Calpol is most shoplifted item in this London neighbourhood amid cost-of-living crisis: report

The inflation in the UK has led to led to a surge in food and housing costs.

One in ten young adults in the United Kingdom has admitted to shoplifting items from supermarkets self-checkouts as the country faces its worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, Metro reported.

Millions of British people are suffering a cost-of-livingcrisis as stubbornly-high inflation erodes the value of wages and has led to a surge in food and housing costs. The crisis has pushed an increasing number of people pushed into poverty.

One in 25 adults confessed they intentionally skip or incorrectly scan goods they can't afford at supermarkets, a survey by money-saving app ZipZero reportedly found. One in five Britons has sought out financial help to pay for food, the report said.

Last month, a report by authorities in London’s Tower Hamlets borough said commonly used paracetamol Calpol is the most stolen item from shops in the East London neighbourhood, highlighting that many people are not even able to afford basic medicines. Essential baby products too are being increasingly shoplifted by desperate families in Tower Hamlets, one of London’s poorest boroughs, according to the report.

Inflation has also prompted widespread strikes in Britain as many workers protest over salaries that have sunk in value. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative government and the Bank of England have urged employers to show restraint, warning big pay hikes would jeopardise efforts to control inflation and lead to more sharp rises in consumer prices.

The UK consumer price inflation the highest in the G7 group of nations. Amid the crisis, the Bank of England is set to deliver its twelfth straight interest rate hike as it seeks to dampen high inflation.

The British government has forecast inflation will decelerate sharply to 2.9 per cent by the end of the year.

Policymakers across the world are battling rampant inflation fuelled largely by runaway energy bills in the wake of key producer Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.