Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s UK Poverty 2025 report identifies persistent issues, with two in 10 adults and three in 10 children across the UK living in poverty
Efforts to tackle poverty in the UK over the past 20 years have had little impact, concludes a new report published today by leading charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, based on figures for 2022-23. What’s more, the wealth gap is widening, with those in poverty getting poorer. The report lays out the dramatically increasing rates of what it defines as ‘deep’ and ‘very deep’ poverty.
Photo by Tom Parsons
While Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has today set out a range of new national infrastructure projects as part of a big to go ‘further and faster’ than previous governments in promoting growth, the JWF report suggests that a stronger economy will make little difference to the poorest UK households. What is needed, it says, is targeted support to tackle poverty head on.
Among the eight key recommendations is help for people to find secure jobs, better financial protections where people lose a job or cannot work, support for carers, and removing the two-child limit from the benefits system. The provision of affordable housing and working in partnership with local authorities are also vital to making progress.
One notable issue to address is the unfairness of poverty, with significant higher rates among certain demographic groups. For example, the report identifies ‘wholly unacceptably high rates of poverty among children (30%), families with three or more children, lone-parent families, and families with younger children.
Certain ethnic minority groups, disabled people, informal carers, people in workless households, renters and those on income-related benefits also have disproportionately high rates of poverty. The report breaks down the figures in detail.
There is also a considerable difference depending on where people live. Child poverty rates in Northern Ireland (23%) and Scotland (24%) are notably lower than in Wales (29%) and England (30%). In the East of England, the poverty rate was 18% while in the West Midlands it was 27%.
Overall, some 14.3m people in the UK – more than one-fifth of the population – were in poverty in 2022-23. Of these, 8.1m people were working-age adults, 4.3m were children and 1.9m were pensioners.
Perhaps of most concern is that the report reveals that poverty has long persisted at roughly the same levels, despite repeated promises by authorities to tackle the root causes. Compared to figures to figures for 2021-22, levels of child poverty have slightly risen and pensioner poverty has slightly declined. But overall, figures for poverty have remained broadly the same for two decades.
‘The last period of falling poverty was during the first half of the previous Labour administration (between 1999-2000 and 2004-05),’ says the report.
In addition, the report says that levels of poverty have deepened, with 6m people in the UK – or four in 10 of the population – in ‘very deep poverty’ in 2022-23. This means their equivalised household income after housing costs (known as AHC) is less than 40% of the average AHC income. Worse, twice that figure – 12m people – had experienced very deep poverty in at least one year between 2017-18 and 2020-21.
Lynn Perry, Chief Executive of the charity Barnardo’s, has responded to the findings in the report. She says: ‘Millions of children are living in homes where parents struggle to afford to keep the fridge stocked and the power on. Growing up in poverty can have a devastating impact on a child’s life, affecting their learning, mental and physical health long into adulthood, while limiting their life chances.
‘Warm words won’t be enough to keep children free from the cold and hunger – but today’s report shows that serious government action can lift children out of poverty. If the government wants to show that it is serious about alleviating the suffering of children in poverty, it must commit to ending the unfair two-child limit on benefit payments and ensure that families can afford the essentials like food and heating. Children deserve immediate and long-term solutions to give them the best chance in life.’
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