Minimum living standards

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How much do you need to earn? - A minimum income standard for Britain: What people think, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, captures the consensus reached among ordinary people (on a range of incomes) about what they feel is needed to achieve an acceptable standard of living today.

Participants in this study were clear that a minimum living standard should provide for more than mere survival.

• A single person without children needs to spend £158 a week, and a couple with two children £370 a week, not including rent or mortgage.
• To afford this budget on top of rent on a modest council home, the single person would need to earn £13,400 a year before tax and the couple with two children £26,800.
• For families with no adult working, state benefits provide for less than half the minimum budget for single people and around two-thirds for those with children.

 

For the full report visit the Joseph Rowntree Foundation website.