Thread by @KatieSchmuecker

Why is the cost of living crisis wreaking such havoc?

On one level it’s obvious: prices.

On another it’s about exposure. New @jrf_uk work charts the deepening of poverty over 20 yrs. People in very deep poverty rose to 6.5m pre-pandemic.

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jrf.org.uk/report/going-w…

We often talk about going without the essentials now, & choosing between heating & eating. But as you dive down the income distribution this experience isn’t new. It’s everyday.

The 🚨🚨have been flashing for some time. Foodbank use, homelessness, malnutrition in hospitals… 2/

Yet the poverty line has been pretty flat in recent decades. What’s going on? We show how poverty has been deepening.

Very deep poverty has increased more than a fifth over the best past of 20 years 3/

Not only is it growing, the face of very deep poverty is changing.

Risks are greatest for people in workless, disabled & some ethnic minority families. But they’ve risen sharply for people in large families (⬆️ over half), lone parent and disabled families (both ⬆️third)
4/

And the lower your income goes the more likely you are to go without (see 📈).

We looked at the barest essentials of enough food, warmth & keeping up with bills.

And the likelihood of going without was far higher for people in large, lone parent, disabled & workless families 5/

Why? Well, social security is a big part of the problem. Basic benefit rates barely protect families with children from very deep poverty (no children & they barely protect from destitution)

Add a benefit deduction or the benefit cap to the mix and the picture is worse still 6/

And this was all pre-pandemic.

Since then many more low income families have been dragged into debt and arrears by the pandemic, and had £20 added to #UniversalCredit only to be cut again just as energy prices soared. 7/

Together this left people exposed. @jrf_uk work shows how widespread the hardship is: in 2022 among low income households (bottom 40%)

🍽 7m going without essentials
❌Average arrears £1,600
💳1.3m using credit to pay the bills.

(More on this see: jrf.org.uk/report/not-hea…)

8/

We need to stop lurching from emergency to emergency with crisis responses. Ultimately we must fix the systems that should give security.

A simple thing govt could do immediately is stop deducting debt from benefits at unaffordable rates- that’s making a bad situation worse 9/

Want to know more? You can read our blog here: jrf.org.uk/blog/diving-be…

And the full report here: jrf.org.uk/report/going-w…

Thanks to my coauthors @prospect_clark @StatsPeter @BestwickMorgan and to @IainKPorter @GemmaSchwendel & @PaolaDeAgostin1 for doing their bit 10/

In coming years @jrf_uk will be doing more work on destitution and deep poverty, and what it would take to redesign systems so they don’t cause or perpetuate hardship. Get in touch if you’d like to work with us to further this mission. 11/END