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Vital Signs
Living standards challenges
In October 2022 inflation was over 11%. The good news is that it’s now down to 2%. But prices haven’t stopped rising – it’s just happening more slowly. Which means the North East remains vulnerable, lacking the financial resilience that enables more prosperous areas to ride out hard times. More people here that are ‘just about managing’ could fall into financial difficulty, particularly while mortgage and credit payments remain high. Households on low incomes from work and/or benefits – who have endured huge increases since 2021 in the price of essential items like food (up 31%) and energy (up 66%) – will remain in or at the margins of poverty. That means demands on charities working in benefit and debt advice, mental health, family support and community cohesion will keep rising. And that will be at the same time as those charities themselves are likely to be struggling to meet the increased cost of delivering their work.
- National challenges: structural economic issues with unequal prosperity across the UK; international tensions and environmental challenges with the potential to reignite inflation; rising poverty, falling disposable income and potential for more households to get into financial difficulties.
- North East England challenges: low productivity and pay and high rates of economic inactivity and benefit dependence; high rates of poverty, especially child poverty; higher than average numbers of households in serious debt and at risk of financial difficulties; civil society organisations facing increased demand and rising costs.
