Who are the Squeezed Middle?

[Tambora]

I see this term a lot, both on threads on MN and in the media, and I would be interested to know what is meant by that, because there seems to be some debate. Who do you think they are and does it include you? When it comes to household income, from £x to £y would be the squeezed middle in your view?

No benefits, no help, full council tax, full prescriptions, full everything. Adult kids living at home with you don't get full UC so you have to cover all their food costs and council tax too. Costs of working, (commuting, childcare, clothes, lunches), all going up. Mortgage crippling. Energy and time needed to work mean no time or energy to find the cheapest deals or DIY things instead of paying. No discounts. Usually less disposable income than those on full benefits, (CT, rent, paid).
They are the squeezed middle. And mostly they are being crushed.

👋 Single parent with one teen, working full time on £28k. Do I qualify?!

Probably yes, perhaps you're right in a way. There are always plenty of people who have a lot of sympathy for the squeezed middle, yet have nothing but loathing for people who work just as hard, but on rock-bottom wages. There are millions of jobs that only pay a pittance and someone has to do them, yet the people who do have to take such jobs are then villified, told they are the architects of their own misfortune, and held in contempt because they qualify for benefits.

Sure. Come on in and join the club.🙂

I understand it's the early years who would be difficult..for me mortgage for 2 bed flat is around £1k, will increase to £1300-1600 (depending on rate in 2024k ..I wanted a bigger flat but not an essential so will just monitor maker and only move if it's a good deal that wouldn't stress me too much. Childcare would be around £1800 so that will be the killer though I will probably get some help from mother in law...

I’d also add ‘middle generation’ or the sandwich generation, who have children still in the expensive years while also bearing costs/time responsibilities caring for older generations. As many first time parents are now mid/late thirties, they can find themselves in their late forties with teens and parents whose care they need to coordinate and possibly pay for. So squeezed on both ends.

Yes our mortgage for a 3 bed terraced is £1550 at present, about to hit £2k. We had plans to move which will now have to wait until things settle, fingers crossed. Luckily our childcare has never been horrendous as I’m a shift worker so don’t need 5 days a week care, still expensive nevertheless.

I'm definitely part of it.

Single mother of 2, professional job, income of around 46k, which you'd think was decent. Public sector, so no real pay rises for the last 12 or so years. Managerial role with nowhere to go next; I've hit the ceiling of what is possible.

When the mortgage increase kicks in I'll have nothing left to give. Already driving an 18y.o. car, bought an ex council house a year ago in a rough area to escape the spiralling cost and insecurity of renting (17 house moves since the end of my uni days 20 years ago, mainly due to a succession of shitty landlords), food shops are more and more a case of disappointed kids when they can't get what they want due to cost, house, in winter, is already on 18C max.

I do everything myself already - most repairs, all gardening, cooking, cleaning.

We rarely have days out and when we do it's walks, park, swimming, all local. Had to tell the kids no holiday away again because I cannot justify the £300 on 3 nights away.

I save what I can now, before my fixed deal ends, but so much of it lately has been eaten up by urgent repairs needed on the house. Yet I'm glad I bought, because houses like mine have gone up 20k in the one year I've lived here.

Too poor for any benefits, not rich enough to not be struggling. People working their arses off, but not getting ahead.

Sorry meant not poor enough for benefits. Single people without children do it particularly tough

In the south east commuter belt and based on myself and friends. I'd say a family in early thirties on around an £85k but with an uneven split in earnings.

Adult 1: £60k, after tax, minimum pension and student loan = £3300 a month
Adult 2 : £25k, after tax, minimum pension and student loan = £1650 a month

Just under £5000 a month. Sounds like loads right! But:

mortgages = £2000+ a month (on basic ex council houses)
childcare for 2 kids = £2000 a month
= £1000 a month left for all other bills, food, and commuting costs.

And because one person in the household earns £60k you don't get children benefit.

I always find these posts really interesting as what people describe as being squeezed differs so much. For context we're not squeezed but have cut back on non essentials. Some might call that squeezed. We're considering private school and when I'm on those forums, apparently £300k is what we should be earning to afford that. We earn half that but feel we could afford it. But then we're not flash people, buy from Vinted, rarely eat out etc. I definitely think it's those who just earn above the threshold for any government help. In my circle on similar salaries there are people whose house buying philosophy was to stretch themselves to the absolute max so they'll now be feeling the pinch. I don't have a lot of sympathy for that to be honest.

