are in ‘appliance poverty’. This is defined as not having a washing machine or a fridge freezer. Of these, 53,000 households or 130,000 people have neither.

Having nothing to cook on means people are more likely to resort to buying takeaways, whereas relying only on a microwave often requires people to buy more expensive (and more likely unhealthy) food, such as ready meals. Additionally, not having a fridge or a freezer means it’s more difficult to shop ‘smarter’ and save money on bulk food shopping. 

According to charity Turn2us’ Living without: The scale and impact of appliance poverty report, a family without these appliances can expect to spend 43% more on an average food shop.

Turn2us said the cost of paying to clean clothes at a laundrette can be 2,500% more expensive than buying and running a washing machine, particularly for those families having to wash school uniforms and work clothes, or those living with medical conditions.

Providing these items means not only supporting customers with the initial cost of the purchase but also helps to reduce their overall outgoing, allowing people to afford other essential expenses.

For example, last year, Ani (not her real name), a 20-year-old care leaver and single parent, was referred to Hyde after moving into her social rental home with her young son. Ani was starting to struggle.

She owed about £1,000 in rent and hadn’t been able to afford a cooker or washing machine. She was resorting to takeaways and ready meals, which were costing her a lot more money than preparing fresh food, and she was either relying on support from family and friends with washing machines or spending extra money on trips to the launderette.

“The combined annual savings of the 306 appliances HCT provided funding for in 2023/24 was at least £469,000. In terms of social impact… the value of well-being improvements could be as much as £2.2m”

As well as helping Ani get more benefits so she could pay her rent, Hyde also awarded her a grant to buy a washing machine and a cooker. This not only saved her from the cost of the items, but an additional £3,300 a year on her laundry costs and cooking – money that can now contribute towards other living expenses.

Based on the findings of the Turn2us report, the combined annual savings of the 306 appliances HCT provided funding for in 2023-24 was at least £469,000. In terms of social impact, using the methodology in ACO’s report, the value of well-being improvements could be as much as £2.2m, or 11 times the cost of the appliances of £202k.

Based on these calculations, since 2021 it’s estimated that Hyde customers who have been provided with white goods have saved a combined £1.2m, with £5.3m in well-being improvements.

As the ACO report said: “With an estimated 480,000 households living in appliance poverty in the UK… the monetary value of well-being improvements arising from [being provided with] large essential appliances in the home could be as much as £6.7bn.”

Housing associations provide homes for some of the most vulnerable people in society – people who are already on low incomes in need of help and support in finding and living in a home of their own.

On top of this, the support systems housing associations provide can give a stable foundation to improve someone’s life in all aspects, including their finances, physical and mental health, relationships with others and purpose in life. This delivers significant, long-term socio-economic benefits. Hyde’s Value of Social Tenancy research estimates the total value brought by England’s social housing sector is at least £77.7bn a year.

So along with short-term financial help, one easy and inexpensive way of supporting people in the longer term is to give them the money to buy cookers, washing machines and fridge freezers – things many of us take for granted. This can help prevent people from getting into debt, help sustain their tenancies and allow them to thrive in their homes.

Felicity Hunt, community and social impact director, Hyde Group