Advertisement
For £35 you can help a vendor keep themselves warm, dry, fed, earning and progressing
BUY A VENDOR SUPPORT KIT
Social Justice

Poorest households hit hardest as inflation reaches 41-year high

The inflation gap between the richest and poorest is the largest seen since March 2009 as the costs of essentials soar

Inflation

Inflation is hitting the poorest households the hardest. Image: Unsplash

The poorest in the UK are facing higher inflation rates than the rest of the population due to soaring costs of food and energy, new Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.

Inflation hit 11.1 per cent in the year up to October 2022, a figure not seen in 41 years. But prices are rising even faster for low-income households – by nearly 12 per cent for the families who have the least. 

The costs of essentials are soaring at higher rates, and low-income families typically spend a greater proportion on these items. 

Your support changes lives. Find out how you can help us help more people by signing up for a subscription

The most significant driver of inflation over the year up to October was the rise in gas prices by 36.9 per cent. Electricity prices also increased by 16.9 per cent. And food and drink prices are up by 16.4 per cent. 

Energy, food, and drink tends to reflect a greater proportion of low-income households’ spending, with around 15.2 per cent of total expenditure on these categories for low-income groups and 10.4 per cent for high-income groups.

Advertisement
Advertisement

In the year up to October 2022, inflation averaged at 11.9 per cent for low-income households and at 10.5 per cent for high-income households – averaging out at 11.1 per cent. 

The inflation gap of 1.4 per cent between the richest and poorest is the largest seen since March 2009, when low-income households saw a 1.5 per cent inflation gap in the year following the financial crisis. 

Rachelle Earwaker, senior economist for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Every day sees still more stories of people selling their possessions, or borrowing money at punishing interest rates, just to afford these essentials.” 

The inflation statistics come a day before the prime minister and chancellor are due to set out the Autumn Budget, with a plan to tackle the cost of living crisis. Campaigners have long called for the government to protect the most vulnerable in their economic policies by uprating benefits in line with inflation.

Earwaker added: “When the government sets out its plans tomorrow, benefits must at least be uprated in line with inflation as usual, as was promised when Rishi Sunak was chancellor. As well as upholding that pledge, the uprating should be brought forward rather than expecting people to struggle on until April before their income reaches anything approaching the soaring cost of food.”

Low-income families are turning to food banks in desperate need of help, and the soaring demand is having a significant impact.

New data from the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN), released today, reveals 90 per cent of organisations reported both helping people who had not previously accessed support and more people needing regular food supplies between August and November.

A total of 75 per cent of organisations contributing to this latest survey were struggling with supply issues and reported a drop in donations, while 54 per cent were having to use financial reserves.

Sabine Goodwin, coordinator of IFAN said: “As inflation figures climb steeply, [the] message is clear. People’s incomes whether through benefit payments or wages must be increased so that we don’t see the collapse of charitable food aid providers already at breaking point as well as food bank volunteers in the impossible position of having to turn people away.”

Get the latest news and insight into how the Big Issue magazine is made by signing up for the Inside Big Issue newsletter

Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

View all
Winter fuel benefit cuts will send pensioners to hospital, DWP warned: 'It's a political choice'
a view from above of an older person with white hair eating out of a pot
Winter fuel payment

Winter fuel benefit cuts will send pensioners to hospital, DWP warned: 'It's a political choice'

Ghosts star Charlotte Ritchie: 'It's a tragedy people can't afford their essentials'
Charlotte Ritchie at Trussell food bank
Food banks

Ghosts star Charlotte Ritchie: 'It's a tragedy people can't afford their essentials'

Is the cost of living crisis over and will prices in the UK ever come down?
Cost of living crisis

Is the cost of living crisis over and will prices in the UK ever come down?

'This cannot go on': Hundreds of thousands of people turning to food banks for the first time
food bank
Food banks

'This cannot go on': Hundreds of thousands of people turning to food banks for the first time

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know