At The Hygiene Bank, we believe it is not right that feeling clean should be a luxury or a privilege for anyone in our society, yet 4.2 million adults in the UK are living in hygiene poverty and cannot afford to stay clean.

It isn’t about cleanliness, or even mental and physical wellbeing, hygiene poverty blocks opportunities and limits life chances - going without shampoo, toothpaste, laundry detergent causes suffering on a day-to-day basis. People affected by hygiene poverty feel shame, anxiety, depression…

And the consequences can have long-lasting implications, people avoid going to work or to job interviews, and they severely reduce and limit their social interactions. So, hygiene poverty limits access to education, work and to routes out of poverty.