Escaping poverty is getting much harder in Britain

Poverty levels haven’t changed very much in the UK for a very long time. The last time poverty levels consistently fell, according to a new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, was in 2005 during the first half of the last Labour government. But more people are slipping deeper into poverty. The report said that six million people – or four in ten of those in poverty – would need on average to more than double their income to move out of hardship. A couple with two children under 14 are considered to be in very deep poverty if they have an annual income below £14,600 a year. The number of people in “deep poverty” has increased from about 4.5 million in the mid-1990s. Paul Kissack, the chief executive of the JRF, pointed out that foodbank use and the number of families living in temporary accommodation are at record highs, calling it “social failure at scale”. The charity is calling on political parties to reform universal credit, pointing out that the current rate has fallen significantly below the basic costs of food and energy.