Hygiene Poverty in the UK and Europe: The Need Behind Every Hygiene Kit

Soap, toothpaste, shampoo. It is easy to assume everyone can restock them without a second thought. Yet right now, across the UK and Europe, millions of people are rationing these everyday basics, going without them, or choosing between a bar of soap and a meal. Hygiene poverty is not a faraway problem. It is happening in our own cities, often to people who are working, raising families and doing everything they can to keep up.

A Need Closer to Home Than Many Realise

Running out of toothpaste usually means picking up another tube, so it is easy to assume the same is true for everyone. Across the UK and Europe, many people are finding that it is not, and hygiene poverty can affect anyone, including people we work alongside every day.

In the UK, The Hygiene Bank and YouGov estimate that 4.2 million adults were living in hygiene poverty in 2024, an increase of 1.1 million since the charity’s previous research in 2022. According to The Hygiene Bank, 69% of adults in hygiene poverty have had to choose between paying for essentials like food and bills and buying basic toiletries. And 65% of affected parents have had to choose between hygiene products for themselves and for their children.

Those are hard choices, and families make them with real care, often putting their children first. Hygiene poverty is often hidden, which is why it so often goes unseen. Local charities and hygiene banks are frequently where people turn, and they know their communities best. Those are exactly the partners CTW Events works with.

The Cost of Living Has Turned Toiletries Into a Trade-Off

When rent, energy and food take a bigger share of every pay packet, everyday essentials are often the first thing to go. They look optional on a household budget. They are not optional in real life.

In France, the sixth Hygiène et Précarité barometer, carried out by Ifop for the charity Dons Solidaires and published in April 2026, found that 43% of adults say the current economic climate has led them to cut back on hygiene products for budget reasons. Close to 4 million people now go without at least one essential such as soap, toothpaste or nappies, compared with 3 million in 2019. The 2026 edition puts a spotlight on a group many people overlook: working people on low incomes, for whom having a job no longer guarantees the basics.

Zoom out to the whole European Union and the pressure is easy to see. In 2025, 20.9% of people in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to Eurostat. Not everyone in that group goes without hygiene products, but it shows how many households are living with very little room for the unexpected.

Why a Hygiene Kit Matters More Than You Think

A toothbrush is a small thing until you do not have one. Clean hair, fresh breath and a bar of soap are part of how we all show up for the day: a job interview, the school run, a doctor’s appointment or simply meeting a friend. When those basics are within reach, people can show up for the day on their own terms. Every kit is about making that a little easier.

That is the thinking behind every CTW Events hygiene kit. Our standard European kit includes:

• a bamboo toothbrush and dental tablets
• shampoo and conditioner
• a bar of soap
• a handwritten wellbeing note card from the person who packed it

The note is often the part people remember most. Participants write a few words of encouragement, and it travels with the kit to the person who receives it. A bag of products becomes something personal.

Kits never replace the cash funding charities rely on. They complement it, putting useful products into the hands of partners who know their communities best and are already supporting people every day.

Charities Are Stretched, So Every Kit Has Somewhere to Go

Charities are feeling the squeeze too. The Charities Aid Foundation found in October 2025 that 83% of UK charities had seen demand for their services rise over the previous 12 months, and only 11% said they had been able to meet that rise smoothly.

That is why every CTW Events kit experience is matched to a charity partner that needs the resources. Once you book your event, CTW Events finds a partner close to the need and confirms how many kits they can take and when they can receive them. Every kit your people build already has somewhere to go.

How Your Next Event Becomes the Place Where Support Happens

Here is the part we love. Your organization already brings people together: conferences, offsites, kick-offs, customer events and office days. Those moments are full of energy, and most already include a slot for connection or team building. With CTW Events, that slot becomes hands-on corporate volunteering with a real result for people in your community.

It also removes one of the biggest barriers to volunteering. In England, work commitments are the most common barrier to formal volunteering, cited by 51% of people in the DCMS Community and Engagement Survey 2025/26. Building kits inside an event you are already running means people can take part during work time, with no extra travel and no extra day out of the office.

How a CTW Events kit experience works

1. You tell us about your eventShare the date, the city, roughly how many people and the format. A Breakout brings the whole group together in one agenda slot. A Walkthrough lets people drop in across the day.
2. We find the right charity partnerCTW Events matches your event with a charity or community partner that needs the kits.
3. We bring everythingCTW Events sources the products, ships the materials and sets up the build stations.
4. Your people buildTeams assemble kits side by side and write their personal notes. Your people bring the care. We bring everything else.
5. Kits reach the partnerFinished kits are handed over to the receiving partner, with CTW Events supporting the handover.
6. You share the resultEveryone leaves knowing exactly how many kits they built together and where those kits are going.

Real Kit Experiences Across Europe

CTW Events has brought hygiene kit experiences to conferences, trade shows and corporate events across the UK and Europe. A few recent examples:

Planning Tips for Event, People and CSR Leads

• Think about where you are. Tell us the city and venue, and CTW Events will find a charity partner nearby that needs the kits.
• Pick the right format. A Breakout suits offsites and kick-offs. A Walkthrough suits conferences, expo floors and registration areas.
• Tell people why, with care. A two-minute brief on hygiene poverty, with one clear statistic, makes the build far more meaningful. Keep it respectful, remembering that some colleagues may have experienced this themselves.
• Plan your content early. Agree photo consent and what you will share afterwards, so your internal communications team has a story ready to go.
• Celebrate together. Share the number of kits your people supported and what the partner can now offer the people it works with, so everyone can see the difference in their community.