Britons need £13,400 for UK living

A single person living in Britain needs to earn at least £13,400 a year before tax to afford a basic but acceptable standard of living, a report has said.According to a panel questioned for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation the "minimum income" is enough to cover needs like food and warmth, as well as the occasional film ticket and simple meal out.The panelists, from a range of households and on varying incomes, were helped by experts to make sure the budget provided an adequate diet and enough warmth to remain healthy.The study found that a single person without children needed to spend £158 a week, while a couple with two children needed £370 a week.The figures did not include rent or mortgage.To afford this budget on top of rent on a modest council home, a single person would need to earn £13,400 a year before tax and the couple with two children £26,800.The report said families without a working adult received about two thirds of the minimum budget in state benefits.Single people without work received less than half of the minimum budget in benefits.The basic state pension gives a retired couple about three quarters of the minimum income, but claiming the means-tested Pension Credit could top their income up to just above the minimum standard, the report said.Julia Unwin, director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: "This research is designed to encourage debate and to start building a public consensus about what level of income no one should have to live below."Of course, everyone has their own views about what items in a family budget are essential. But this is the best effort to date to enable ordinary people to discuss and agree what all households should be able to afford."Naturally people's circumstances and preferences vary, and this research does not dictate how people should spend their money. But it does start to pin down how much people think is needed to be able to afford basic opportunities and choices that allow proper participation in society."

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ITN | July 2, 2008

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