Inequality

PSE analysis of unpublished data shows that the majority of the UK population has suffered from a fall in their living standards during the current government’s term of office. The data, which the DWP had declined to publish before the election, was released to the EU statistical office.

Income inequality and social divisions could worsen and become entrenched unless governments in developed countries act quickly to boost support for the most vulnerable people in society, according to a new report from the Organisation of Economic and Social Development (OECD).

The report also warns that poverty will become ever more entrenched in the UK if the government does not maintain social spending.

The social and economic impact of inequality costs the UK the equivalent of over £39 billion every year, according to new calculations from the Equality Trust.

If inequality were reduced to the average level seen in other developed countries, the Trust says, the UK could expect to make significant savings through reduced ill-health and other social problems.

The richest ten per cent of the UK working-age population now have nearly twice the original income between them of the entire bottom half of the distribution, according to a report from the Resolution Foundation think tank.

The Foundation's annual audit of trends in living standards also reveals that, despite the beginnings of a slow improvement, the living standards of the typical household will still be 3.5 per cent lower in 2018-19 than they were at the start of the financial crisis of 2008, only just inching above the level they were last at in 2005-06.