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This report examines how household incomes were changing in the UK up to the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how other measures of household living standards have changed over the course of the pandemic. In particular, we use the latest official data covering years up to 2019-20 to provide a comprehensive picture of UK household incomes before the pandemic hit. We subsequently use more recent data to examine how the pandemic and associated restrictions on economic activity have radically affected the scope for people to earn an income in the labour market, and what the implications of the pandemic have been for measures of household deprivation. We look at how different groups have fared, with a focus on low-income households, both before and during the pandemic.

We study earnings and income inequality in Britain over the past two decades, including the period of relatively 'inclusive' growth from 1997 to 2004, and the Great Recession. We focus on the middle 90%, where trends have contrasted strongly with the 'new inequality' at the very top. Household earnings inequality has risen, driven by male earnings-although a 'catch-up' of female earnings did hold down individual earnings inequality and reduce within-household inequality. Nevertheless, net household income inequality fell due to deliberate increases in redistribution, the tax and transfer system's insurance role during the Great Recession, falling household worklessness, and rising pensioner incomes.

This report examines how living standards - most commonly measured by households' incomes - have changed for different groups in the UK, and the consequences that these changes have for income inequality and for measures of deprivation and poverty. In this latest report, we focus in particular on those people who are poorest in society, with two of our three main chapters focusing on poverty.

This report examines changes in the distribution of household incomes in the UK, and the determinants and consequences of recent trends. This includes analysing changes not only in average living standards but also in household income inequality and measures of income poverty and deprivation [...]

This report examines changes in the distribution of household incomes in the UK, and the determinants and consequences of recent trends. This includes analysing not only changes in average living standards, but also inequality in household incomes and measures of income poverty and deprivation. We put these into historical context using comparable data spanning the last 50 years. The analysis is based on data from two main UK household surveys. The first is the Family Resources Survey (FRS), a survey of more than 20,000 households a year, which contains detailed information on different sources of household incomes. We use household income variables derived from the FRS by the UK government's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). These measures of incomes underlie the DWP's annual statistics on the distribution of income, known as "Households Below Average Income" (HBAI). In addition, we use information from Understanding Society. This is a longitudinal survey that follows the same people from one wave to the next, which allows us to examine changes in individual households' incomes and economic circumstances ...

The focus of this report is the distribution of household income in the UK. We assess the changes to average incomes, income inequality and poverty that occurred in the latest year of data (2014-15), and put these in historical context using comparable data spanning the last 50 years. The analysis draws upon the data underlying the latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)'s Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series, published on 28 June 2016. The HBAI series is derived from the Family Resources Survey (FRS), a survey of more than 20,000 households in the UK that asks detailed questions about income from a range of sources. (...)

How have household incomes evolved since the onset of the financial crisis? How has the gap between rich and poor changed? How have living standards changed over time for different parts of the population? How many people are in poverty and which groups are most likely to face poverty? Each year, the government produces statistics about the distribution of income in the UK ('Households Below Average Incomes' or HBAI), which help answer these questions and many more. This report is the fourteenth in an annual series published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that analyses these statistics and digs deeper to explore the driving forces behind key trends in living standards, inequality and poverty. [...]

How have household incomes evolved since the onset of the financial crisis? How has the gap between rich and poor changed? How have living standards changed over time for different parts of the population? How many people are in poverty and which groups are most likely to face poverty? Each year, the government produces statistics about the distribution of income in the UK ('Households Below Average Incomes' or HBAI), which help answer these questions and many more. This report is the thirteenth in an annual series published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that analyses these statistics and digs deeper to explore the driving forces behind key trends in living standards, inequality and poverty. [...]