Question 1

What is the National Living Wage?

Accepted Answer

The National Living Wage is the legal minimum hourly pay for workers aged 21 and over. From 1 April 2026 it is £12.71 an hour, according to GOV.UK . The National Minimum Wage rates for younger workers are £10.85 for ages 18 to 20, and £8 for under-18s and apprentices. Rates change each April. The government sets them after advice from the Low Pay Commission , an independent body that publishes its recommendations and research. The age threshold for the National Living Wage fell from 25 to 23 in 2021 and to 21 in 2024, which matters when comparing years. The National Living Wage is different from the voluntary "Real Living Wage" set by a charity, which is not a legal requirement. Annual pay figures depend on the hours assumed, so check the hours used in any yearly figure.

Question 2

What is the poverty line in the UK?

Accepted Answer

The UK has no single official poverty line. The measure used most is relative low income: a household is counted if its income is below 60% of the median (middle) household income for that year, after adjusting for household size. Absolute low income uses 60% of the median in a fixed reference year, adjusted for inflation, so it shows whether living standards at the bottom are rising in real terms. Both are published by DWP in Households Below Average Income , before housing costs (BHC) and after housing costs (AHC). AHC deducts rent, mortgage interest and similar costs, and usually shows more people in poverty. In the latest release the absolute reference year moved from 2010/11 to 2024/25 for linked data, so older and newer absolute figures are not directly comparable. Because incomes are adjusted for household size, the cash line differs by household type; HBAI tables give the weekly amounts.

Question 3

How many children are in poverty in the UK?

Accepted Answer

DWP's Households Below Average Income report for the financial year ending 2025 (April 2024 to March 2025, published 26 March 2026) put 27% of children in the UK in relative low income after housing costs and 21% before housing costs. Children have higher low-income rates than working-age adults or pensioners. The same release introduced a measure of deep material poverty, which found 1.9 million children (13%) in that position. The government's child poverty strategy tracks two headline measures: relative low income after housing costs and deep material poverty. Claims often mix measures, so check whether a figure is relative or absolute, before or after housing costs, and which year. Data linking with benefit records was added in recent years, which DWP describes as a break in the series. Figures by local area come from the separate Children in low income families statistics on Stat-Xplore .

Question 4

How many people face food insecurity in the UK?

Accepted Answer

The official measure is in the Family Resources Survey, reported by DWP in Households Below Average Income . In the financial year ending 2025 (April 2024 to March 2025), 9% of individuals lived in food insecure households, down 2 percentage points on the year before. The survey also asks about food bank use: 3.8% of individuals lived in a household that had used one in the previous 12 months, and 1.3% in the previous 30 days. Children were more likely than other groups to live in food insecure households. Counts of food parcels published by food bank networks are not official statistics and measure parcels handed out, not people. When checking a claim, note whether it refers to households or individuals, and to the 12-month or 30-day food bank measure.

Question 5

What is the median household income in the UK?

Accepted Answer

The ONS household disposable income and inequality bulletin, published 2 October 2026, put median household disposable income in the UK at £39,200 in the financial year ending 2025 (April 2024 to March 2025), up 3.5% on the year before. Disposable income is what a household has after direct taxes, including earnings, pensions, investments and cash benefits. DWP's Households Below Average Income uses a different survey and a weekly, size-adjusted measure: £719 a week before housing costs and £623 after housing costs for the same year. The two sources are not interchangeable. Check whether a figure is median or mean, household or individual, and before or after tax and housing costs. For individual pay rather than household income, see average salary .

Question 6

How many families were affected by the two-child limit?

Accepted Answer

DWP's final statistics on the two-child limit , published 8 July 2026, found 495,990 Universal Credit households affected in April 2026, with 1,752,200 children living in them. Of these, 478,120 households were not receiving the child element for at least one child because of the policy. The limit applied from 6 April 2017 and was removed from Universal Credit for assessment periods beginning on or after 6 April 2026, so the July 2026 release was the last in the series. It restricted support to two children for children born on or after 6 April 2017, with exceptions such as multiple births. The limit applied to the child element of Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit, not to Child Benefit, which is paid for every child. Earlier editions are in the DWP and HMRC collection .

Question 7

How many people are in poverty in Scotland?

Accepted Answer

The Scottish Government publishes Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland each March, using the same Family Resources Survey data as DWP. The latest edition, covering 2022 to 2025 , gives relative and absolute poverty for children, working-age adults and pensioners. Scottish figures are three-year averages because the Scottish sample is small, so they are not directly comparable with single-year UK figures. The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 sets statutory targets measured with these statistics. Wales and Northern Ireland publish their own analyses: Welsh Government poverty statistics and the Northern Ireland Poverty and Income Inequality report . Check whether a claim uses the three-year average or a single year, and before or after housing costs.

Question 8

How many people are in poverty in the UK?

Accepted Answer

The official count comes from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics, the UK's main source of poverty estimates. In the financial year ending 2025 (April 2024 to March 2025), 16% of people were in relative low income before housing costs and 20% after housing costs, according to the release published on 26 March 2026. HBAI gives each rate for children, working-age adults and pensioners, and the data tables convert percentages into numbers of people. It is based on the Family Resources Survey, a sample of around 16,000 households, so small year-to-year changes are often within the margin of error. When checking a claim, look for which measure is used: relative or absolute, and before or after housing costs. The after housing costs figure is usually higher. See how the poverty line is set .

Question 9

What is the Gini coefficient for the UK?

Accepted Answer

The Gini coefficient summarises income inequality on a scale from 0% (everyone has the same income) to 100% (one person has everything). The ONS put the UK figure for disposable household income at 32.7% in the financial year ending 2025, down 0.2 percentage points, in its bulletin of 2 October 2026 . DWP's Households Below Average Income report gives its own Gini, based on individuals: 33% before housing costs and 37% after housing costs for the same year, unchanged from the year before. The ONS also publishes the ratio of incomes of the richest fifth to the poorest fifth. These figures cover income, not wealth; wealth inequality is far higher and is measured separately in the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey. International comparisons should use the OECD or similar series built on a common definition. See our guide to IMF, OECD and World Bank data .

Question 10

How many households are in fuel poverty?

Accepted Answer

In England, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) estimated that 2.36 million households (9.4%) were in fuel poverty in 2025, down from 9.9% in 2024, in its annual fuel poverty statistics published 26 March 2026. The 2025 figure is a projection that will be finalised in 2027. England uses the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency measure: a household is fuel poor if it lives in a home rated band D or below for energy efficiency and its income after housing and energy costs is below the poverty line. The report also gives the share spending more than 10% of income on energy. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland use different definitions, so their rates cannot be added to England's. Sub-regional figures for England are in the fuel poverty collection . For household energy prices, see the energy price cap .

Question 11

How many pensioners live in poverty?

Accepted Answer

DWP's Households Below Average Income report for the financial year ending 2025 (April 2024 to March 2025) put 16% of pensioners in relative low income before housing costs and 14% after housing costs. Pensioners are the one group whose rate is usually lower after housing costs, because many own their homes outright. The same report found 12% of pensioners in material deprivation, a measure based on lacking items such as a warm home or the ability to replace a broken cooker. DWP's Pensioners' Incomes series gives detail on where pensioners' income comes from. Pensioner rates rise and fall with the State Pension relative to earnings, so year-to-year changes need care. See State Pension numbers .

Poverty, incomes and cost of living: your questions answered