The Institute for Government defines the “‘cost of living crisis’ as the fall in ‘real’ disposable incomes (adjusted for inflation and after taxes and benefits) that the UK has experienced since late 2021.” [1]
The cost of living has become an issue of major political concern in the UK in 2022. The subsequent war in Ukraine and consequential energy challenges, followed by rising inflation and interest rates, have added to the mounting concern and resulted in large scale government interventions.
Headline UK numbers: cost of living in 2022
- Inflation: rate measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is at 10.1% as of September 2022
- Energy prices: Electricity prices rose by 54.0% and gas prices by 95.7% in the 12 months to September 2022
- Real earnings: have fallen by 2.5%
- Food prices: Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose by 14.5% in the 12 months to September 2022. 16% of London adults are reported to have low or very low food security, equivalent to 1.2 million adults in the capital [2]
- Rent: median monthly rent in London stood at £1,450 in the 12 months to March 2022.
- House prices: average house price in London reached a record level of £553,000 in August 2022
- Household shop: 12% of Londoners said they have had to regularly or occasionally go without food or essential items in the last six months [3]
Tomorrow, at an all-Assembly meeting, Members will scrutinise the cost-of-living situation in London, alongside the national and Mayoral policies and actions underway to address it.
The guests are:
- Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, Deputy Mayor, Communities and Social Justice
- Torsten Bell, Resolution Foundation
- Klara Skrivankova, Trust for London
- Tom Rahilly, Assistant Director for Communities and Social Policy, Greater London Authority
The meeting will take place on Thursday, 3 November 2022 from 10:00am in the Chamber at City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, E16 1ZE.
Media and members of the public are invited to attend.
The meeting can also be viewed LIVE or later via webcast or YouTube
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Notes to editors
- Cost of living crisis | The Institute for Government
- Survey of Londoners - https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/survey-of-londoners-2021-22
- https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/gla-poll-results-cost-of-living-2022 - September
- Full agenda papers
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor
For more details, please contact Alison Bell in the Assembly Media Office on 07887 832 918. For out of hours media enquiries please call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the Assembly duty press officer.