I'm being serious. I'm not talking about poor. Obviously there are plenty of people who either are poor or think they are. But I mean severe poverty.
I just read the Save the Children child poverty report which claims that 1.6million children live in severe poverty. And they define "severe poverty" as a family of 1 child who has an income of less than £7000 (or 2 kids with income < £12k).
But a quick tot up of benefits tells me that a family with 1 child would get the following each year:
Income Support £3412
Tax Credits £2850
Child Benefit £1055
Total 7317
And that's before you take into account housing benefit, council tax, free school dinners etc etc. So to me, no UK family should fall into that definition.
Then the report goes on to say they say someone is living in poverty if basic necessities are not met such as not "having enough shoes", not being able to pay for "home contents insurance" or children missing out on "having friends round" or "school trips".
When I hear "poverty" I think of children living in the streets with no food, not being unable to go on a school trip!
So given all that, is there such a thing as severe poverty in the UK? Or is it as I suspect that some families just can't manage their money?
I'm not trying to argue that £7k is a lot of money. I'm just saying that if that's the definition and the state gives you more, then surely there isn't such a thing?