UK Household Incomes Face Weakest Growth Since 1950s, IFS Warns After Healey Budget

British households face the weakest growth in disposable income since records began, with incomes set to rise just 2pc across the 2020s, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said, citing high inflation, weak pay growth and a heavier tax burden. The think tank said no comparable stagnation has occurred across the eight decades of data since the 1950s. For comparison, household disposable incomes grew about 12pc in the 2010s. The IFS estimates energy costs will jump roughly £400 per household between October 2026 and July 2027 amid the energy shock from the Iran war, while measures in Chancellor John Healey's Wednesday Budget are expected to save a typical family only about £140 over the same period. IFS director Helen Miller also warned that funding a defence spending gap with Treasury reserves has already consumed 25pc of the capital reserve and 40pc of the day-to-day reserve set aside for the next three years.