Five years to reach spending power of before the pandemic

Richard Hughes, chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, warned that the UK is facing its “biggest real drop in living standards”.

- Steph Spyro

COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS

CONSUMERS' spending power could take at least five years to recover to pre-pandemic levels, the boss of the Government's tax and spending watchdog says.

He said: “I think we’re seeing clearly the biggest squeeze on ­living standards we’ve faced in this country on record."

“But we do expect, as we get past this year and we go into the next three or four years, that real income starts to recover."

“But it’s still the case ­that people’s real spending power doesn’t get back to the level it was before the pandemic even after five years, even by the time we get to the late 2020s.”