OREANDA-NEWS. The latest low incomes statistics based on the Households below average income report (HBAI), are published today (25 June 2015), covering April 2013 to March 2014. They show the percentage of individuals and children in relative low income is at its lowest level since the 1980s.

In 2013/14 the average (median) real terms household income before housing costs (BHC) remained unchanged from 2012/13 at £453 a week. Average household income after housing costs (AHC) was also unchanged from 2012/13 at £386.

Relative low income is based on those living below 60% of median income. Absolute low income is assessed against median income in 2010/11, adjusted for Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation.

The latest figures show that the proportion of people in both relative and absolute low income remained flat for children, working age adults and disabled people. For pensioners, the proportion in relative and absolute low income both increased, but it was not statistically significant.

Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith said:

These statistics show that the proportion of individuals with low income is now at the lowest level since the mid-1980s.

We know that work is the best route out of poverty, with children in workless families around 3 times as likely to be in poverty than those in working families. That is why, as part of our long-term economic plan, our reforms to the welfare system are focused on making work pay, while our reforms to the tax system are allowing people to keep more of what they earn.

Latest figures show UK employment has reached an all-time high, with employment up more than 2 million since 2010, and the number of households where no one works is the lowest since records began.