‘Three in 10 people can’t afford what they need’
THREE in 10 people in the UK do not have the necessary income to achieve a socially acceptable standard of living, according to a report.
The research from Loughborough University looked at 10 years of data about household incomes and minimum household budgets, which show that 19.6 million people are unable to afford the goods and services required to participate fully in society.
The number lacking the income they need has risen from 16.2 million in that period (2008/09 to 2018/19).
The analysis looked at household incomes before the pandemic. In future years, this annual research will look at the impact of Covid-19 on incomes and the number of people unable to afford all they need.
The Minimum Income Standard (MIS), produced by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, provides an indicator of living standards in the UK.
Funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation – an independent social change organisation working to solve UK poverty – the analysis also found that the number of people with incomes below 75 per cent of MIS had risen from 10.1 million in 2008/09 to 11.9 million in 2018/19.
Matt Padley, one of the report’s authors, said: “This standard is one that includes food, clothes and shelter, but importantly is also about having what you need to be able to participate in society. “Nearly one in five pensioners can’t afford this minimum living standard. “Households with children are finding that work is not providing a route out of low income – two-fifths of lone parents in full-time work are below MIS, 57.3 per cent of singleearner couple parents (where one parent is in work and the other economically level.
“Rising costs and a continued freeze in working-age benefits, both in and out of work, in 2018/19 mean there has been an increase in the proportion of individuals below MIS for the first time since 2013/14.
“There have been points over the past decade where things have improved for particular groups – the introduction of higher national minimum wages has undoubtedly helped some – but the number below MIS remains higher than a decade ago for every group explored here.
“In fact, one of the clearest trends over the past decade is the growing number of households where all adults are in work but they are still falling short of the income they inactive) are below this require needs.”
In 2018/19 a quarter of all children (3.6 million) were living in homes with incomes below 75 per cent of MIS – while 42.3 per cent of children (5.9 million) were living in households which did not reach the minimum income standard.
“Not enough has been done in recent years to address and increase low income, and to enable all individuals to reach a minimum socially acceptable standard of living,” said Matt.
“Covid-19 has highlighted the shortfalls in the existing social security system. Without changes, many households will continue to live with a growing gap between what they have and what they need for a minimum standard of living.” to meet their minimum
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ONE in 10 families in Leicestershire has no access to a garden during lockdown.
Analysis from the Office for National Statistics has revealed that 10% of homes in Leicestershire have no access to a private or shared garden - affecting 45,388 families across the area.
The figure ranges from 7% of households in places like Oadby and Wigston, to 14% of homes in Leicester.
The variation is due to a greater density of flats in cities such as Leicester - where more than one in every four homes is a flat.
Flats are far less likely to have a private or even shared garden, with 47% of flats in Leicester having no access to one, compared to just 2% of houses.
Where there is a garden available for flats in the city, there will typically be three flats sharing it, on average.
The analysis also looks at garden availability at a neighbourhood level - areas with a population of around 7,200 people.
It shows that in one part of Leicester [see map here http://statistics. data.gov.uk/id/statistical-geography/E02006851], 84% of households don’t have access to a garden.
Again, this is because most of the homes in the neighbourhood are flats.
There is also variation in the average size of private outdoor space available across Leicestershire.
While homes in Melton typically have a garden that is 463m2, that falls to 166m2 in Leicester.
That compares to a national average of 333m2 across Great Britain.
Meanwhile, families living in areas that are less likely to have a private garden tend to be more likely to live close to a public park.
Parks and playing fields could be seen as especially valuable to those without access to a private garden, but some have closed temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic with people failing to maintain social distance from one another.
Nationally, one in eight households in Great Britain (12%) has no access to a private or shared garden - 3% of houses and 34% of flats.
White people are twice as likely as Black people to have a private garden, even when comparing people of a similar age, social grade and living situation.
People in semi-skilled and unskilled manual occupations, casual workers and those who are unemployed are almost three times as likely as those in managerial, administrative, professional occupations to be without a garden.
Meanwhile, older people - at greater risk of severe illness from Covid-19 and advised to stay at home as much as possible - are among those most likely to have access to a garden.