A third of households face being unable to afford cost of living

New analysis by the New Economics Foundation has found that 34 per cent of households, 23.4 million people, will be unable to afford the cost of living by £8,600 on average by April 2022.

This figure includes 48 per cent of all children, 96 per cent of children living in families out of work, 77 per cent in single-parent households, and 43 per cent in working families.

The analysis also indicates that the 23.4 million people in the UK projected to be living below the Minimum Income Standard threshold come April will include: 43 per cent of families in the north-east; 41 per cent in Yorkshire and the Humber; 39 per cent in the West Midlands; and 38 per cent in London.

In the north-east, people are missing out on a good standard of living by £8,900 a year, and in the West Midlands and London by £10,100.

The New Economics Foundation is calling for the creation of a new social security system, or ​‘Living Income’, to set an ​‘income floor’ based on the MIS, which no one can fall below whether they are in or out of work.

Steps on how to achieve a Living Income include: auto-enrolling everyone in the UK on the universal credit system so that new payments start to be processed automatically as soon as anyone becomes eligible; restoring the £20 uplift for universal credit and extending to all other means-tested benefits to ensure the poorest are at least made no worse off on average by recent price rises; and uprating benefits by the latest level of inflation to ensure incomes rise alongside prices.

Sam Tims, Economist at the New Economics Foundation, said: “The cost of living is increasing faster than at any point in recent history. While all families are set to feel a squeeze come April, the lowest income households will be hit proportionately harder. But the cost of living is only a crisis when people cannot afford it and government support must be able to flexibly respond to this. There is little time left for the chancellor to take action to avert the worst real-terms incomes squeeze in 50 years.”