Millions of people fall below the UK's minimum income standard – in data

A report this week revealed that 19 million people in the UK aren’t meeting the minimum income standard. The data, from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, shows that, for 30% of people, it is a struggle to cover the essentials (eg food, electricity and rent) and still have enough to replace worn-out clothes, purchase reasonably priced birthday presents for family members and go for an occasional cheap meal out. The minimum income standard differs from the poverty threshold, which stands at 60% of median household income. The minimum standard is calculated via consultations with members of the public to establish what constitutes an acceptable standard of living. The Centre for Research in Social Policy then works out how much households (depending on their makeup) need to cover these costs. Finally they work out the number of people who fall short of the income required for an acceptable standard of living.

Between 2008/09 and 2014/15 the number of people who are below the minimum income standard grew by almost four million.

Close to half (45%) of children were below the minimum income standard in 2014/15 (up from 39% in 2008/09), as were three-quarters of the children of lone parents (up from 68% in 2008/09).

Meanwhile, the proportion of pensioners struggling to keep up has grown every year for the past five: one in seven pensioners are now below the standard, rising to just short of a quarter of single pensioners.