One million more people are living in poverty in the UK than last year, according to analysis revealing Britain’s cost of living crisis is worsening.
It is estimated that a total of 14.4 million people will live in poverty in the UK in 2021-22 – including 4.2 million children – with a growing number unable to afford food or pay energy bills, analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found. . This is higher than the total of 13.4 million people – including 3.9 million children – in the previous year.
In a situation described as “massive social failure,” 6 million people live in extremely extreme poverty – defined as less than 40 percent of median income after housing costs. For example, a couple with two children under the age of 14 are defined as extreme poor if their household income is less than £14,600.
Families told how they were struggling to eat healthy food because they could not afford basic food, while frontline workers said families were trapped at home because they could not leave the house.
Charities criticized the findings, with Action for Children saying millions were “needlessly suffering the misery of hardship”. Consumer champion Martin Lewis said the report should make policymakers and regulators “sit up [and] Take note.”
The Independent The following may also be reported:
- Six million of the poorest people in the UK will need to double their incomes to escape poverty
- Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of adults in poverty live in working families – up from 61 percent the previous year
- More than one in five people in the UK – and three in 10 children – were living in poverty in 2021-22, according to estimates from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).
- More than two million people will have their gas and electricity cut off this winter because they cannot top up their prepaid meter
Poverty is defined by the Jordan River Foundation as having an income, after housing costs, that is less than 60 percent of the median income for your personal family situation.
For a couple with a child over 14 and a younger child, a household income of less than £25,300 is considered poverty. To be in extreme poverty, the threshold drops to £16,900.
For a single parent with two children, one aged 14 and one under 14, the income limit is £18,800.
A poor couple with two children under 14 would need an extra £6,200 a year to survive the water, and those in extreme poverty would need £12,800, the charity estimates based on household income data from the Department for Work and Pensions. .
“I warned at the beginning of the energy crisis that I no longer had the tools to help many low-income people,” Lewis said.
“Now we arrive at the stark reality that 100,000 people in the UK, even after getting professional help from charities, still have a budget deficit – and so their income is below the minimum necessary spending.” He said the research “seems to be a clear indicator that the problem is getting worse.”
The report comes after the latest data from Citizens Advice showed that 200,000 people came to them for crisis support, such as food bank referrals or emergency funds, in 2023 – three times the number in 2019.
The charity also estimates that around 800,000 people went more than 24 hours without gas or electricity last year because they were unable to top up their credit, leaving them unable to prepare a hot meal or take a warm bath.
A family member affected by the cost of living crisis, who is supported by children’s charity Patel, said: “I have four children living with me and one older one who has already spread her wings. Money has always been tight but with this cost of living crisis it has become unbearable. Most My global balance goes to gas and electric, and that goes up every month.
One frontline worker said she sees families “spending more and more time in their homes or on the streets because they can’t do anything or go anywhere.” Another said: “Children often go to school hungry and it is uncertain whether they will get a warm meal every day as some are not even entitled to free school meals due to their parents’ income.”
Another family support worker said: “Where a parent can get a bus to take their child to school, they now have to decide whether to keep the child out of school to get milk and bread with the money that would have been spent on the bus fare.” Another said that the homes they visited on their home visits were always cold because the parents couldn’t afford heating, and their children – especially toddlers – would get chest infections.
Liz Kendall, Labour’s work and pensions secretary, responded to the report by saying it was “time for change” and added: “One in five people trapped in poverty is the devastating result of 14 years of Tory failure. Households across the board are being pushed back.” The country has been reduced to poverty by a government that has destroyed the economy and unleashed a cost-of-living crisis.
Joseph Howes, CEO of Battle UK, said the JRF research was “the latest compelling evidence of the state of child poverty in the UK”.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney said: “This Tory government has failed miserably to give people the economic security they deserve.
“It is the Tory decisions that have caused rent prices to soar, the cost of a weekly shop to skyrocket, and caused the economy to stagnate.”
Paul Kissack, chief executive of JRF Group, said poverty had worsened over the past two decades, adding: “The profound signs of hardship and destitution are all around us – from skyrocketing use of food banks to growing numbers of homeless families. This is a social failure on a massive scale.” “.
Meanwhile, Paul Carbery, chief executive of Action for Children, added: “The UK Government’s first priority must be to reform its failed approach to tackling poverty, which hits children hardest. Only ministerial will to make the right decisions will help them do so.” the long term.
Mark Russell, from the Children’s Society, said the depth of child poverty in the UK was “outrageous”, adding that it had a “devastating impact on children’s lives”.
A government spokesman said: “We are continuing to support families with more than £100 billion worth of supported living – and there are 1.7 million fewer people living in extreme poverty in the UK, including 400,000 children, than in 2010.”
“Children are five times less likely to experience poverty when they live in a household where one parent works. That’s why we’re investing billions to break down barriers to work and support more than a million low-income earners with our Work Advancement offering – all while lowering taxes and reducing inflation.” So that people who work hard can have more money in their pockets.