Families need £36,800 to live acceptably.....

Castiel

Castiel

Castiel

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18770783

A couple with two children now need to earn £36,800 a year to have a "socially acceptable" standard of living, an anti-poverty charity says.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said its annual minimum income study suggests families must earn a third more than in 2008, to live within social norms.
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The report goes on to say that the minimum incomes for a family (as opposed to an acceptable social norm) for a couple with two children is £18,400, for a single person it is £16,400, a pensioner couple £12,000 and strangely when compared to the costs of a couple, a lone parent with a single child it is £23,900, presumably due to childcare costs.

The report claims that both parents need to earn a minimum of 50% above the NMW in order to provide a decent standard of living for their children.

Now I am no stranger to poverty, but it was a long time ago and the figures quoted to me seem to be quite substantial. I live in a privileged position where I personally would find it difficult to live on the £36,800 to be fair, but then I am hardly representative......

So what does the forum think, all you single people and parents who earn around the quoted figures, or those that struggle with more, what is the reality of the situation, are these figures representative of an average family with a mortgage and a couple of kids or are they simply excessive (or even too low)?

EDIT: other links to relevant information which contributed to the BBC article:

http://www.jrf.org.uk/focus-issue/minimum-income-standards

http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/MIS-2012

http://mis.jrf.org.uk/

http://www.minimumincome.org.uk/
 
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It completely depends on where you live so it can't be said you need X amount to live socially acceptably because it varies around the country and from family to family. Some families don't follow social trends of other families so their savings are far greater, for example.
 
Depends again what decent standard of living classes as really?
For todays children to be able to enjoy the same things I did as a child (regular swimming, football/tennis and trips out in the summer to theme parks and such) then with prices as they are now £36,800 probably wouldn't be enough.
 
I earn £13k ish (£10k take home) and I struggle, lots.

when I was with my ex and our kids, with the benefits (working tax, child tax...) it topped it up to about £18k (she didn't contribute at all), and that was easier but still hard.
 
paradisiac said:
I earn £13k ish (£10k take home) and I struggle, lots.

when I was with my ex and our kids, with the benefits (working tax, child tax...) it topped it up to about £18k (she didn't contribute at all), and that was easier but still hard.
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Did you buy the tablet you were looking for?
 
At the minute im on 17.5k a year (2 weeks time onto 21k) and my misses is on 15.5k part time. We have one 1 1/2 year old and we live "ok" but saying that we do run 2 cars and have 2 cats.

When Jamie (my boy) hits 3 my misses will be stright back full time so we can enjoy the income, she should hit 22k+ FT as she was before we had Jamie. with 44k income which both car would be paid for, id say we would be comfy or at least i hope too be.
 
Socially acceptable includes things like a car, going out, holiday etc

Its more an average wish list than a minimum standard of living.

Its heavily biased towards keeping up with the Joneses than whats actually needed.

Includes freeview, a 32" plasma and a DVD player.

A 5 year old car, seriously? Now a days most cars are fine till 10 years or so old.

Mobile phone a nescessity. I despair.
 
This cannot really be measured, peoples situations are so wildly different. Another forum member here broke down 2 individuals, one of whom was thirfty, the other of whom spent and spent. He projected their long term financial position at the same income levels and the difference was startling. Financial position snowballs over time in each direction.

OldCoals said:
How do you struggle on £30,000!?
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You realise how little that comes to via PAYE right? :confused:
 
Sounds a bit high to me.

I earn around £22k, with child benefit (~£120 month) and Tax Credits (~£400 month) on top we probably have about £29k or so total income a year.

And we do fine. Saying that though we don't have a car, and we don't go abroad on holidays and the lark.

But we have multiple PC's, laptops, Mobile phones, HD telly, BR player, virgin media tv, cable internet, several consoles, fancy cameras, kids have everything they need clothes, food, shoes, books, games, toys etc. etc.

So it's not like we're living hand to mouth.
 
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Castiel said:
So what does the forum think, all you single people and parents who earn around the quoted figures, or those that struggle with more, what is the reality of the situation, are these figures representative of an average family with a mortgage and a couple of kids or are they simply excessive (or even too low)?
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There's a massive difference depending on where you live in the UK.

If you live in Wirral for example those figures would ensure a high quality of life. If you live in Harpenden then you can forget eating anything but rice.

The figures though are for what's socially acceptable. I don't really know how they're defining that.
 
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