Poverty among people who are working has risen despite a recovery in the UK economy, a study has suggested. High rental housing costs mean an estimated 3.8 million workers – one in eight – are in poverty, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).
It said in-work poverty was up by 1.1 million since 2010-11, and 55% of those in poverty were in working families. People with less than 60% of median income are classified as poor. Overall poverty was down, the government said.
Its figures suggested poverty numbers had been falling compared to six years ago.
“Since 2010, the number of people living in poverty has fallen by 300,000 but we know there is more to do. We are increasing the National Living Wage and taking millions of people out of income tax, to make sure it always pays to be in work,” a government spokesman said.
The report suggested 7.4 million people, including 2.6 million children, were living in poverty despite being in working households. There was growing insecurity underneath the positive economic picture, including rising levels of employment, it said.
The charity called for more affordable housing to be built, alongside the reversal of various cuts to welfare and the end of the freeze on working-age benefits. Read more
