The Social Mobility Commission’s 2017 report starts with the words: “Britain is a deeply divided nation.”
Britain is ranked the fifth wealthiest nation in the world ranked by overall GDP.
In 2017, GDP was £2.04 trillion and is expected to rise to approximately £2.3 trillion in 2018. Whilst the UK is one of the richest countries in the world, it has some of the highest rates of childhood food insecurity in all of Europe.
As of their last ONS figures, the aggregate total net wealth of all households in Great Britain was £12.8 trillion in July 2014 to June 2016, up 15% from the July 2012 to June 2014 figure of £11.1 trillion. Today the value of property in the UK stands at over £5 trillion – nearly 60% of the UK’s entire net wealth.
Total aggregate debt of all households in Great Britain was £1.23 trillion in July 2014 to June 2016. A TUC report said that “Britain’s household debt mountain has reached a new peak, with UK homes now owing an average of £15,385 (not including mortgage debt) to credit card firms, banks and other lenders.” Just as problematic is another statistic though. The level of unsecured debt as a share of household income is now not just 30.4%, the highest level it has ever been at but it is well above the £286bn peak in 2008 before the financial crisis. Today’s population has built up £7.6trn in pension promises but has only set aside about a third of that amount to pay for them. Other unfunded public sector pension liabilities – including provision for teachers and National Health Service staff – totalled £917bn.
In March, it was reported that a quarter of British adults have no money saved at all. 4 million adults in the UK have been forced to use food banks due to ”shocking” levels of deprivation. New figures were revealed for the first time in mid-2018 where one in 14 Britons has had to use a food bank, with similar numbers also forced to skip meals and borrow money as austerity measures leave them “penniless with nowhere to turn.” This is a rise of 13 per cent in just one year. In addition, one million people have decreased the portion size of their child’s meal due to financial constraints. Other statistics are just as depressing; nearly half (47 per cent) had lacked basic toiletries, 46 per cent were lacking suitable clothing and 42 per cent having to go without heating. One in five destitute people reported lacking lighting at home.
The squeeze on public finances since 2010 is linked to nearly 120,000 excess deaths in England, with the over 60s and care home residents bearing the brunt, published in the online journal BMJ Open. The critical factor in these figures are changes in nurse numbers, say the researchers, who warn that there could be an additional toll of up to 100 deaths every single day from now on if nothing substantial changes. And real term spend on social care has fallen by 1.19 per cent every year since 2010, despite a significant projected increase in the numbers of over 85s–those most likely to need social care–from 1.6 million in 2015 to 1.8 million in 2020, say the researchers. And every £10 drop in spend per head on social care was associated with five extra care home deaths per 100,000 of the population, the analysis showed.
Britain is ranked the fifth wealthiest nation in the world ranked by overall GDP.
In 2017, GDP was £2.04 trillion and is expected to rise to approximately £2.3 trillion in 2018. Whilst the UK is one of the richest countries in the world, it has some of the highest rates of childhood food insecurity in all of Europe.
The International Monetary Fund report in October 2018 found that the UK’s public finances were among the weakest in the world after the 2008 financial crash. The IMF report said a health check on the wealth of 31 nations discovered that almost £1tn had been wiped off the wealth of the UK’s public sector – equivalent to 50% of GDP. This placed Britain in the second weakest position overall, with only Portugal in a worse state. The IMF identified the cause of this weakness and said the bailout of UK banks and the growth of Britain’s public sector pension liabilities were significant factors in the UK’s low ranking. To make matters worse, the UK has privatised and done more to sell off public assets and consequently reduced its income from assets that could offset demands on the public purse. Non–central bank public financial corporation liabilities went from zero in 2007 just before the bank led crisis to 189% of GDP in 2008, with similar falls in financial assets.
As of their last ONS figures, the aggregate total net wealth of all households in Great Britain was £12.8 trillion in July 2014 to June 2016, up 15% from the July 2012 to June 2014 figure of £11.1 trillion. Today the value of property in the UK stands at over £5 trillion – nearly 60% of the UK’s entire net wealth.
Total aggregate debt of all households in Great Britain was £1.23 trillion in July 2014 to June 2016. A TUC report said that “Britain’s household debt mountain has reached a new peak, with UK homes now owing an average of £15,385 (not including mortgage debt) to credit card firms, banks and other lenders.” Just as problematic is another statistic though. The level of unsecured debt as a share of household income is now not just 30.4%, the highest level it has ever been at but it is well above the £286bn peak in 2008 before the financial crisis. Today’s population has built up £7.6trn in pension promises but has only set aside about a third of that amount to pay for them. Other unfunded public sector pension liabilities – including provision for teachers and National Health Service staff – totalled £917bn.
