Poorest suffer the biggest income fall

THE poorest households have suffered the sharpest income fall, even as average wages grew and benefits increased in the last financial year, data shows.

- By Katie Elliott

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the mean equivalised original income across households rose by £1,200 (2.6%) in the financial year ending 2024.

But after stripping out inflation, this amounted to a real-terms drop of £1,400 (2.8%). This means that, while pay packets grew, they lost value in practice. For the poorest fifth of households, income losses were the steepest.