We’re no longer living in the ‘60s

Jean Rolfe’s letter last week takes issue with “people who don’t know what real poverty is” and refers to her youth when there was no Netflix.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has various definitions of poverty, which are all relative to the UK today (absolute income disparity being one such measure).

It reports that one in five people in the UK is thus classed as being “in poverty” and incredibly, over one million children in the UK are classed as “destitute” – not being able to afford shelter, food, clothing.

Children experience the highest rate of poverty in the country too, at three in 10.

Pensioners have the lowest rate. Clearly there are exceptions – there are poor old people too - but the reason for that disparity is simple.

If we imagine 80-year-old Mrs Rolfe left home in her 20s, it would have been the mid-60s.

The average house price then was just over £2,000, and the average wage was around £700, making a house worth just under 3x salary.

Today’s UK average house price is £300,000 and the average wage is around £35,000 (nine times salary) and in the South East it’s skewed even more than that.

Average rents and mortgage costs locally are well above £2,000 a month.

Netflix costs £10.99 a month. There is nothing wrong with taking comfort in the thought that people can drop their subscription TV and feed their children, but the evidence says otherwise.

Chris Denham

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