Britain’s poorest households are suffering most from double-digit inflation as the surge in food and energy bills drives a divide with the wealthy.
(Bloomberg) — Britain’s poorest households are suffering most from double-digit inflation as the surge in food and energy bills drives a divide with the wealthy.
Consumer prices jumped 12.1% for the poorest tenth of households in the 12 months to December but climbed 9.2% for the richest tenth, according to the Office for National Statistics. Those compare with an overall inflation rate of 10.5% in December.
Poverty campaigners have warned that poorer households are more exposed to rocketing prices as they spend a bigger proportion of their incomes on energy and food bills, which are rising much faster than wider prices.
“With energy and food prices remaining stubbornly high, poorer households continue to face far higher living costs than richer families, said James Smith, research director at the Resolution Foundation.
Food and energy account for 46% of low-income household spending compared with 38% for their high-income counterparts, the ONS said.
In the year through January, food prices surged 16.8%, electricity rose 67% and the cost of gas more than doubled, the ONS said Wednesday. Overall inflation slowed modestly to 10.1%.
Inflation never reached double digits for the richest tenth of Britons while price rises peaked at 12.5% in October for the poorest.
There was also a divide between home owners and subsidized renters whose housing is partly paid for by the state. Subsidized renters suffered an inflation rate of 11.5% compared with 10.9% for owner occupiers and 8.9% for private renters.
–With assistance from Andrew Atkinson.
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