Overview
- About 14.2 million people, or 21% of the UK population, were in poverty in the 12 months to March 2024, according to the JRF’s UK Poverty 2026 report.
- An estimated 6.8 million people were in very deep poverty, and the average shortfall for those in poverty widened to 29% below the poverty line compared with 23% in the mid‑1990s.
- Child poverty rose for a third year to 4.5 million, with the April removal of the two‑child benefit cap expected to lift around 400,000 children immediately.
- The government says its wider strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2029/30, but JRF analysis using OBR projections suggests headline rates will hover near 21% through the parliament without further policy change.
- Work is not guaranteeing protection from hardship, food insecurity is growing, and campaigners are urging measures such as an essentials guarantee, rent reforms and stronger labour protections as ministers point to wage, energy bill and crisis fund support.