UK's poorest families at record level of 'very deep poverty'

The UK’s poorest families are getting poorer, with record numbers of people classed as in “very deep poverty” - meaning their annual household incomes fail to cover the cost of food, energy bills and clothing, according to a new analysis.

- Patrick Butler Social policy editor

Though overall relative poverty levels have in recent years remained at about 21% of the population, life has become materially worse for those subsisting on incomes many thousands of pounds beneath the poverty threshold.

About 6.8 million people - half of all people in poverty - were in very deep poverty, the highest number and proportion since records began three decades ago, said the charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), which carried out the analysis.

Households on the lowest incomes were still experiencing a cost of living crisis, with millions of people going without food, falling behind on household bills and having to borrow to survive, it said.

“Poverty in the UK is still not just widespread, it is deeper and more damaging than at any point in the last 30 years,” said Peter Matejic, the JRF’s chief analyst.