£27K income needed for UK life's 'basics'

Hi all,

Further to our frequent discussions and various economic indicator's threads here's the latest.

An average UK family, 2 adults and two kids, require an income of £26,900 just to cover lifes 'basics' - the article covers the main areas of what those basics are.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-families-need-26-900-for-life-s-basics-skynews-02fb589f86a9.html

A little while ago, I think the 'average' UK Household income was £30K, seems this £27K figure is the minimum amount.

Very difficult to apply to each and every person as of course, there's plenty who earn near to that figure, a little over or plenty more. However as a base indicator, compared to the rising costs of living and crucially, to potential borrowing, it just shows how close 'basic' living standards are to average salaries (£23K) - so if one parent for instance isn't working, and one partner is say on average salary of £23K, it's easy to see why the UK's consumer levels of debt on Credit Cards was more than that of consumers in Europe combined!

Other factors do come in as well, such as family help and perhaps special schemes or potential of discounts by knowing people for instance. Those are isolated to those who may have such contacts, but assuming those things aren't the case, the above article puts things into perspective.

For UKY readers and researchers looking for a potential move here, I put this up for informational purposes to help with evaluation. This topic does and can divide opinion greatly, and as such I'm not looking to cause a negative reaction or provoking anything of that sort.

I'm also trying to find something similar to compare the other G8 and G20 countries - no luck so far. I'd like to then compare the UK's rankings with those nations too.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

How interesting! Thank you for posting this.

I like that they factor in a week of vacation for a family of 4 as one of "life's basics".  They also included a computer and internet access.  I wonder what else was included (but not mentioned in the article).

I understand how cost of living is evaluated but just like in the US, I think it's highly circumstantual so that amount could vary vastly depending on where you live (i.e. housing prices in London compared to housing prices in rural Scotland).

I like that they factor in a week of vacation for a family of 4 as one of "life's basics".  They also included a computer and internet access.  I wonder what else was included (but not mentioned in the article).

From the article:

"Big rises in the prices of things like food and council tax means that they are nearly £20 a week short of what they need, and must think of what essentials they will go without"

My bold and italics.

I think the reason there is so much consumer debt is that people need to look up the word "essential" in the dictionary.

The people who are going without essentials are starving and living in the street.

If you look at the breakdown, it's actually kind of ridiculous what they include as "essential".  Apparently I NEED to spend £8/wk on alcohol and £25/wk on "social and cultural activities".  Also, £40/wk on food!  Sure it's easy to spend that amount, but I wouldn't by any means call that expediture essential or even necessary...we could easily do without those things if need be.

If you plug in our rent to the basics calculator, the minimum salary goes up to £30k...London rents, heh.

That estimate seems pretty low to me. I mean, we live in the country, so cheaper rent, but DH earns about that amount on his own, we have one kid with us part-time, and we still couldn't afford to live on that. 

Huh...did anyone else notice that they republished the exact same article today claiming that families now need £29,200???

We have friends who make twice as much money as us and have no kids...yet they are always complaining that they are broke.  They don't understand how DH and I can afford the "luxuries" we have.  Well there are a lot of "essentials" that we don't have and they do..."essentials" that require hefty monthly payments...like 2 brand new cars.  You decided to put your holiday money into a car payment for the next 5 years...so don't complain about the fact that we go on holiday 3 times a year and you can't afford to.  It's all about the choices you make.   

I don't think the estimate is low (for where we live anyway).  We make a little more than that amount and we live quite comfortably...but we adhere to a strict budget that includes putting money into savings each month to use specifically for our "extras".  We also only have 1 debt between us both and that is completely paid off in August.

You pays your money and takes your choice.  I like going on holidays, but we don't own a car and when we finally do it certainly won't be own I can't own outright.

Also, we really don't drink or smoke or have expensive habits. 

We may have a few expensiv-ish habits, but we certainly don't think that they are essential or that we are entitled to them.

From a political standpoint, it bothers me that  everyone is expected to have a middle class lifestyle (or even better), as if working class and poor people don't exist.

From a political standpoint, it bothers me that  everyone is expected to have a middle class lifestyle (or even better), as if working class and poor people don't exist.

THIS!

That estimate seems pretty low to me. I mean, we live in the country, so cheaper rent, but DH earns about that amount on his own, we have one kid with us part-time, and we still couldn't afford to live on that. 

We do have a car, and don't exactly need one, other than for picking up my stepson. We pay £200/month maintenance money for him, so that's an extra expense, obviously. And I do like cooking and baking, so we certainly spend more money on food that we would really need to otherwise. But other than that, throw in an ILR visa and your annual budget is kinda screwed. 

What amount did they say for groceries? I swear, I can't seem to spend less than £80 per week on food and household stuff. I'd really like to cut back on that without compromising too much and eating cheap, nasty processed food all week. 

I wonder what the value would be, for a family living in London. Certainly much higher, I'd wager.

What amount did they say for groceries? I swear, I can't seem to spend less than £80 per week on food and household stuff. I'd really like to cut back on that without compromising too much and eating cheap, nasty processed food all week. 

Try http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk for some really awesome very low budget recipe ideas - all homemade and no processed junk, yay!

ucbmc - you can adjust the calculator for your specific level of rent/mortgage.  I live in London so I did this, as the assumptions are lower than London rent levels.

Aless--where did you find the information on the breakdown, and the calculator? 

I understand what a couple of you have said about certain things not being truly "essential," and I agree that people could survive on very little, however the question is should they have to?  I think that this amount represents a standard of living that should be the minimum available to everyone.  No one should have to struggle to support a family on less than £27,000 a year, unless perhaps their own irresponsibility and bad decision-making is responsible for their low income.  DH and I make slightly more than this, and what with rent, council tax, bills, and saving for ILR, we don't have much breathing room.  I doubt very much that we could afford a child.  We do have a car, but DH's father technically owns it, and we need it for DH's commute.  We don't really take holidays, we don't drink or smoke, and we don't go out much.  I suppose we do spend rather a lot on food, but I am like Jewlz in that I really don't want to have to resort to eating nasty processed stuff all the time.  But I firmly believe that everyone should have access to affordable housing and good quality healthy food, and no one should have to choose between those things and things like clothing, holidays, etc.  If you work hard and don't live extravagantly, you should be able to afford those things.  The fact that many people in that situation can't is a testament to the fact that cost of living is too high and salaries are too low.  That's the big problem here.