Households below the Minimum Income Standard: 2008-2021

A minimum standard of living is more than just food, clothes and shelter: it’s about having the opportunities and choices to participate in society. This is the tenth report in a series monitoring the number of people living beneath the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) in the UK.

The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) sets out what people think is needed in order to live with dignity in the UK today. This report provides an estimate of the proportion of people who fall below this level, and those with incomes below 75% of MIS. Individuals below 75% of MIS face a greatly increased likelihood of deprivation compared with those whose incomes are above the MIS benchmark.

This report looks at the period between 2008-09 and 2020-21, the most recent year for which household income data is available. The latest data covers the first Covid-19 year. This has consequences for the quality of the data and the analyses that are viable. In 2020-21 there has been an increase in the proportion of individuals in households below MIS compared to 2019-20. The number and proportion of all individuals below MIS remains above the level reported in 2008-09.