Discussion about poverty in Britain quickly gets snagged on the question of whether you can be poor if you have a plasma TV.
But if, instead of thinking about the breadline, we consider what level of income is needed for an acceptable standard of living, the debate changes.
It gives us a sense of what is decent in a rich country like ours, what we regard as a socially acceptable minimum.
It is not just about having bread – it’s about having butter and, occasionally, a dollop of jam too.
The concept of a minimum income standard (MIS) was introduced by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) four years ago – I wrote about it here.
Since then, of course, austerity has barged its way into our lives. So JRF decided to repeat the exercise of 2008 and see what’s changed.
And the surprise is that so little has.
More than 20 panels of ordinary citizens were asked to put together a list of items they considered essential for an acceptable standard of living and the choices were very close to what their predecessors had selected four years earlier.
Family car
There were a few nods to belt-tightening: the budget for eating out and takeaways has been cut to £90 a year for a family of four; the current amount set aside for Christmas and birthday presents has been reduced; instead of swimming with a toddler once a week the panels made it once a month.
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you got to laugh try living off benefits ,specialy when you get 32.20p wkly laugh jeff3
Eating out, what’s that then?
I haven’t eaten out or had takeaways for at least the last 7 years, there’s just no money to afford it so I don’t even think about it as something I’d consider minimum.
If you ask me the minimum should be enough money to be able to afford to buy enough food so you can actually get your 5 a day that they recommend, of course bulk buying and bulk cooking are to be included in that or else nobody could afford it!
What’s going out? I have vague recollections….In our circle of friends very few can afford to have people round for a meal and foot the whole bill so everyone contributes something- and even so it’s a rare occasion.
I look at people more and more and know I can’t afford one hundreth of the things that they can and have become deeply philosophical about material goods. Having said that I am getting more and more worried about money as have had my contrib-based ESA cut as have had it for a year. Worry dreadfully for our family because it has made a big big dent in our meagre budget. If we have to sell my 10 year old car I won’t be able to get around at all…..