I'd say households like mine - two "good professional jobs" that required a great deal of study to achieve, salary on paper looks okay but minus tax, bills and c tax, student loan, mortgage (which is about to skyrocket as term is up soon), childcare costs etc; doesn't amount to that much left. We used to be able to save too, now we can't. We used to be the people spending on food out, cinema, lots of travel etc now have to be much more cautious.

It's interesting, our parents are forever asking when we will look to buy a bigger property (live in a 2 bed flat) as in their generation our set up would 100% have funded a mortgage on a nice big place!

I know many are in a much much harder spot, and I am not saying we are hard done by. What I am saying is our set up historically would have been like our parents - firmly middle class with money left over for bigger houses, long term savings, options for private or semi private schooling etc and that is no longer the case.

I consider it to be people earning just over the threshold to be able to receive financial aid and don’t have a public sector pension (sorry I know public sector workers are struggling with COL but you don’t have to worry as much about saving for that as well, unless you have to opt out too).

I understand people on much higher wages feel squeezed but theres a difference between only having a few hundred left and your kids are still going to extra-curriculars and you are still able to pay the nursery fees and having literally nothing left at the end of the month but also no recourse to public funds except maybe child benefit.

I do feel you, when I was a kid if you told me I would have the household income I have today I would have thought I would be minted. It should feel like a lot of money but it isn’t always. People near their jobs in the south east often don’t have much choice apart from buying a ridiculously expensive house if they want to have a home vaguely within commuting distance of work. Nursery fees are definitely not a choice either.

Joint income before tax of £52K. Three years ago we were ‘comfortable’ (for us), now (with no pay rises to really speak of), we’re just coping, God help us if any major bills come in and our mortgage deal ends in 9 months. It’s scary.

We have a decent salary, but also very purposefully did not go crazy during the free stamp duty crazy housing price rise years.

We live with three (us and DC) in a small sort of 2 bedroom, not a nice house to look at, but no worries about affordability. We both work largely from home. It was super tempting to move somewhere a bit bigger, like a three or four bed with parking or so, but we thought the better of it. We feel squeezed in terms of space, but not financially.

Yes this is so hard in the UK though..I know it may just be excuses but home ownership and the property ladder is so pervasive in British culture..everyone seems to have home offices and guest rooms.

Now I am thinking that if I do move, I may just move to a larger 2 bed (with a generous hallway) rather than a 3 bed to save money....3 bed flats are quite difficult to find!

I see it as couples who have large childcare costs, a large mortgage and aren't earning a huge amount.

It’s subjective, they might have less outgoings than you, no mortgages and investments.

I earn £88k. Sounds fantastic…but if I was a single parent paying the average rent for where I live (£1800) plus two kids in childcare (£1400 per child for under threes at the day nursery I used) there would be nothing left for bills or food never mind clothes or activities. Whether you are squeezed very much depends on outgoings. Rent and childcare are essentials, not choices.

We're definitely feeling it this year...household income just under 70k in the SE. Our rent (£1150) is actually cheap for the area, but nursery and wraparound care is our most expensive bill, even with the 30 free hours.

We can still do fun stuff e.g. days out ...but definitely less than last year, and there's definitely more 'waiting till next month' for non-essential purchases.

I think of those who don't qualify for any benefits but aren't rich. This covers most people really.

You can be squeezed on good incomes where you pay for education and health care privately can't access any public services at all because they are so shit, public transport no use to you any more because the service is so reduced. Etc.

It's possible to feel squeezed in different ways.

I think there must be a very dramatic North/south divide here.
We are on 70 k between us. OK, childcare is behind us, and yes, we are noticing things are increasing, but we are still saving a significant chunk each month.
We moved house last year to get a bigger bedroom for DS2, and an office for DH, have replaced the bathroom (in cash)....
So, for me, way under 70k to be squeezed right now. Maybe above benifits, but below 50k?

I would definitely say I’m in the squeezed middle, my DH is a higher tax earner but we live in a house that needs doing up, my oven broke and we can’t afford a new one. My son got in to the Royal ballet associates program but we couldn’t afford the fees so he missed out. During winter we lived in a 14degree house because we couldn’t afford to put the heating on till the kids got home from school. I look with envy at my friend who is on benefits which is ridiculous, but her standard of life is much better than ours.

I don’t think we are now, reasonable but not massive salaries but not a massive house/mortgage and no childcare costs. When our kids were younger mortgage payments were higher for us (we had 5 years at a high rate before they plummeted and stayed low for years) we would have been, it was hard times actually.