POVERTY in the UK is down by three per cent since 1996, but the number in “very deep poverty” has risen by 14 per cent, new research from Christians Against Poverty (CAP) suggests.
The charity’s report Stronger Together, published on Wednesday to mark its 30th anniversary, draws on data from existing and new clients. “Survey respondents” or “clients”, as referred to throughout the report, represent the 511 responses to a survey of CAP debt-help clients conducted last November.
The report also refers to data from CAP’s debt-help case-management system, which covers 4165 UK-wide client households who had a “Financial Statement” activated for the first time in 2025. Of those, 2218 households had a “budget confirmed during the year”. These groups are referred to as “new CAP clients” or “new CAP households”.
In 1994-95, the proportion of people in the UK who experienced “very deep poverty” was about 34 per cent, compared with 48 per cent in 2023-24. The report says that “around 6.8 million people in the UK (that’s nearly half of everyone in poverty) now live in very deep poverty.”
There was less of a drop in the proportion of people experiencing “deep poverty”, which fell from 28 per cent in 1994-95 to 22 per cent in 2023-24. The proportion of people in “poverty” fell from 38 per cent in 1994-95 to 30 per cent in 2023-24.
The report suggests that an estimated 53 per cent of “new CAP households” with a “confirmed budget” have incomes below the poverty line (defined as 60 per cent of the median UK income). Forty-one per cent are in “deep poverty” (50 per cent of the median), and more than one in four have incomes below 40 per cent of the median UK income (very deep poverty).
The charity says that 20 per cent of “new CAP clients” have fallen into debt owing to issues with mental health, “low income” (17 per cent), “relationship breakdown” (ten per cent), “long-term illness” (nine per cent), “problems with budgeting” (eight per cent), and “unemployment” (seven per cent).
The chief executive of CAP, Stewart McCulloch, said: “Debt is now far more challenging to repay. . . Over the last 30 years, churches across the UK, backed by CAP’s expertise, have faithfully walked alongside the most vulnerable, demonstrating God’s love in action, transforming thousands of lives.”
The report suggests that, today, poverty has affected a broader section of society than it did 30 years ago. In 1994-95, 13.4 per cent of working families were in poverty. In 2023-24, the figure stood at 18 per cent.
Between 1994 and 1997, 23 per cent of people were living below the poverty line, compared with 29 per cent between 2021 and 2024.
“Living in spiralling debt is dangerous. It often results in families unable to afford healthy food, living in cold, damp unsafe properties and facing isolation, anxiety, and depression,” Mr McCulloch said.
CAP says that, over the past year, 47 per cent of respondents said that they went without food, 46 per cent went without hot meals, 52 per cent stopped heating their homes, and 70 per cent did not buy Christmas or birthday gifts for family members.
One of CAP’s former clients, Sharon, said: “CAP doesn’t just change your debts. It changes you as a person. Before, everything was unravelling. But now I’ve been woven into a church community, and I’m living a bigger, brighter, more colourful life.”
capuk.org