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A ground-breaking report on destitution has received a mention from celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver.
In the latest edition of Friday Night Feast on Channel 4, the well-known TV personality made reference to a research report entitled Destitution in the UK, which was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
The paper was written by leading academics at Heriot-Watt University and defines someone as destitute if they have lacked two or more of six essentials over the past month including, shelter, food, heating, lighting, clothing and basic toiletries.
During the cookery programme the chef used the same definition on a piece on food banks.
He also used a key finding from the report – that 1.25m people were classed as destitute in the UK in 2015.
Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick, director of Institute for Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research (I-SPHERE) said: “It's great that someone as high profile as Jamie has picked up on our research.
“Destitution is a major problem for UK society and this is an excellent example of a public figure, spreading the word and promoting awareness about this important issue.”