By Vivienne Russell | 19 January 2015
Over 8 million UK families with children – more than one third – now have less than they require for a socially acceptable standard of living, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
JRF’s latest minimum incomes report said the gap in income inadequacy had widened since the recession and its aftermath.
The research benchmarks household income data against a Minimum Income Standard, calculated by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University. This is the amount that the public think people need in order to reach a socially acceptable standard of living but is not a poverty threshold. It includes more than food, clothes and shelter and ‘is about having what you need in order to have the opportunities and choices necessary to participate in society’.
This year’s report found that pressures were particularly acute in single-parent families. Almost three-quarters (71%) of single-parent families live on inadequate incomes. Single-earner household were also at risk of inadequate incomes, with half (51%) struggling to get by.
Commenting on the findings, Katie Schmuecker, policy and research manager at JRF, said: ‘There has been a turnaround in who is suffering most as a result of the economic crisis and government measures to reduce the deficit.
‘While last year’s monitoring report showed a sharp rise in young single people struggling to make ends meet, this year’s report shows a rapid widening of the gap between the incomes and costs of families with children.
'Falling earnings, cuts to in- and out-of-work benefits and sharp rises in the cost of essential items over several years have taken their toll upon the ability of families with children to secure a decent living standard. Without action by the government and employers to address this group as part of a wider anti-poverty strategy, this trend is likely to have serious consequences for the next generation.’
Donald Hirsch of the University of Loughborough and one of the report’s co-authors, added that the recent drop in inflation would help to reverse the trend, but he added: ‘It will take several years of rising real wages, while maintaining support through tax credits and Universal Credit, to reduce decisively the number of families with inadequate incomes.’
JRF is calling for national minimum wage rates to be set with regard to the changing cost of living and average earnings, and for employers to pay the Living Wage where they can afford to do so.
