Many with incomes well below national average

Rates falling but numerous people living in poverty

ONE in six people in the East Midlands are living in poverty but rates are falling, except for pensioners.

Government figures released recently give an indication of how many people are living on incomes well below the national average.

In the East Midlands, 16% of people lived in a household that is below the relative low income line (bringing in less than 60% of today’s average income) between 2016/17 and 2018/19.

That’s down from 2013/14 to 2015/16.

For children the rate is even 18% in higher - 18% of children are in families below the breadline. That’s down from 21% in 2013/14 to 2015/16.

For working-age adults, the proportion with relative low income was 15% in 2016/17 to 2018/19, down from 17% in 2013/14 to 2015/16.

The above figures are calculated before housing costs are taken into account.

However, working-age adults and those with children are the most likely to have higher housing costs to account for, so more are below the poverty line after rent or mortgage payments are taken into account.

More than a quarter (26%) of children live in relative low income households after housing costs, a fall from 29% in 2013/14 to 2015/16, while a fifth (19%) of working age adults are below the poverty line (down from 21%).

However, rates are rising for pensioners.

In 2016/17 to 2018/19, 17% of pensioners in the region were in poverty before housing costs, up from 16% in 2013/14 to 2015/16.

The percentage of pensioners in poverty has been rising from a low of 15% in 2011/12 to 2013/14.

Across the UK, one in nine adults (11%) in a household where at least one person works is now living below the breadline.

That’s the highest proportion since records began in 1996/97.

Based on different measures of poverty, the proportion of working-age adults living on low incomes is rising, while levels for children and pensioners remained the same or fell slightly.

Before housing costs, 15% of working-age adults are in the relative low income group (same as in 2017/18), but after housing costs 21% are in relative low income (up from 20%) - 8.4 million people.

The proportion of pensioners living below the poverty line has remained consistent - at 18% in relative low income before housing costs in 2018/19, the same as in 2017/18, although this is still up from a low of 16% in 2014/15.

For children, the proportion of those living below the relative low income line fell from 22% in 2017/18 to 20% in 2018/19, partially reversing the spike seen in 2017/18, with 2018/19 rates around 2009/10 levels.

However, rates for children are still higher than in previous years, up from a low of 17% in 2013/14.

After housing costs are taken into account, levels were the same in 2018/19 as 2017/18 at 30% of children, up from 27% in 2015/16 and roughly at levels seen in 2005/06 to 2009/10.

Households where someone is disabled are more likely to be below the poverty line 21% of families where someone has a disability are in the relative low income group before housing costs, compared to 15% of families with no disabilities.

Relative low income sets a threshold, at 60% of the UK median income, and moves each year as average income changes. It is used to measure the number and proportion of individuals who have income below this threshold.

The percentage of individuals in relative low income will increase if average income stays the same or rises, while incomes for those in poverty fall or rise by less, or if average incomes fall, and incomes for those in poverty fall faster.