More than 16 million people in poverty, report finds – with deprivation at highest level in decades

More than 16 million people in the UK are living in poverty, a stark new report has found, as the government prepares to adopt a new definition of poverty which experts say could lead to better action.

Our understanding of poverty is usually based on two measures – absolute and relative poverty. ‘Relative’ counts anybody earning below 60% of the median wage. It is a measure of people who have fallen behind.

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‘Absolute’ measures anybody whose income is below 60% of that needed to afford a standard of living set in 2011. It is a measure of how many people are below a defined standard of living, and is often counted after housing costs. This year, the UK saw the biggest rise in absolute poverty for 30 years.

A new metric developed by the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) takes a wider view, looking at unavoidable costs like rent, childcare and disability care, as well as assets. This is known as a “below average resources” look at poverty, as opposed to looking at average incomes.

Using the new metric, the report from the SMC also found that a quarter of the population and a third of all children are living in deprivation, the highest level so far in the 21st century. It increases the number of children counted as being in poverty from 3.6 million to 5.2 million. SMC also found that more than half of all people in poverty live in a family which includes a disabled person.

This means the proportion of the population counted as being in poverty has increased from 18% to 24%. But could a change in the way we measure poverty lead to a change in the way we deal with it?

“If we didn’t talk about it, we’d think everybody is OK. Which of course is the last government’s view, that we didn’t really have poverty in the UK anymore,” said Susan Harkness, professor of public policy at the University of Bristol. “Every measure of poverty gives a different number.”

The new statistics from SMC also found a majority of people living in poverty in the UK are in a household where somebody works. However, deep poverty was lower than it was before the pandemic.

The Conservative government suggested moving to the SMC’s measure of poverty before it lost power, and now the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) under Labour will begin counting this way.

This will allow for a more rounded picture of the extent of poverty in the UK, said Marii Paskov, a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol’s school for policy studies. Poverty in the UK also remains high by international standards, Paskov added.

However, had the measure been used all along, poverty would still have risen, with 2.1 million more people than if rates had stayed the same since before the pandemic.

Many Brits do not realise the gravity of the situation. Research in October found nearly half of Londoners underestimate the true extent of child poverty.

Poverty is deeply linked to inequality – after all, the way we count it is defined by how far someone is from an average income. Yet it presents specific challenges.

“The argument is always, well it’s not poverty it’s inequality. I think we should care about inequality anyway. But the more poverty we have, it leads to unequal opportunities for children,” said Harkness.

“You could regard it as, if people aren’t destitute and starving. Maybe they’re not poor. If that’s where you draw your line, that’s one perspective. The alternative perspective is poverty is relative, and therefore even if people are able to feed themselves and clothe themselves and survive, that doesn’t mean they’re not poor.”

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