The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), which has Quaker roots, says 668,000 families, including 312,000 children, were destitute in 2015 and had come into contact with voluntary sector crisis services.
Last year 312,000 children experienced #UKdestitution – read our new report - https://t.co/VgwyhdkIPJ pic.twitter.com/SsK0hjaGM8
— Joseph Rowntree Fdn. (@jrf_uk) 27 April 2016
The organisation's research included a week-long survey of ten local authority areas and concluded younger single men are most at risk of destitution.
Only including people who had come into contact with voluntary sector crisis services, the JRF said the figures are more likely to be under-estimated than over-estimated.
It found destitution was often not "a one-off, transient episode" but 75 per cent of those surveyed were still destitute three or four months later.
Our CEO @jon_sparkes on @jrf_uk research which found 1.25m people were destitute last year: https://t.co/gqxXnthbka pic.twitter.com/QgyuAFyApl
— Crisis (@crisis_uk) 27 April 2016
While migrants are disproportionately more likely to become destitute, the JRF also concluded 79 per cent were born in the UK.
Former-industrial areas of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and northern England, along with seaside towns and some London boroughs, were found to have higher levels of destitution.
JRF listed unsustainable debt repayments, high housing and energy costs, benefit delays, benefit sanctions and long-term health problems as among the causes of destitution.
Parents spoke of the strain destitution has put on relationships with their children and people affected by destitution frequently suffered some kind of mental ill health, the JRF found.
In summing up its "Destitution in the UK" report, the JRF said: "This study shows that destitution is closely linked to broader poverty.
"Tackling destitution requires action on the fundamental drivers of poverty (e.g. unemployment, low pay and high living costs), as well as better emergency support for those in crisis.
"For some groups other policy areas are also important including debt, immigration, asylum, housing, homelessness, mental health, addictions, and complex needs.
"These are all themes addressed in the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's forthcoming comprehensive costed strategy for solving poverty in the UK."