Official Statistics

Below Average Resources: developing a new poverty measure

This is a release of official statistics in development and a statistical consultation on developing new statistics based on the Social Metrics Commission approach to poverty measurement. The consultation ran from 18 January to 11 April 2024, and has now closed.

Documents

Section 6 tables: Depth of Poverty

Details

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) sought user feedback on the new poverty measure through an analytical consultation running from 18 January to 11 April 2024. The consultation has now closed.

The publication of the consultation response has been postponed in line with General Election Guidance

This is a release of official statistics in development and a statistical consultation on developing new additional poverty statistics based on the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) approach to poverty measurement.

The SMC approach provides a more expansive view of available resources (both savings and inescapable costs) than the income measurement adopted under the existing Households Below Average Income (HBAI) publication, and also proposes some methodological changes.

Updates to this page

Published 18 January 2024
Last updated 11 June 2024 + show all updates
  1. "We will publish a response to the feedback we received from users by 4 July 2024." has been changed to "The publication of the consultation response has been postponed in line with General Election Guidance" in Sections 1 and 9

  2. Added information that the consultation has now closed. We will publish a response to the feedback we received from users by 4 July 2024.

  3. First published.

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