Workers living in poverty at 'record high amid housing crisis'

The number of workers living in poverty has hit a record high, according to a report pointing to a triple whammy of financial barriers to greater prosperity.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said 3.8 million workers, or one in eight, are now in poverty despite the recovery in the UK economy since the financial crisis and record employment levels.

The study concluded that 7.4 million people, including 2.6 million children, were living in poverty despite being in working households.

It pointed to pressure from a housing "crisis", weak wage rises and benefit cuts.

The report said the housing costs aspect was particularly evident, especially among those in the private rented sector where the number of households living in poverty had doubled to 4.5 million in a decade.

More than half of people in poverty in England were living in London and southern England where rental bills are highest, it said.

The report was released against a backdrop of pressure on the Government over the need to support families who are just about managing - so-called JAMs.

Theresa May pledged action to ensure an economy that works for all when she became PM but the recent Autumn Statement was criticised by Labour as not straying far enough from ex-chancellor George Osborne's focus on austerity in the short term.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said after the mini-Budget that the UK was on course for its worst period of wage growth since World War Two - compounding the pressure on JAMs.

Helen Barnard, head of analysis at the JRF, said: "The UK economy is not working for low-income families.

"The economy has been growing since 2010 but during this time high rents, low wages and cuts to working-age benefits mean that many families, including working households, have actually seen their risk of poverty grow."

She added: "Families who are just about managing urgently need action to drive up real-term wages, provide more genuinely affordable homes and fill the gap caused by cuts to Universal Credit, which will cost a working family of four almost £1,000 per year."

A Government spokesman said: "Since 2010, the number of people living in poverty has fallen by 300,000 but we know there's more to do.

"We're increasing the National Living Wage and taking millions of people out of income tax, to make sure it always pays to be in work."