Pockets of inequality and poverty

Understand this issue

Average household consumption spending before and after housing costs, and mean weekly per-capita income, in different local authorities, 2018–2019

data item

Londoners may have the highest average incomes, but their household spending once you account for housing costs is lower than other regions.

11 April 2025

Rank of local authorities by average household income compared to rank by average consumption after housing costs

data item

On average, London local authorities rank at the top of the income distribution, but are bottom of the net-of-housing consumption distribution.

11 April 2025

Two-child limit mitigation in Scotland would help larger poor families but policy design could harm work incentives

comment

Mitigating the two-child limit policy would be an effective way to reduce child poverty, but designing an effective policy is not straightforward. 

14 March 2025

Policy analysis

Which places have the highest standard of living?

comment

Measuring living standards using average household spending gives a starkly different picture of regional inequalities than using average income.

11 April 2025

How did tax credits transform the UK welfare system?

comment

Over 20 years since they were introduced, tax credits have now been replaced by universal credit. How did they change the UK welfare system?

4 April 2025

Average annual growth in real household disposable income per capita, by parliament

data item

Latest OBR forecasts suggest living standards will rise by just 0.6% per year over the current parliament.

1 April 2025

Academic research

Small area consumption estimates for local authorities in Great Britain

working paper

In this paper, we estimate average equivalised consumption measures across local authority districts in Great Britain.

11 April 2025

Police infrastructure, police performance, and crime: evidence from austerity cuts

working paper

Focusing on a wave of austerity cuts, I show that police station closure increased violent crimes in census blocks near the defunct stations.

27 March 2025

Does the reference period matter when evaluating the effect of SNAP on food insecurity?

journal article

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the cornerstone food assistance program in the United States.

1 December 2024