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Supply chain crisis

One in six adults in Great
Britain not able to buy
essential foods, ONS finds
Survey of impact of supply chain crisis in past
fortnight also finds 15% could not buy fuel

Joanna Partridge
Fri 8 Oct 2021 18.19 BST

Almost nine million people, representing one in

six adults in Great Britain, have not been able to
buy essential food items in the past two weeks
because they were not available, official research
suggests.

According to an Office for National Statistics

(ONS) survey, 17% of adults could not buy some
of the grocery products they needed between 22
September and 3 October, reflecting the
widespread impact of supply chain disruption
and labour shortages.

Nearly a quarter of respondents (23%) told the

ONS they had not been able to purchase other
essential non-food items.

Meanwhile, 15% reported they had not been able

to buy fuel for their vehicle during the fortnight,
which covered the acute phase of the fuel supply
crisis in which forecourts have run dry as
motorists queued for long periods to fill up their
cars.

The data, based on a representative sample to

reflect the just over 52 million adults in Great
Britain, showed the widespread impact of empty
supermarket shelves.

The grocery shortages appear to have been felt

most strongly in the north-east and east
Midlands regions, where a fifth of adults (21%)
told the ONS they had not been able to buy the
items they needed.

Almost two-thirds of consumers surveyed (61%)

reported noticing some differences in shops
compared with usual, which included seeing less
variety on shelves than they would expect, or
not being able to find a replacement for out-of-
stock items.

Supply shortages also affected the availability of

medicines or prescriptions, with almost a
quarter (23%) of adults reporting differences
compared with normal, including people having
to wait longer to receive their prescription items.

The newly released figures from the ONS follow

weeks of reports about gaps on supermarket
shelves and the closure of forecourts because of
lack of fuel, and warnings about the impact on
Christmas of supply chain disruption and a
shortage of workers.

In response, the government said on Friday that

it had appointed Sir David Lewis, the former
chief executive of Tesco, to be its supply chain
adviser. Downing Street said Lewis would advise
the prime minister on immediate improvements
to UK goods supply chains, while also suggesting
any necessary long-term changes. Lewis will
work with officials to resolve quickly the acute,
short-term issues.

The supply chain and logistics industry has been

saying for some time that pressures on delivery
of food and goods are only likely to increase in
the run-up to Christmas, which is the busiest
time of the year for retailers and many other
businesses.

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Topics
Supply chain crisis
Food & drink industry / Brexit / news

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