The amount of money Northern Ireland’s lowest income families have left after they’ve paid their bills continues to plummet, latest figures show.
The Consumer Council’s Northern Ireland Household Expenditure Tracker shows the lowest earning households have seen their ‘discretionary income’ fall by 46.7% in the last year - from £37.11 to just £19.78 a week.
The Council’s figures show that in Q3 2022 (July, August and September), Northern Ireland’s lowest earning households:
*Saw their weekly income after tax rise by only £1.66 (0.7%);
*Experienced weekly spending on basic goods increase by £4.14 (2%);
*Spent 54% of their total basic spending on rent, energy, food and transport;
*Saw their discretionary income fall for the 6th consecutive quarter leaving these households with less than £20 per week to live on (£19.78).
The Concil defines the ‘lowest earning households’ as the bottom 25 per cent of the region’s income distribution. What they call discretionary income is defined as gross household income minus taxes and spending ‘on basics’ which are food, housing, clothes, health, transport and education. The bottom quarter, they say, would contain 192,202 households.
Reacting to the latest figures, Noyona Chundur, Chief Executive of the Consumer Council, said: “The Consumer Council first published its Household Expenditure Tracker last year, and with each publication, we have seen a decline in discretionary income for Northern Ireland’s lowest earning households. The statistics within the Household Expenditure Tracker quantify what we already know and are seeing on a daily basis: that consumers are significantly struggling at the moment.
“The Household Expenditure Tracker shows that despite an increase of basic spending across all four income quartiles, it was only those in income quartiles 1 and 2 that experienced a further decrease in discretionary income.
“For those who are struggling to pay their bills, the Consumer Council offers a variety of help, support and advice to help consumers understand ways to save money, shop around, and what options are available.”
The Council says that consumers can visit www.consumercouncil.org.uk to view a range of interactive tools including an energy price comparison tool, petrol and diesel price comparison tool and a home heating oil tracker, and resources including its Cost-of-Living Hub.
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