THE 30-YEAR WEALTH DIVIDE
THE GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR WIDENED IN THE 1980S - AND IT’S BARELY NARROWED SINCE
THE richest people in the country have more than five times as much disposable income as the poorest and the gap has seen almost no improvement over the last 10 years.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that, on average, households in the UK had £29,427 to spend or save in 2018/19 after taxes had been paid.
It means that as a country we have more cash to burn than ever before, but the gulf between the haves and havenots
shows no sign of shrinking.
The “S80/S20 ratio” measures inequality in the UK by showing the ratio of the total disposable income received by the richest and poorest 20% of people.
In 2018/19, the ratio stood at 5.2 - the same as in 2017/18, and up slightly from 4.9 in 2016/17 and 4.8 in 2015/16.
In fact, the ratio has remained stubbornly persistent for the last 10 years.
While this is just one method of gauging inequality, every other measurements used by the ONS show a broadly similar trend.
After a period of increasing income inequality in the 1980s, and fluctuation in the 1990s and early 2000s, income inequality has been largely unchanged over the past decade.
The figures go back to 1977.
Since then, the S80/S20 gap was at its biggest in 1999/00, when the richest 20% of the UK had 6.0 times more to spend or save than the poorest 20%.
It was lowest in 1978, when the ratio stood at 3.5.
Campaigners say the income gap is dangerously high, and is leading to widespread consequences in everything from health and crime to education and employment.
Dr Wanda Wyporska, Executive Director of The Equality Trust, said: “Income inequality has remained at a dangerously high level for decades, with no real political will recently to tackle the consequences linked to it, such as higher levels of mental and physical ill health, obesity, violent crime and low levels of educational attainment and social mobility.
“As usual, those at the bottom are paying the highest price, which we see in the increased use of food banks.
“What we need is a government that places the whole of society at the heart of its policies, and puts in place a crossparty strategy to reduce inequality.”