Inflation

(asked on 1st February 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent trends in inflation on low income families with children; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Damian Hinds Portrait
Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
This question was answered on 9th February 2017

We have not assessed the very latest trends in inflation on low income families with children but have supplied latest published estimates for 2014/15 in the form of absolute low income rates and numbers for children and their families.

Rates and numbers of children in both relative and absolute low income households are published annually in Households Below Average Income. Chapter 4 in ‘supporting tables’ show various income breakdowns for children and their families

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-199495-to-201415

The absolute low income threshold is based on 60% of median income in 2010/11 and is then uprated by inflation for each year thereafter. As such the absolute measure captures how low income has changed with reference to inflation.

Latest data show:

- Since 2010 there are 200,000 fewer children in absolute low income (and 100,000 fewer children in relative low income) on a Before Housing Costs basis.

- In 2015 there were 2.3 million children in absolute low income Before Housing Costs – a joint record low.

- Between 2014 and 2015, average incomes grew at their fastest rate since 2002.

This Government is committed to building a country that works for everyone – not just the privileged few. That is why our forthcoming Green Paper will identify and address the root causes of child poverty and disadvantage, building on the new statutory indicators of parental worklessness and children’s educational attainment set out in the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.

Reticulating Splines