Poverty in the UK

It's hard to imagine what poverty in the UK really means, and many don't believe it exists. Oxfam's experience shows clearly that it does. Even in the fifth richest country in the world, people have to choose between eating properly and heating their homes. People are excluded from some essential aspects of society - those that most of us take for granted.

Intro

What is poverty

Measuring

Key facts

13.2 million people in the UK are living in poverty. This is around 22% of the population – 1 in 5.

Poverty is about far more than income levels. However, being the easiest thing to measure, they’re usually used as an indicator. The UK is the fifth richest country in the world. Until the recession hit in 2008, it had experienced an unprecedented period of growth over the last 10 years. Yet this has not benefited the poorest in society. Inequality is worse than at any time since 1961, when records began, and the number of people living in poverty has risen for the last two years, to a high of 13.2 million. Moreover, the impact of the recession on these figures has not yet been calculated.

Download our Key Facts on Poverty (PDF) sheet to find out more.

What do we mean by poverty?

Income is crucial – not having enough money to pay for the things you need. Food, heating, repairing the oven. But poverty is about more than income. It’s about the powerlessness that comes with feeling you’re stuck, without a say in decisions that affect you. The stress that comes with trying to make a small budget stretch. The lack of access to decent services. It’s about being unable to participate in the society in which you live.

“A minimum standard of living in Britain today includes, but is more than just, food clothes and shelter. It is about having what you need in order to have the opportunities and choices necessary to participate in society.¹ ”

Poverty is not about individual laziness. No one chooses to live in poverty. Our experience shows us that poverty is caused by circumstances beyond an individual’s control: things like your gender, your nationality, or where you live.

And it has a real impact on people’s lives. For example, those born in the poor Calton area of Glasgow have a life expectancy of 54. Those born 15km away in the rich Lenzie North area of the same city can expect to live to 82.

¹ A minimum income standard for Britain (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)

Official poverty statistics such as the headline figures here are calculated as the number of people living on less than 60 per cent of the median income, after deducting housing costs. This is a measure of poverty used by most researchers in the EU and the UK. In the UK, 60 per cent of media income works out as:

£112 per week for single adult with no dependent children;
£193 per week for a couple with no dependent children;
£189 per week for a single adult with two dependent children;
£270 per week for a couple with two dependent children.

This is a useful benchmark. People living on this amount will probably not have the income to take part in many things that are seen as the norm in society. However, we know that poverty is about far more than income – getting too fixated on income can obscure many of the underlying causes of poverty. After all, low income is merely a symptom of poverty.