JRF say only top 20% of earners can acheive a minimum acceptable standard of living

michaels

I feel this thread needs a face palm smiley.

It sems the esteemed Joseph Roundtree Foundation went out ansd asked people what they though a 'minimum acceptable standard of living' consisted of.

Plugging inot their calculator my household (2 adults, 3 kids) requires the single earner to be on £61,000 pa to acheive this minimum standard.

I think this is about the 80th percentile of household incomes.

So basically only the highest earning 20% can afford the 'minimum acceptable' standard of living....presumably if we had a labour govt they would be topping up my income in order for me to have this minimum lifestyle....:rotfl:

http://www.minimumincome.org.uk/

(And this is even before considering that their figures are based on a family of 5 paying £400 pm rent total housing costs).

movilogo

So basically only the highest earning 20% can afford the 'minimum acceptable' standard of living.

That calculation is based on assumption more children require more expenses (which is true).

Indirectly the message is, if you are not earning enough then don't start breeding (which is again true).

Tammykitty

It list household insurance as £1.16 a week - would love to know where to get home and contents insurance for £60 a year!


Never mind all the other insurances to go with the mortgage - Life & Critical Illness, Income Protection etc.


It also lost food for 2 at £80 week - this is more then "minimum standards" - I would spend about £50 and some weeks about £30

molerat

Another loony lefty think tank with an agenda report spouting the usual carp.

michaels

molerat wrote: »

Another loony lefty think tank with an agenda report spouting the usual carp.

But even more carp than normal as it is basically suggesting that everyone 'deserves' a standard of living that even those above the median can not afford.....

davomcdave

Maybe what we should be asking ourselves is how on earth we got to a point where £61k is 'required' to have a decent life in the UK yet a billion people live on less than $2 a day.

Something is really badly broken with peoples' expectations of what is reasonable.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

JRF, like LieBore, have not lifted anyone out of poverty in over one hundred years.

mrginge

Another site to add to the internet of crap.

BobQ

davomcdave wrote: »

Maybe what we should be asking ourselves is how on earth we got to a point where £61k is 'required' to have a decent life in the UK yet a billion people live on less than $2 a day.

Something is really badly broken with peoples' expectations of what is reasonable.

That is one issue (people's expectations) but the calculation is also depends heavily on housing costs.

If you own your house the results are a lot different than if you have a £1500/month mortgage.

So children and housing are expensive, not exactly new.

I think we have as a nation grown accustomed to expecting to have a high standard of living. Fifty years ago many people knew that they were poor but remembered previous austerity. So people under 50 have grown up believing that things can only get better. The last 8 years have shown that this is not the case. Government (it would not have mattered who was in Government), has spoken positively since the GFC as if after a few years of austerity everything will be better. But in reality we have had a sustained fall in living standards that people have not known how to cope with.

Another factor gas been that there is no fat for many to fall back upon. Household debt continues to be a significant problem.

[Deleted User]

davomcdave wrote: »

Maybe what we should be asking ourselves is how on earth we got to a point where £61k is 'required' to have a decent life in the UK yet a billion people live on less than $2 a day.

Something is really badly broken with peoples' expectations of what is reasonable.

It's not..

I plugged my numbers in (mortgage amount + 2 school age kids).

According to this, we need 2 x £27,801 wages for a basic standard of living. So that's 2 people earning average wages. If we had one income, it would be £57,452 needed. I even used my real mortgage (>£1000 a month)

Not £61k

westernpromise

Calculations are only valid for earnings below £100000

So presumably if you're on more than that they envy you too much to care.