Some of the key findings of the report include: More than one in five people in the UK, around 14.2 million, were living in poverty. Britain’s poorest are getting poorer: 6.8 million people are now living in very deep poverty, almost half of everyone in poverty, the highest level on record. Poverty has hardened, not eased: the average person in poverty now lives 29% below the poverty line, compared with 23% in the mid-1990s.Child poverty has climbed again: 4.5 million children are in poverty, rising for the third year in a row. Hunger is spreading fast: 1.1 million more people in poverty cannot afford enough food than two years ago bringing the total to 3.5 million, while 2.8 million more people overall are now food insecure bringing the total to 7.5 million. Work doesn’t guarantee security: around two-thirds of working-age adults in poverty, 5.4 million people, live in households where someone is in work. New JRF analysis shows that, under central Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projections, the headline poverty rate will remain broadly unchanged (21.3% to 21.1%) between 2026 and 2029.Current policies will see little progress towards meeting the government’s manifesto commitment to end the mass dependence on food banks.
The full UK Poverty 2026 report can be found using the button below. |
