7 Sep 2015
Low-income parents will both have to work full time for a decent standard of living by 2020
Image: Thinkstock
Parents on low incomes will both have to work full time over the next five years in order to provide themselves with a minimum standard of living, a new report reveals.
Will the 2015 Summer Budget improve living standards in 2020? has been produced by Loughborough University’s Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) on behalf of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). It is the first in-depth, independent analysis to take a look at how the measures announced in the Budget will affect people’s ability to afford a decent standard of living.
Donald Hirsch, Director of CRSP and author of the report, has used the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) to track how the living standards of low-income households will change by 2020. The report is based on what the public say is necessary for a minimum socially acceptable standard of living.
It shows that families with two parents in full-time work, workers without children and pensioners will typically become better off over the next five years due to changes to pay and benefits announced in the Summer Budget.
But lone parents and families with more than two children are likely to see their living standards stagnate or fall even if they work full-time, as are low-income families with one main breadwinner. And those who are out of work face a sharply growing gap between their income and the amount they need for a basic living standard.
Read the full press release for more information.