Annual poverty figures show Government failed to protect most vulnerable from cost of living crisis

Today's official annual poverty figures show that:

• 600,000 more people, half of them children, are living in absolute poverty, the government's preferred measure of poverty
• This is the second year in a row absolute poverty has increased
• In comparison to 2020/21, 900,000 more people are living in absolute poverty, 400,000 of them children
• This the joint highest increase in this statistic for 40 years (since 1982) and is the same increase as was seen following the Global Financial Crisis (between 2010/11 and 2011/12)
• 100,000 more children are living in relative poverty since 2021/22, a slight increase. The overall figure has slightly decreased by 100,000. In comparison to 2020/21, 900,000 more people, 400,000 of them children, are living in relative poverty
• Food insecurity has risen dramatically, increasing from 4.7 million people (7%) in 2021/22 to 7.2 million (11%) in 2022/23

Peter Matejic, Chief Analyst at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: 

“The annual poverty figures published today confirm that the Government failed to protect the most vulnerable from the cost of living crisis. Absolute poverty, the Government’s preferred measure of poverty, has risen for the second year in a row. This is as big as we have seen for 40 years.

“At the same time, there is little to celebrate in the slight fall in overall relative poverty levels. This is largely due to the incomes of middle-income households falling, rather than people on the lowest incomes being better off. This is also likely to reverse now that earnings are growing faster than inflation.

“The Government’s short-term interventions to date haven’t stopped the incomes of poorer households from being swallowed up by the soaring cost of essentials. This is despite Jeremy Hunt speaking of his commitment to protect the most vulnerable in his Autumn Statement in 2022. These results show just how far away our social security system is from adequately supporting people who have fallen on hard times.

“The prospects for people on the lowest incomes should be at the forefront of politicians’ minds as we head into a general election. We need all political parties to treat this rise in poverty with the seriousness it deserves at the coming general election and set out an ambitious plan to reverse it. This must involve embedding an Essentials Guarantee into Universal Credit to ensure that everyone has a protected minimum amount of support to afford essentials.”