The gap between the UK’s richest and poorest workers has widened as a result of the cost of living crisis and falling incomes and benefits, according to official figures.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the wealthiest fifth earned just over £1,000 last year, while the poorest are on average £600 worse off.
The disposable income of a fifth of Britain’s poorest households fell 3.4% to £14,500 last year, while the wealthiest’s disposable income rose 3.3% to £66,000, according to the ONS.
Disposable income is the money a household has after paying taxes. It includes wages, pensions and investments, as well as government benefits.
The measure of inequality used by the ONS increased by 1.3 percentage points to 35.7 percent last year compared to 2021.

The researchers found that the average British household had a disposable income after taxes of £32,300 last year, down 0.6% from a year earlier. This was driven by a decline in median disposable income in the fifth poorest households (3.4 percent) due to lower initial incomes and benefits.
The ONS found that wages in the bottom quintile fell by 7.5 percent, while those in the top quintile rose by a similar amount.
Median household income for retirees fell 1.6% to £25,900, with the ONS report saying retiree income inequality is at its highest level on record. The ministers announced that the triple lockdown will apply from April and the state pension will be increased by 10.1%.
The widening gap has brought income inequality back to near pre-pandemic levels. During the pandemic, government support programs led to a reduction in inequality.
A Resolution Foundation report released earlier this month described 2022 as “a disaster for the British standard of living”.
“As inflation hit its highest level in 41 years, the government has responded with £58bn budget support in 2022-23. Faced with a tight labor market, employers have raised nominal wages at the fastest pace since 1991. But real wages continued to fall, and government support was not enough to prevent a 3 percent drop in average household income in 2022-2023,” she concluded.
Lalita Tree of the Resolution Foundation think tank said ONS data showed that the disposable income of the fifth of the poorest households in 2021-2022 will be almost the same as in 2004-2005 17 years ago.
“Zero growth in the living standards of the poorest households over 17 years clearly does not indicate a successful economic strategy that generates economic growth and reduces income inequality,” she said.
“These numbers show where households have outpaced the cost of living crisis: high-income households are recovering from last year’s decline, and low-income households are seeing their incomes fall due to the end of pandemic support measures.”
Source: I News

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