Families need £36,800 to live acceptably, study says

mystic_trev

A couple with two children now need to earn £36,800 a year to have a "socially acceptable" standard of living, an anti-poverty charity says.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said its annual minimum income study suggests families must earn a third more than in 2008, to live within social norms.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18770783

Seems a lot to me, but what surprises me is the increase since 2008.

grizzly1911

As you say the increase is odd. NI /VAT increase and inflation probably only add up to half that increase.

I guess after tax that sum would be back down around the benefit cap level so some correlation.

Thrugelmir

what the public believes is an acceptable standard of living

Maybe attitudes will need to change.

Percy1983

Come up north and thats a bloody good standard of living, I know... living the dream.

Generali

Here is what makes it up:

http://mis.jrf.org.uk/

You will notice that they use a family with a 3y/o and a 7y/o. This is a particularly expensive combination as the 3y/o AIUI doesn't qualify for state payment of childcare allowing them to put £147/wk (>£7,000/yr) onto the assumption for the amount of money needed. They also allow almost £100/wk (£5,000/yr) for social and recreation. That doesn't include the money in the food budget for eating out.

I think there may be a little 'creative accounting' going on. Take the item 'men's outerwear' which I think means coats. They allow £2.28/wk for this or about £120 a year. In the UK I would expect to have 2 winter coats (smart and casual) and a summer jacket. I would expect the smart coat to last 8-10 years and the jackets to last perhaps 5-6 years. My budget to buy 5 coats a decade would be £1200!

I suspect that they are using the argument that you need a winter and a summer coat. To buy 2 M&S coats would set you back £120. What I guess they are not accounting for is that stuff lasts.

loracan1

Generali wrote: »

Here is what makes it up:

http://mis.jrf.org.uk/

You will notice that they use a family with a 3y/o and a 7y/o. This is a particularly expensive combination as the 3y/o AIUI doesn't qualify for state payment of childcare allowing them to put £147/wk (>£7,000/yr) onto the assumption for the amount of money needed. They also allow almost £100/wk (£5,000/yr) for social and recreation. That doesn't include the money in the food budget for eating out.

I think there may be a little 'creative accounting' going on. Take the item 'men's outerwear' which I think means coats. They allow £2.28/wk for this or about £120 a year. In the UK I would expect to have 2 winter coats (smart and casual) and a summer jacket. I would expect the smart coat to last 8-10 years and the jackets to last perhaps 5-6 years. My budget to buy 5 coats a decade would be £1200!

I suspect that they are using the argument that you need a winter and a summer coat. To buy 2 M&S coats would set you back £120. What I guess they are not accounting for is that stuff lasts.

That's a fascinating site. Judging by the average, and assuming over a year; I'm a filthy beggar (I don't spend over six pounds a week on cleaning products) I have a bed/bedding overspending fixation and I spend 4 times more than average on clothes pegs.

grizzly1911

Generali wrote: »

Here is what makes it up:

http://mis.jrf.org.uk/
What I guess they are not accounting for is that stuff lasts.

I wonder how this would work for kids clothes/shoes and in particular school uniforms, that can get very expensive at secondary level for dedicated clothing and sports kit.

I was listening to a discussion on welfare capping where this point was being made quite strongly.

I know it was pretty steep and relentless for seven years each for our two.

oldvicar

Generali wrote: »

Here is what makes it up:

http://mis.jrf.org.uk/

Interesting. It is fascinating to compare this with my own spending to see the (few) items where I spend a great deal more and the (many) items where I spend a lot less than the average.

Quite by chance one of the first items I happened upon in the weekly budget was:

Condoms £0.46

My first thoughts, being a bit out of touch with the price of such items, was to wonder whether this element of the budget was getting enough.

My second thought was that for a couple on the minimum standard of living then this budget showed that they were being totally profligate with their spending on prophylactics. AFAIK the moneysaving way is to get them for FREE from the NHS.

Generali

grizzly1911 wrote: »

I wonder how this would work for kids clothes/shoes and in particular school uniforms, that can get very expensive at secondary level for dedicated clothing and sports kit.

I was listening to a discussion on welfare capping where this point was being made quite strongly.

I know it was pretty steep and relentless for seven years each for our two.

Perfectly true. Of course at that point you wouldn't be forking out 7 grand a year for childcare which would buy a lot of school uniform.

amcluesent

A couple with two children now need to earn £36,800 a year to have a "socially acceptable" standard of living

Not inside the M25! That would be poverty line! Most likely better of not working and relying on HB, CB, JSA, DLA, etc

IveSeenTheLight

mystic_trev wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18770783

Seems a lot to me, but what surprises me is the increase since 2008.

Of course this depends on the local area and the cost of living there