Michael Meacher MP

The Experian Public Sector survey released today of families in work but at risk of a slide into destitution is very telling.   There are 7 million adults in this category, in addition to the 5.5 million working-age adults already living in poverty (i.e. less than 60% of the national median income) – a total of nearly a third of the national adult population.   The working adults are already squeezed to the limit, sometimes going without food or any other expenditure for days before the next pay packet comes in.   What the survey documents for the first time is that these families can be tipped over into destitution by one unpredicted event, which could be an unexpectedly large utilities bill or failure of heating because of a boiler breakdown, let alone loss of a job or reduced hours.   This is a situation Britain has not known since the 1930s. (more…)