Cost of Living: Disposable Income
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the cost of living on future levels of disposable household income.
Answered by James Murray
The Government’s Plan for Change outlines our goals to raise living standards across the UK and ensure that working people have more money in their pockets.
Specific actions already taken by the Government include increasing to the National Living Wage from April 2025; extending the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments in England and Wales in 2025-26; and introduction of a new Fair Repayment Rate from April 2025 to cap debt repayments made through Universal Credit.
In the OBR’s October 2024 forecast, living standards, as measured by Real Household Disposable Income per capita, were forecast to rise by an annual average of 0.5% over the course of this parliament (Q2 2024 – Q2 2029).
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