According to Asda’s income tracker, most UK households were notably worse off in May than last year, as rising living costs continue to outstrip wage growth.
The decrease in disposable income has been particularly stark for low-earning families, with 40 percent of UK households falling into negative income territory in May, meaning their take-home pay does not cover spending on bills and essentials. The average shortfall for these households was £42.50 per week in May.
In contrast, high-income households enjoyed a 2.1 percent rise in disposable income in May year-on-year to an average of £754 per week. This is the second successive month of disposable income growth for these households, driven by solid increases in their gross income.
The tracker showed that disposable family income rose by £1.85 per week in May to an average of £207 per week, a 0.9 percent increase compared to last year.
However, despite this increase, family finances remain weak, as May’s figure of £207 per week was the second lowest since October 2022. The strain on family disposable incomes results from elevated and persistent inflation in essential categories such as food and housing.
Asda has said it continues to support families during the cost-of-living crisis by keeping prices in check and launching new propositions to provide customers with more value each time they shop.
The supermarket recently announced it had locked the price of over 500 popular branded and own-label lines to give families more control and certainty over their shopping budgets.
And Asda’s hugely popular ‘Kids Eat for £1’ café meal deals will continue until the end of the summer holidays. The supermarket launched the offer for kids under 16 to enjoy a hot meal in any of its 205 cafes in June 2022 and has now served 1,600,000 million meals to kids from its cafes nationwide.
