MSE News: The £14,400 minimum cost of living

gonzo127

ha going buy those figures i should be well and truely up the creek without a paddle

£26900 for a family with 2 kids, im on £21500 for a family with 3 kids - and i still feel we live very well, have just got back from a weeks holiday, still have paid for Sky TV and eat very well

wow i have just done the minimum income calc thing posted above and says i need £37982 a year so just under double what i am on currently!

but then again it does say i need over £200 a month on clothes and £622 a month on "Social and cultural activites" - which really is quite shocking

Arthurian

gonzo127 wrote: »

but then again it does say i need over £200 a month on clothes and £622 a month on "Social and cultural activites" - which really is quite shocking

Conclusion - "members of the public" questioned by those researchers confused "need" with "want".

tryingto

I think the 14,400 min cost living is pretty accurate. I often think single people are forgotten a lot when this kind of thing is being worked out and talked about. People on very low incomes trying to pay rent and bills on their own. I've not been on a holiday for over fourteen years, just not a financial option at all.

As for going out, it is a complete rarity. I have no idea how any single person (without social housing and in a market rate self contained rental), can live on 10-12k a year without scraping by and making lots of sacrifices, let alone partake in 'normal' society. Rent, council tax, bills, and food and even managing that is a struggle.

climbintheladderouttadebt

What are they ON?! £3-odd on alcohol a week?! £17.84 a week wouldn't cover my gas & electric sadly, nor would £66.04 cover my rent! I'm on my own with a 3 year old and their ideas are laughable! I agree with above poster, 'need' and 'want' have been confused!
We want things and compromise. Sometimes we need things and compromise. As I am sure a lot of people do.
I am utterly gobsmacked!!

bylromarha

The minimum standard includes essentials, such as food and housing, plus items and services that enable them to participate in society, such as transport, social activities and one week's holiday in the UK each year.

Obviously not just me then who thinks you cut the items and services bit if your income doesn't stretch that far...

The figures are stupidly high. 2 adults and 2 kids in this house - OHs self employment has meant that in 2006 we lived on less than half that figure quoted for a family of 4 without a benefits top up.

tryingto

In the calculator they seem to be wildly underestimating costs like rent and bills. So, I'm pretty much ignoring the 'luxuries' stuff as the amounts they allocate for that need to go on rent and bills. I'm just looking at the top figure really. Where on earth are they getting such low rent figures. Wonder if they are basing on social housing (which is nigh on impossible to get)?

debrag

ViolaLass wrote: »

I'm sure I'm not going to be the only one with this view but I think the figure given is nonsense. I lived in Central London (Zone 1) until a year ago, rented a flat, went out, travelled to work, paid all my bills, had treats like a proms season ticket (I did these things instead of travelling for a holiday, for choice, not because I felt I couldn't afford a holiday) and I calculated that I needed approx £10k a year (before tax) to live, the rest was savings.

How did you manage to live on £10k and live in zone 1? did you share rental costs with anyone, renting a flat alone can be more than £10k

Marisco

I agree with Arthurian!! There are very few things we need i.e food, clothing, heat, light and warmth. Everything else is "want"!! We don't need Sky telly, latest gizmos, holidays abroad, X Boxes, designer clothes etc, etc. That's half the problem these days, people think they must have "things" to be happy!!!:(

paulwf

climbintheladderouttadebt wrote: »

What are they ON?! £3-odd on alcohol a week?! £17.84 a week wouldn't cover my gas & electric sadly, nor would £66.04 cover my rent! I'm on my own with a 3 year old and their ideas are laughable! I agree with above poster, 'need' and 'want' have been confused!
We want things and compromise. Sometimes we need things and compromise. As I am sure a lot of people do.
I am utterly gobsmacked!!

It's worth skimming the PDF report before drawing too many conclusions: http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/MIS-2010-report_0.pdf . Of particular interest is the budget table on page 19. There is also some info above that on how they reached the conclusions after interviewing various types of people.

Remember, this isn't meant to be the minimum amount to keep alive in the UK. This is meant to be the minimum amount to be able to actively participate socially and culturally in the UK. There is a huge difference - we don't need access to a phone, access to the internet or other "luxuries" such as socialising. We could get up, stare at the walls all day, eat beans on toast then go to bed again...that's not what this is about though as that doesn't give any quality of life at all.

If you look at the figures in the table for a single person it lists £4.60 a week for alcohol. That is being able to take a bottle of wine round to a friends house once a week or buying one pint a week down the pub with an extra pint every fortnight. That's hardly excessive if you want to see spend some time with friends and colleagues in modern society.

Tobacco is given zero allowance. Also no allowance is made for a car, but there is an allowance for other transport costs, which seems reasonable to get into work or travel into town to do shopping. The research also allows something to buy birthday and christmas presents with...again the idea is to be able to participate in society to a minimum level not just survive.

Figures can never be accurate because of regional variation and there will be subjectivity as to what is and what isn't essential to participate in society. However to me they have taken a very good common sense approach and have used averages based on interviewing various people.

We should also look at the alternatives available when the government decides on benefit levels or national minimum wage etc. The definition of poverty is sometimes set as having an income which is less than 60% of the national average. So the poverty line takes absolutely no account of the amount of money people need to live on! You might as well define the poverty line as "sausages" for all the good the figure is going to do!

debrag

So I've played around with the figures - inputting actual rent, ct, utility and partners wage etc and my figure is £12,542 (partnes wage is £11,310)

Social activities @ £64, clothes @ £15.53, alcohol @ £14.84, food @ £76.17, travel @ £24.55 are all way more than I spend. What are household goods & services? TV licence, internet maybe, what about personal goods & services?