Over 192,000 households in Northern Ireland ‘left with £25 to spend per week’, say consumer council

Around 192,000 households in Northern Ireland are left with less than £25 each week after paying for bills, food and other essentials, new figures from the Northern Ireland Consumer Council show.

The consumer council's latest 'Northern Ireland Household Expenditure Tracker, which is published on a quarterly basis and tracks the changes to income and expenditure for the lowest earning households here, shows that discretionary income has declined from £45.32 to £24.41 in the space of just a year.

The latest publication, covering the period April, May and June, shows a 46.1% annual decline in disposable income for the bottom 25% of the income distribution - a group that contains approximately 192,200 households in Northern Ireland.

These households, the consumer council say, saw their "weekly income after tax rise by £2.80 (1.2%); experienced weekly spending on basic goods increase by £7.25 (3.6%); spent 53% of their total basic spending on rent, energy, food and transport; and saw their discretionary income fall for the 5th consecutive quarter leaving these households with less than £25 per week to live on (£24.41)."

Noyona Chundur, Chief Executive of the Consumer Council, said: “Our Household Expenditure Tracker quantifies the reality that our lowest earning households are currently facing. The lowest earning households in Northern Ireland now have less than £25 to spend per week after their bills and living costs. In releasing this data, we hope that it will help Government, policy makers, and organisations to develop targeted solutions and interventions to help all consumers in Northern Ireland.”