The Unspent Gift Card: What Do We Assume About People in Poverty?
Zӧe Rucker
31 October 2026
We don't think much of an unspent gift card. We assume someone forgot about it, couldn't find anything they wanted or simply never got around to spending it. But what assumptions do we make when the card is intended to help someone experiencing poverty?
Zӧe Rucker examines what people experiencing hardship say about seeking help, why support sometimes goes unused and the conclusions we draw without knowing their circumstances.
Not Poor Enough to Ask
“I still feel I'm far better off than a lot of people.”
That was how a woman aged 55 or over in Wales described her situation to researchers investigating why people experiencing hardship don't always seek charitable support¹.
A study published alongside Trussell's Hunger in the UK 2025 found that 61% of households experiencing food insecurity had not accessed charitable food provision in the previous year. That's an estimated 2.7 million households going without adequate food but not using charitable food support¹.
Among people going without essentials who hadn't accessed this provision, 76% gave reasons connected to how they perceived their own financial hardship.
Some didn't believe they needed help badly enough. Others thought somebody else needed it more.
Yet among those who said they weren't experiencing hardship, 25% were going without at least three essentials¹.
A separate Department for Work and Pensions study interviewed 40 parents and carers experiencing material deprivation. One father, aged 55, explained why he hadn't pursued foodbank assistance:
“I've assumed that I'm not really entitled to any and even after thinking about it I wouldn't want to explore that avenue because I think there are other people who are more deserving and in need of it than me².”
Another father described going to a foodbank as a personal low point. He reassured his children that they still had money for food, believing other families had nothing².
The Forgotten Gift Card
A lot of us have had a gift card sitting in a drawer. We rarely feel the need to justify it.
Research by the Gift Card and Voucher Association found that 17% of UK consumers waited three to six months before spending a gift card, while almost 10% waited between six months and a year³.
A separate Ipsos survey of 1,096 adults aged 16–75 in Great Britain found that 11% had unused gift vouchers that expired in the previous year⁴.
More Than a Shopping Trip
If someone needs clothes and receives a gift card, spending it might seem an obvious next step.
A 2024 Mental Health Foundation study involving 962 adults in UK households with incomes of £30,000 or less found that 21% reported often or very often experiencing at least one form of poverty-related unfair treatment⁵.
In a study published in 2026, researchers interviewed 62 people on low incomes about their experiences of food assistance. Some described embarrassment or feeling watched⁶.
Participants also expressed preferences about the assistance they received. One woman, Paula, contrasted being able to choose food herself with receiving a prepared bag. To her, the experiences were “worlds apart⁶”.
The study concerned food assistance, but the question of choice is relevant to clothing too. A person may need clothes without necessarily finding every item or shopping option suitable.
Clothing Collective's distributing partners have encountered different responses to its vouchers.
Miracles Charity suggested that some families might not associate second-hand clothing vouchers with dignity or choice. Others welcomed them and asked for more.
These are the partner's observations rather than confirmed reasons for non-redemption.
Who Gets the Benefit of the Doubt?
In a British experiment involving 1,402 respondents, researchers presented people with a hypothetical unemployment-benefit claimant who had missed two compulsory appointments.
The claimant's behaviour remained the same, but the researchers varied indicators of social class.
Support for sanctioning the claimant was approximately 14 percentage points higher when they were presented with characteristics associated with a stigmatised section of the working class, compared with a middle-class claimant⁷.
The researchers also examined respondents' explanations. Claimants presented with stigmatised working-class characteristics were more likely to be blamed for their behaviour, while otherwise identical claimants were more likely to receive the benefit of the doubt⁷.
This experiment cannot tell us how people judge an unspent clothing gift card. But it does demonstrate that the same behaviour can attract different judgements depending on what observers believe about the person involved.
When somebody experiencing poverty leaves assistance unused, are we as willing to give them the benefit of the doubt?
But What If They Still Need It?
One person supported by North Paddington Foodbank had just £9.35 a week left for essentials. Their shoes and trousers had holes in them. A Clothing Collective gift card enabled them to replace both.
But what if they hadn't spent it?
Would the holes in their clothes have mattered any less? Would their financial situation have changed?
We know about this person's need because their story was shared. But what can we establish about somebody who leaves a card unspent?
Their circumstances might have changed. They might have encountered difficulties or simply forgotten. Without hearing from them, we cannot know.
Distributing partners can tell us how people respond to help, but their observations cannot replace the explanations of those who don't use it.
Not using something is a behaviour. Not needing it is an assumption.
References:
Trussell; Ipsos (2025). 'Why Do People Going Without Essentials Not Access Charitable Food Provision?'. Supplementary research to 'Hunger in the UK 2025', examining why people experiencing food insecurity or material deprivation do not access charitable food support. Includes survey findings and first-hand accounts of people experiencing hardship. [Trussell]
Department for Work and Pensions; Verian (2025). Child Poverty Strategy: Parents and Carers Research. Qualitative research involving 40 parents and carers experiencing material deprivation, exploring barriers to seeking assistance, including perceptions of eligibility and deservingness.
Gift Card and Voucher Association (2024). State of the Nation 2024. UK consumer research examining gift-card purchasing and redemption habits, including the time people take to spend their cards.
Ipsos (2023). Vouchers, Vouchers Don't Forget Your Vouchers! Survey of 1,096 adults aged 16–75 in Great Britain, examining unused gift vouchers and the proportion that expired before being redeemed.
Inglis, Greig, et al. (2024). Experiences of Poverty Stigma and Mental Health in the UK. Research involving 962 adults from lower-income households, examining poverty-related unfair treatment and its relationship with mental health. [Mental Health Foundation and University of the West of Scotland]
Power, Maddy Sarah, and Baxter, Madeleine (2026). Free and Equal? The Realities of Lived Experiences of Food Aid in the UK. Longitudinal qualitative research involving 62 people on low incomes, exploring dignity, stigma and choice when accessing charitable food assistance. [Journal of Social Policy, Cambridge University Press]
de Vries, Robert; Reeves, Aaron; and Geiger, Ben (2022). Social Class Bias in Welfare Sanctioning Judgements: Experimental Evidence from a Nationally Representative Sample. British experiment involving 1,402 respondents, examining how perceived social class influences judgements about welfare claimants and sanctions. [Social Policy & Administration, Wiley]
Cover photo by Simon Kadula on Unsplash