Gap Between Rich And Poor Has Widened

The gap between rich and poor in Britain has become wider, with 10% of the population now owning almost half of the nation's household wealth.

Those same one in ten households own assets worth over £1m - that's almost 1.4 million homes.

The figures from 2010-12 have been released by the Office of National Statistics and show that the total household worth of Britain is £9.3trn.

Other figures show that one in 15 people own a personalised number-plate, an indicator that some people do have money to spend.

Clifton in Bristol is one of the top five most expensive regional suburbs in the country.

Sky News has spoken to a local estate agent who says he is not surprised that 10% of Britons now own a second home.

James Howat from Morgan Beddoe said: "There's a lot of people who've seen the values of their own homes rise significantly over the last 10 to 15 years.

"Many want somewhere to put their equity as an investment, and property seems like a good bet at the moment."

But on the other end of the spectrum, it's also been revealed that almost a quarter of homes - 24% - don't have a private pension.

And one in four people have outstanding debt on their credit cards.

"Income inequality does appear to be rising, according to this data. So the top 20% versus the bottom 20," said financial analyst Louise Cooper.

"In 2008-10 the top 20% had 92 times the wealth of the bottom 20%. Now that has risen to over 100 times."