2024 MIS report published with first full rebase of all household budgets in the same year

The 2024 Minimum Income Standard (MIS) report, published on 2 September 2024 by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, sets out what the public agree households need for a minimum socially acceptable standard of living¹. It draws on more than 130 hours of discussion with members of the public across the UK between May 2023 and March 2024, with all items priced in April 2024¹.

The report rebased, meaning it developed from scratch, budgets for all household types in the same year, which it says is the first time this has happened since MIS began in 2008¹. Previously, the research alternated between households with and without children, with inflation uprating in between years¹. The updating cycle has now changed: comprehensive new research across all household types will appear every two years, alternating between review and rebase, with inflation uprating in odd-numbered years¹.

The headline figures are that a single person needs to earn £28,000 a year to reach a minimum acceptable standard of living in 2024, and a couple with two children need £69,400 a year between them¹. A couple with two children where one parent works full time on the National Living Wage and the other does not work reached 66% of MIS in 2024, down from 74% in 2023¹.

The report notes that April 2024 saw an inflation-based increase in benefits of 6.7%, while Council Tax, water and broadband prices all rose in April¹. The final cost of living payments were made in February 2024, with no announcements of further support being planned¹. Working-age households with and without children identified a need for additional financial resources to meet health needs, reflecting difficulty accessing help via the NHS; groups added an additional healthcare budget of £200 a year per parent or working-age adult to pay for health-related services such as physiotherapy or counselling while waiting for NHS treatment¹.

The report also records changes to what budgets include. In 2024, groups for the first time discussed whether to include a more expensive but energy-efficient heat-pump dryer or a cheaper condenser dryer with higher running costs¹. The smart TV replaced the digital TV with built-in Freeview in 2020, having itself replaced a DVD player in the same year¹. Statutory changes in 2021 called for schools to reduce unnecessary branded uniform items¹. Transport assumptions include rail fare changes of 8.7% in Scotland from 1 April 2024, a further 4.9% in England and Wales in March 2024, and 5.7% in Great Britain in March 2023¹. For urban areas outside London, car ownership has been assumed necessary since 2012, as groups agree public transport is not sufficiently flexible, affordable or reliable¹.

Why it matters for households

MIS is a benchmark, not a benefit or a wage floor, so it does not change anyone's payments. What it does is set out, from public discussion, the income the report says households need to reach a minimum acceptable standard, and then compare that with what people actually receive. The 2024 figures put that benchmark at £28,000 a year for a single person and £69,400 for a couple with two children¹.

The comparison with earnings is where the practical picture sits. A couple with two children with one full-time National Living Wage earner and one non-earning parent reached 66% of MIS in 2024, against 74% in 2023¹. The report links the fall to the withdrawal of cost of living payments, the last of which were made in February 2024, alongside April rises in Council Tax, water and broadband¹. Benefit rates rose 6.7% in April 2024 on an inflation basis¹.

The health element is new for working-age households. Groups added £200 a year per parent or working-age adult to cover services such as physiotherapy or counselling while waiting for NHS treatment¹. The report also notes that the expanded versions of the free hours childcare subsidy scheme are scheduled to start in September 2024 and September 2025¹.

What happens next

Under the revised schedule, budgets will be uprated by inflation in 2025, then subject to a review in 2026, uprating again in 2027 and a further rebase in 2028¹. The report says future updates will help assess whether the new government's objective to improve living standards has enabled more people to meet their needs¹.