In March, it was reported that a quarter of British adults have no money saved at all. 4 million adults in the UK have been forced to use food banks due to ”shocking” levels of deprivation. New figures were revealed for the first time in mid-2018 where one in 14 Britons has had to use a food bank, with similar numbers also forced to skip meals and borrow money as austerity measures leave them “penniless with nowhere to turn.” This is a rise of 13 per cent in just one year. In addition, one million people have decreased the portion size of their child’s meal due to financial constraints. Other statistics are just as depressing; nearly half (47 per cent) had lacked basic toiletries, 46 per cent were lacking suitable clothing and 42 per cent having to go without heating. One in five destitute people reported lacking lighting at home.
The number of workers (those actually employed) entering poverty is actually rising faster than employment itself. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that one in eight adults in the economy is now classified as working poor. Their results were published just last month. A new unit called the Social Metrics Commission, an independent body bringing together poverty specialists from across the political spectrum found just a few months back that in Britain, there are now 14 million people living in poverty. Within that number 4.5 million are children, which represents an astonishing 33 per cent of kids in the UK. Half a million more children have become trapped in poverty over the past five years from working families.
The gap between the cost of energy and what people can afford rose by 9% in 2018. The proportion of households living in fuel poverty in 2016 rose for the second year in a row to 11.1%, or around 2.55m homes and today continues to drive excess deaths and widening poverty. Fuel poverty leaves a stark choice for millions – warmth or food.
The latest figures published by the charity Crisis showed that last year 57,890 households were accepted as homeless in England. In Scotland, 34,100 applications were assessed as homeless and in Wales 9,210 households were threatened with homelessness.
In Britain, there is also no official body that counts the number of homeless people who die on the streets of Britain due to being homeless. However, new statistics reveal that on average, homeless people die at just 47 years old. People sleeping on the street are almost 17 times more likely to have been victims of violence. Homeless people are over nine times more likely to take their own life than the general population.
After steady increases since 2010, these deaths are being investigated by our media partner The Bureau of Investigative Journalism who found nearly 500 deaths as a direct result of homelessness. Rough sleeping has risen by 169 per cent since 2010.
Analysis from housing charity Shelter suggests that 320,000 people were recorded as homeless in Britain. The report was published in November 2018. It is a rise of 13,000, or 4%, on last year’s figures and equivalent to 36 new people becoming homeless every day. London has the highest rate of homelessness, but it is growing fastest in the Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and north-west England, the analysis says.
Heriot-Watt University, published in May it says England has a backlog of 3.91 million homes, meaning 340,000 new homes need to be built each year until 2031. Catherine Ryder, head of policy at the National Housing Federation described the situation as a “real emergency.” Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said the findings were “stark and shocking”, adding: “Right now across England, councils are desperately struggling to find homeless people somewhere to live.” There are nearly 1.2 million families on waiting lists for a council or social home where 27 per cent have waited more than five years.The squeeze on public finances since 2010 is linked to nearly 120,000 excess deaths in England, with the over 60s and care home residents bearing the brunt, published in the online journal BMJ Open. The critical factor in these figures are changes in nurse numbers, say the researchers, who warn that there could be an additional toll of up to 100 deaths every single day from now on if nothing substantial changes. And real term spend on social care has fallen by 1.19 per cent every year since 2010, despite a significant projected increase in the numbers of over 85s–those most likely to need social care–from 1.6 million in 2015 to 1.8 million in 2020, say the researchers. And every £10 drop in spend per head on social care was associated with five extra care home deaths per 100,000 of the population, the analysis showed.
Average pay in Britain for full-time, permanent employment was recorded at £28,677. But average pay means nothing when Britain’s highest-paid boss is earning £5m a week and average pay for an FTSE100 CEO is £77,000 a week.
Wages in inflation-adjusted terms are no higher today than they were in 2005. This has caused a substantial fall in the standard of living for many. Over the past 10 years, productivity growth was the weakest since modern records began and appear to be the slowest since the early 1820s when Britain was emerging from the Napoleonic wars, the Office for National Statistics estimates. Today, people simply don’t have the money to do the things they could do just 20 years ago. Sky high monthly outgoings emerged as the main reasons for one-quarter of adults in Britain not having a single penny of savings in case something goes wrong. Additionally, the study also found one in 10 adults over the age of 55 don’t have a penny put away either for their future. 54 per cent of the average Brit’s income goes on essential living costs like rent or a mortgage, bills and food.
Two years ago, the average pay of the 90%, (by stripping out all earnings of the top 10%, including the 1% and 0.1% groups) leaves an annual income of just £12,969. Nothing has changed much except if you happen to be in the top 10 per cent category where pay increased by nearly 6 per cent.
According to Inequality Trust – the richest 10% of households hold 45% of all wealth. The poorest 50%, by contrast, own just 8.7%. An average household in the South East has almost twice (183%) the amount of wealth of an average household in Scotland. Out of the 30 OECD countries in the LIS data set, published by Inequality Trust, the UK is the seventh most unequal and is the fourth most unequal in Europe.
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