Living with insecurity: How insecure work drives poverty and financial hardship.

Living with insecurity: How insecure work drives poverty and financial hardship

Britain is trapped in a relentless living standards crisis. This isn't confined to those out of work. We've found that millions of people are trapped in insecure work which undermines their financial resilience and drives them into hardship.

• 1-in-6 workers are in highly insecure work, equivalent to 5.6 million people

• Key groups are more likely to be in insecure work - particularly young workers, disabled people, renters, carers, and benefit recipients

• 50% of low paid insecure workers have low financial resilience - meaning they cannot consistently meet essential costs or cover an unexpected expense

• More than half (55%) of insecure workers have experienced financial hardship in the last 12 months - e.g. borrowing from family and friends to cover bills, selling possessions to make ends meet, or using a foodbank.

We’re calling on the government to ensure that tackling both low pay and work insecurity together is at the heart of its living standards strategy. This means:

• In the short term - targeted cost of living support for the hardest hit, focusing on energy and rent in particular

• In the medium term - finish the job on the employment rights act and close the bogus self-employment loophole

• In the longer term - raise the floor on low pay, including by expanding the use of Fair Pay Agreements