I wrote this blog earlier. http://allbigideas.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-fake-family.html In it I used the figure that has been claimed to be the average uk wage. Or so I thought? Since posting, people have catergorically stated to me that 26k is the average HOUSEHOLD income.
Heres a summary of my findings below. The average british family income is 40,000 pounds according to the BBC (based on 2 adults working). The average salary for a UK worker (full time) is 26,244 gross (BEfORE tax) about 20 K after tax.
And the UK government is expecting whole familys to live on the gross earnings of one full time worker (who would be entitled to benefits to top up their income in my calculation above) regardless of their size or household rent or mortgage? Shouldn't the government be looking to the BBC article that clearly demonstrates that even on 40,000 pounds the average family struggles?
-----
my train of thought and sources...
So, I got twitter to help me after I did some digging and found this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15197860
which clearly states
"The average income for a British family with two adults working is
£40,000 a year. But while there are people who feel well-off living on
this, for others it is a daily struggle."
Obviously I got confused and so asked for a source of the 26,000 figure. Which thansk to Queerpup I got. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/23/uk-household-earnings-fall
from the link:
"The median salary for a full-time worker in the UK rose 1.4% in 2011 to £26,244, "
so again, is that net or gross?
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/ashe/annual-survey-of-hours-and-earnings/ashe-results-2011/ashe-statistical-bulletin-2011.html
"Median gross annual earnings for full-time employees (including those
whose pay was affected by absence) were £26,200, an increase of 1.4 per
cent from 2010 "
so its gross...
Also I think the number of households affected by the cap is 56,000 ie households in areas with high rent or lots of children or both. In my area for a couple living in a 1 bed flat the amount they wd get on benefits is approx £10,500 per year that is if they are over 35 - if they are younger than 35 they are only entitled to the shared room rate so would probably be on less than than and under 25 theyd be on even less again. Im not sure how many people are on benefits including housing benefit or working tax credits etc, but would imagine that 56,000 would be an extremely small percentage - therefore this £26,000 is a ludicrous figure to be bandying as at all representative of the norm.
ReplyDelete