1 in 5 people in absolute poverty - but it could have been worse say the Tories So that's alright?

[cakeorwine]

Absolute poverty: UK sees biggest rise for 30 years (bbc.com)

Steep prices rises, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, meant hundreds of thousands more people fell into absolute poverty.The figure jumped to 12 million in 2022-2023, a rise of 600,000.This means the rate of absolute poverty in the UK now stands at 18% - a rise of 0.78 percentage points.

Absolute poverty is the measure used by the prime minister when describing the government's record.Even more families would have fallen into absolute poverty had it not been for government support like the Cost of Living payments.Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride - whose department compiled the figures - pointed to the government's "biggest cost of living package in Europe, worth an average of £3,800 per household".The government says that without these measure the increase would have been three times worse.

True - if the Government had not supported people with the energy package, then it would have been worse.

But 1 in 5 people? That's not ok
1 in 4 children are in absolute poverty

Someone who is in "absolute" or "relative" poverty may not be able to afford a living standard that might be expected in a rich economy like the UK.

But that does not mean they need a food bank or are unable to heat their home.When you look at these types of poverty, the increases are more stark."Official income statistics have understated the true increase in deprivation during this period" says Sam Ray-Chaudhuri of think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies.He points out that the rate of food insecurity rose from 8% of individuals to 11% and the proportion unable to heat their home more than doubled from 4% to 11%.Even pensioners saw an increase in the number unable to heat their home adequately, even though the headline measure of poverty fell slightly.

I guess there are a lot of people who are doing ok, thankyou.

But we are supposed to be a "rich" country. However, it's incredibly expensive to live here.

It would be interesting to see how those statistics change around the country and with age and other demographics.

It's shocking that these stats don't even make headline news

About 10% of the UK population are at risk of, or experiencing, food insecurity.

1.5 million more people are experiencing food insecurity in the UK in just the past year - that's a 53% increase in just ONE year.

I don't think you can blame the Tories for Covid and Putin. They've been dealt a bad hand since the election.

Thread and article by Liam Thorpe

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/no-one-talking-millions-kids-28867727

https://x.com/LiamThorpECHO/status/1771855306210861549?s=20

There was some big news this week which should have been top of the news agenda - the fact that it wasn’t and the story that dominated the public space instead tells a worrying story about the priorities of many in this country

The latest child poverty number is the highest since comparable records for the UK began in 2002/03. Charities have correctly labelled these numbers an "outrage".

Since 2010?

Comedic.

Do we though have Putin to thank for the Tories?

Brexit, perhaps.

Other countries in Europe also had to deal with covid and Putin.

UK is ranked last in dealing with child poverty according to a Unicef report from last December. Tories have been in power for 14 years

https://www.euronews.com/2023/12/07/europes-wealthiest-countries-have-high-child-poverty-rates-says-unicef-report

https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2024-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk

You think they only came into power in 2019?

Covid and Putin

Child poverty rates (JRF 2024)

UK 20%

Denmark 2.4%
Finland 3.2%
Norway 3.6%
Sweden 3.6%

None of these countries had to deal with Brexit, I'll give you that.

Think?

We need people to do minimum wage jobs. There aren’t enough higher paid jobs for everyone to have one. HTH

Jobs are high paid because those people are wealth creators. If there were more of them there would be more wealth created. It just needs people to get on their bike and use their talents to the full, like Rishi has.

Putin probably caused Brexit.

Yeh. Thieving, lying, gaslighting wankers

Rishi uses a bike?

The chancellor agrees that £100k wage is not a big salary but just about managing

Frequently.

It has a wheel above it that when it spins really fast the whole thing takes off and whisks him to where he wants to go. If only everyone worked as hard as him, everyone could have someone try and bribe them in this way.

I don’t think anyone thinks 1/5 living in poverty is OK, that would be ridiculous and a lazy argument. The Russian invasion of Ukraine sparked huge energy and food inflation , the impacts were felt globally but Europe was hit hardest. Labour policies under brown and Blair contributed to the state the economy is in as it can take years for impacts to trickle through, so blaming the Tories for all problem is a bit near sighted. Ok it WAS Cameron’s fault that brexit happened but not the budget deficit!!!

This doesn't help

https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/43981/documents/217881/default

‘Benefit levels are too low…claimants are often not able to afford daily living costs & extra costs associated with having a health condition or disability’

So says a new report from MPs on the Work and Pensions Select Committee

Report says: ‘We identify that a key challenge when evaluating the adequacy of benefit levels is that the Government has not set objectives for what benefit levels ought to achieve or prevent. While there is an objective that benefits should incentivise work, there is not an explicit objective as to how benefits will support claimants with daily living costs. In order to set objectives, we recommend the Government first develop a framework of principles to inform discussion on benefit levels & help build cross-party consensus’

Soooo naive.

Why do you think they can get a better paid job?

People get stuck because they can't afford nursery / childcare to study or to pay the rent.
You can't say I'm going to study for 3 years in X and think student finance is going to cover everything as well as trying to work and support a family.

They might not have family to help.

Maybe they are disabled.

Alot of people stuck on min wage because they have no savings and live month to month.

It's called catch 22, also who will do these jobs? I'm sure since your bashing benefits and low income workers, you damn as hell aren't going to like migrants.

I'm sure that was irony...

Why do you think they can get a better paid job?

Because that is what the government is telling us, they also suggest to work more hours or just ask your empoyer for a pay rise.

Child poverty rates (JRF 2024)

UK 20%

Denmark 2.4%
Finland 3.2%
Norway 3.6%
Sweden 3.6%

Why are our rates so much higher?

www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2024-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk

Lots of detail here for anyone who wants some stats