Hundreds of thousands of parents in the UK have an annual income at least £20,000 below what is needed for a decent standard of living. According to a new Minimum Income Standard report published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in partnership with Loughborough University, the gap between household finances and the cost of living continues to widen due to high housing costs and limited social security support.
For a single parent with two children working full-time on the national minimum wage, current income covers only 67% of the minimum budget, creating a shortfall of more than £22,000. Approximately 340,000 single parents in the country have an income at or below this level. Meanwhile, a couple with two children, where both parents work full-time at the same rate, reaches 80% of the required threshold with a deficit of about £15,000.
The impact of rent on income levels
The situation for those on unemployment benefits is even more difficult: it provides less than a quarter (24%) of the income required for households without children, 28% for couples with children, and 36% for single parents. JRF has revised its calculations, noting that for the first time in 18 years of research, focus group participants deemed it impossible to rely on access to social housing due to chronic shortages and waiting lists.
This has driven up minimum income requirements due to high private sector rents. A single parent with two children in private rented accommodation needs £67,000 to meet the standard, while those in social housing need £59,800—a difference of £8,000. For a single pensioner whose only income is the state pension (£12,547 per year), the requirement is £21,300 in private rentals and £15,900 in social housing.
Darren Baxter, principal policy adviser for housing at JRF, said: “We no longer live in a world where private renting is a stop-gap for young professionals. These are homes where families raise children from babies to teenagers, and where people grow old.” He added that families cannot wait decades for new construction to impact the rental market. JRF is calling for rent controls, though the UK government has made it clear it does not plan to implement such a policy.
According to Zoopla, the average rent for new contracts rose by 2.6% in the year to July 2026. Researchers predict this figure will reach 4-5% by the end of the year as the slowdown in rental growth begins to ease.
Source: The Independent UK
