The New Economics Foundation, a left-leaning thinktank, said rising prices, below-inflation increases in earnings and projected increases in unemployment would result in 43% of households lacking the resources to put food on the table, buy new clothes or treat themselves and their families – a 12 percentage point rise compared with 2019.
The NEF said its calculation that by 2024 almost 90% of single parents and 50% of workers with children would fall below a minimum income standard showed the need for a radical overhaul of the welfare system.
The thinktank called for universal credit to be scrapped and replaced by a national living income, a minimum below which no one could fall whether they were in or out of work. Under its proposal, more than two-thirds of the population would see their disposable incomes rise, with increases of more than 50% – or £500 a month – for the poorest households.
Read more at The Guardian
