More poverty looming ahead

A record 60% of British people in poverty live in a household where someone is in work, according to researchers, with the risk of falling into financial hardship especially high for families in private rented housing.

 The study by Cardiff University academics says the risk of poverty for adults in working families grew by a quarter over the past decade. Low pay is a trigger for in-work poverty but the primary determinant is the number of workers in a household, with single-earner families at a very significantly elevated risk of hardship, the study says.

The study found in-work poverty was disproportionately concentrated in households in private rented housing, who have been hit by a combination of rising rents and caps on housing benefit. The continued growth of this form of housing tenure is projected to increase numbers facing in-work poverty.