Monday, April 11, 2022

Falling Living Standards

 Pensioners and benefits claimants will see the value of their payments fall to the lowest point in 50 years.

According to the latest UK economic outlook report from PwC, British households are set to be £900 worse off this year in a “historic fall” in living standards. It found that inflation will hit 8.4% later this year.

Helen Barnard, the associate director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, an anti-poverty group, explained that pensioners and benefits claimants had seen the value of payments fall in real terms in eight out of the last 10 years. “It means that in terms of their values, how much bread and milk you can buy in the shops, it is the biggest fall in value since 1972.”

She added: “We know the majority of people in poverty now are in working households. One of the problems is that too many jobs are not just low paid, but they’re insecure – you don’t know what money you’re getting one week to the next, you don’t get sick pay; you don’t get protection if something goes wrong. People are struggling to afford the basic essentials and having to rely on charities for toothpaste and toilet rolls. It’s humiliating for a lot of people.”

Cost of living crisis: UK benefits plunge to lowest value in 50 years | Cost of living crisis | The Guardian

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