Around 4.5 million children are living in relative poverty after housing costs. 200,000 more since before the pandemic.

These are record numbers of children living in poverty.

Latest DWP figures on Households Below Average Income has found 🔽 1/3

NEW from @jrf-uk.bsky.social.

Much was made of the pressures from a “changing world” on public finances.

Those pressures are also impacting families, and government choices are making it worse.

We find the avg. family will now be £750/yr worse off by 2029, vs today.

Thread.

#SpringStatement

OBR's measure of living standards, RHDI, is up by £500 - largely due to stronger wage growth, including planning reforms which boost incomes.

BUT when you dig into it, 3/4 of the extra income from housing services is 'imputed rents' (what families would receive if they rented out their home).

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Living standards are forecast to have already peaked this parliament, with Keir Starmer on track to preside over the worst parliament in modern history for living standards.

New JRF analysis on living standards ahead of the Spring Statement ⬇️

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New ONS public finances data out this morning look grim for the Chancellor. These are key data for next week’s Spring Statement providing a last chance to look at the fiscal position before we get new forecasts. A thread…

With the Chancellor expected to miss her fiscal rules next week, there are always choices on how to respond.

Cutting disability benefits by £5b and further squeezing public services, already facing £8b in cuts to unprotected departments, are the wrong choices.
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Big picture today is Government chose to cut unprecedented £5bn of income from disabled people at highest risk of hardship. This drive for cost savings undermines any positive changes contained in the disability benefits green paper.

Here are some other big problems:🧵1/11

Today's announcement to cut £5b from disability benefits, to plug a funding gap in the Spring Statement, is an immoral choice to balance to books on the backs of those who need it the most.

JRF's cost of living tracker shows the hardship already deeply hitting low-income families, before any cuts

Really good reporting from
@channel4news.bsky.social on the uk’s shameful rate of child poverty.

We need an ambitious child poverty strategy that starts to rebuild Universal Credit so it protects families when they fall on hard times

www.channel4.com/news/child-p...

Health chapter in UK Poverty, out today, is a grim read.

Life expectancy in the most deprived areas in England has never been lower, since reporting began in 2011. Comparing the 10% most and least deprived areas in England
- Females live on average 8 years less
- Men live on average 10 years less

Key stats from the cost of living chapter of the latest @jrf-uk.bsky.social UK Poverty report, out today 🧵

7 in 10 families in the lowest fifth of incomes were going without essentials in October 2024, including
- Over half cutting back or skipping meals
- 4 in 10 going hungry

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I ran some stats from our lastest cost of living tracker for Peston's show this week on the experiences of families in receipt of disability benefits.

The whole segment is worth a watch on how many people the Government actually expects to move into work, and the hardship they are facing.

DEFRA report out today shows food insecurity is up, from 8% of all households in 2019/2020 to 10% in 2022/23.

Our cost of living tracker in October 2024 finds 46% of households in the bottom 40% of incomes were food insecure, most similar to the ‘very food insecure’ measure.

Thread of stats:

Positive news that the 'move-on period' for refugees to leave asylum accommodation has been temporarily extended from 28 to 56 days.

This policy drives homelessness and destitution and the extension must be made permanent, beyond June 2025.

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There is a political cost to governments when people feel worse off.

@jrf_uk's latest cost of living tracker underlines how urgent the situation for millions of low income households, and how it's set to get worse without political action.

📺find out more
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Bangladeshi, Black African and Pakistani families are up to 5x more likely to be living in severe poverty for a long time compared to white families in the UK 📢

We've carried out new research to understand what these families experience and why they have this elevated risk 1/6

@jrf-uk.bsky.social latest cost of living tracker out today shows why living standards must drive Starmer's reset.

Hardship remains entirely unchanged, with a warning of worse to come
- 7m families going without essentials, including 5.4 without enough food
- 4.3m in arrears

Thread on findings: