Our publications

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The cost of remoteness: reflecting higher living costs in remote rural Scotland when measuring fuel poverty This latest report is part of Scottish Government funded work in remote rural Scotland to identify what is needed for a minimum, socially acceptable standard of living in these areas. This ongoing research is needed as the Minimum Income Standard income benchmarks are key to the Scottish fuel poverty calculation detailed in the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019. This report updates estimates made for 2021 of specific additional costs that make it more expensive to meet a minimum acceptable living standard in remote rural areas of Scotland. In 2022, minimum budgets were updated based on inflation, on updated costings in remote rural Scotland, and on adjustments to take account of new UK-wide Minimum Income Standard research in urban areas and the new minimum budgets that this produced. The report sets out the impact of inflation, updated costings and new urban UK research on remote rural Scotland minimum budgets. Taken together, these produce new minimum budget uplifts for 2022, showing that costs are between 14% and 27% higher in remote rural Scotland. Bryan, A., Ellen, J., Hirsch, D. and Padley, M. (2024) The cost of remoteness: Reflecting higher living costs in remote rural Scotland when measuring fuel poverty, 2022 update. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.

Constructing a Decent Living Index New research, carried out by the Centre, provides new evidence that households with lower incomes are facing greater financial pressures than existing inflation measures are capturing. The Decent Living Index (DLI) has been developed by CRSP, with the support of abrdn Financial Fairness Trust. Like the Minimum Income Standard, it is based on household-specific baskets of goods and services that the public agree are necessary to maintain a decent standard of living. It tracks what is happening to the cost of items that people need rather than actual expenditure. The DLI is a pilot measure and has initially been calculated for two household types: a single, working-age female, and a couple with two children of pre-school and primary school age. The research compares this new index with CPI and CPIH indices over the same period. Stone, J., Shepherd, C., Ellis, W. and Padley, M. (2023) Constructing a Decent Living Index. Edinburgh: abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.

The Cost of a Child in 2025 The annual update to the Cost of Child calculations shows that in 2025, raising a child from the age of 0 to 18 is estimated to cost more than £250,000 for couple parents, and nearly £290,000 for lone parents. However, the enduring impact of benefit cuts and ongoing price rises have left many parents unable to give their children what the public says is a minimum acceptable living standard. The calculations for 2025 show families with three children fare particularly badly because the two-child limit substantially reduces social security support for the third (and any subsequent) children. Since 2012, this report series has systematically monitored the minimum cost of a child. Today’s report updates those calculations for 2025 and outlines the factors affecting the latest figures. The Cost of a Child in 2025. London: Child Poverty Action Group

A Minimum Income Standard for London 2024 This latest research looking at what is needed for a decent living standard in London focuses on households with children. Groups of parents in Inner and Outer London discussed and agreed what households with children need to have a minimum socially acceptable standard of living in 2024. The research looked at the difference in a minimum household budget between the capital and elsewhere in the UK, and at the implications of this difference for the adequacy of social security and wages. Finally, the findings of the research were used to look at the number of households without the income needed to meet this minimum standard in the capital and how this has changed over time. Padley, M., Blackwell, C., Hill, K., Ellis, W., Stone, J. and Balchin, E. (2025) A Minimum Income Standard for London 2024. London: Trust for London

The cost of remoteness: Reflecting higher living costs in remote rural Scotland when measuring fuel poverty 2023 update This latest report updates estimates made in 2022 of additional costs that make it more expensive to meet a minimum acceptable living standard in remote rural areas of Scotland. In 2022, minimum budgets were updated based on inflation, on updated costings in remote rural Scotland, and on adjustments to take account of new UK-wide MIS research in urban areas and the new minimum budgets that this produced. In 2023, updates to minimum budgets are based solely on changes in prices between April 2022 and April 2023, as captured through components of the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).This ongoing research and analysis is needed as the MIS income benchmarks are key to the Scottish fuel poverty calculation detailed in the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019. Padley, M. (2025) The cost of remoteness: Reflecting higher living costs in remote rural Scotland when measuring fuel poverty 2023 update. Edinburgh: Scottish Government