Cash crisis | 1 in 8 staff 'not paid enough' to cover food & bills, report finds

Shocking new data suggests that one in eight UK employees is not earning enough money to support themselves without having to go into debt to pay for basic household essentials including food and bills.

As the cost-of-living crisis continues to escalate, new research from CIPD, the industry body that supports careers in HR and L&D, has uncovered the fragile state of working Britain’s finances. While one in eight (12%) workers is not earning enough to get by, a further one in ten (10%) do not think their job protects them from falling into poverty.

One in four (28%) have money problems which affect their job performance, rising to 34% of those earning less than £20,000. 19% say they’ve lost sleep due to worrying about money.

Statistica reports that, at the start of 2022, employees in the UK were earning a median pay of £2,050 per month (it is difficult to get a completely accurate figure on this, as different organisations such as HMRC and the ONS use different sampling methods.) The ONS estimates that the average household budget is £2,548 per month, based on an average of 2.4 people sharing. This already indicates the precarious nature of the average British household, the majority of which require a dual income in order for finances to be manageable.