Tenth JRF report finds 29.1% of UK individuals below MIS in 2020-21

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) published its tenth report monitoring households below the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) on 22 February 2023, covering the period from 2008-09 to 2020-21¹. It found that 29.1% of all individuals in the UK were living in households with incomes below MIS in 2020-21, compared with 26.7% in 2008-09, and that 19.2 million people were below MIS, against 16.2 million in 2008-09¹. The MIS research is funded and supported by JRF and carried out by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University¹.

The report says the proportion below MIS rose from 27.7% in 2019-20 to 29.1% in 2020-21, below the peak of 32.5% in 2013-14 but a return to the level seen between 2016-17 and 2018-19¹. The number below MIS was just over 1 million higher than in 2019-20¹. By group, 40.0% of children, 29.2% of working-age adults and 15.4% of pensioners were below the benchmark in 2020-21¹.

Source: JRF, Households below the Minimum Income Standard: 2008-2021¹

The report says 5.7 million children, 2 out of every 5 in the UK, were in households below MIS in 2020-21, an increase of around 200,000 in the latest year¹. For working-age adults, the proportion rose from 26.6% in 2019-20 to 29.2% in 2020-21, an increase of 1.1 million people to 11.7 million¹. The proportion of pensioners below MIS fell from 17.4% in 2019-20 to 15.4% in 2020-21, continuing a downward trend from a peak in 2017-18, though the number has risen by around 400,000 since 2008-09 to 1.8 million¹.

The report also measures those below 75% of MIS, described as facing a greatly increased likelihood of deprivation¹. The proportion of individuals below that level fell slightly from 17.1% in 2019-20 to 16.4% in 2020-21, while the proportion of working-age adults below it rose from 17.1% to 17.6%, or 7.1 million people¹. The proportion of children below 75% of MIS fell from 25.6% in 2019-20 to 21.3% in 2020-21, which the report links in large part to the temporary increase in government support through the social security system for low-income households¹.

JRF notes that face-to-face interviewing was suspended and replaced with telephone interviewing from April 2020 for the 2020 to 2021 survey year, which affected the size and composition of the achieved sample¹. It says the data does not allow detailed analysis of how Covid-19 affected particular groups, and that the Department for Work and Pensions says extra care is needed with the children figures because of sample composition issues, especially early in the survey year¹.

Why it matters for households

MIS is a benchmark based on what the public considers needed to live with dignity, so the figures describe how many people fall short of that income level rather than a statutory poverty line; how such measures are constructed is set out in our guide to how poverty and low income are measured in the UK. The 2020-21 data covers the first year of the pandemic, when the job retention scheme and a temporary £20 a week uplift in Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit were in place¹. The report says the removal of that uplift, combined with high inflation and soaring energy costs, means the proportion of individuals below MIS and below 75% of MIS is likely to rise after the period covered¹. The figures are for 2020-21 and do not reflect household incomes in later years; the report notes that the minimum domestic energy budget for a couple with two children rose by 154% between 2021 and 2022¹.

What happens next

The report covers 2008-09 to 2020-21, the most recent year for which household income data was available at publication¹. No date for a further update is given in the report¹.