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Even before the coronavirus, living standards had flatlined amid wage stagnation and austerity.
The proportion of children in Britain living in poverty risks hitting a record high in the next few years
as incomes stagnate and benefit cuts continue to bite, a report has warned.
A study by the Resolution Foundation thinktank said UK households had experienced
flatlining living standards due to a lack of economic and pay growth in the past two years.
Average incomes will not rise materially over the next two years either, it said.
The bleak forecast will hit lower-income families harder, according to the report, and
child poverty could exceed previous highs reached in the early 1990s. Deprived families will bear the brunt of weak pay and benefit cuts, the report said.
While weak productivity and pay freezes were holding back living standards for most people, government policy was also hitting more deprived groups. The report noted the final year of the benefit freeze, which will reduce working-age household incomes by £1.5bn, will start in April, while the impact of the two-child limit on benefits will grow over the remainder of this parliament.
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