Number of people in ‘very deep poverty’ hits 30 years high

The number of people living in “very deep poverty” in the UK is at the highest level in more than 30 years, according to new research by Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).

Very deep poverty is defined by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as earning below 40% of the median household income. According to its latest report, 6.8 million people – almost half of all of those in poverty – were considered to be at that level.

The data also showed that up to the end of the 2023/24 financial year, more than one in five people in the UK, around 14.2 million, are in poverty. That figure is a slight drop from last year, but the charity says that. if you scratch below the surface, there are signs of change: a definitive deepening of poverty.

The JRF says that for families to feel the change the Government has promised, two key objectives must be met: living standards must rise, and poverty must fall. Progress on both living standards and poverty has remained stubbornly absent for successive Governments.

Come April, that will start to change. Primarily because of the removal of the two-child limit, 400,000 fewer children will be in poverty this April than last. Headline poverty will reduce to 21.2% from 22.3% in April 2025 For the half a million families that will immediately benefit, it might just start to feel like the cost of living is turning a corner, that affording the weekly food shop gets a little bit easier, and that the anxiety over how to pay the bills doesn’t feel quite as severe (Office for Budget Responsibility, 2025a). In starting to restore the link between circumstance and support in the income safety net, the first significant step towards change has been taken.

While a severe recent harm has been removed from the social security system in the form of scrapping the two-child limit, we still need to hear what the Government hopes to achieve on poverty over the rest of the parliament, beyond this, in terms of driving levels further downwards, and what ministers intend to do to bring about that change. So more is needed. This cannot be the only step. If it is, then progress will likely stall after April.

Between April 2026 and 2029, the headline poverty rate will reduce very marginally from 21.2% to 21.0%. This is driven almost entirely by a reduction in the pension-age poverty rate, with pensioners continuing to benefit from the triple lock. Over 4 million children will still be growing up in poverty come April 2029.