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Where do people in other workless families sit in the income distribution?

44% of people in other workless families were in the lowest-income fifth before housing costs, against 20% of everyone; 5% were in the highest (April 2024 to March 2025). See how this compares after housing costs and how their low-income rate has changed since 1994/95.

Evidence last reviewed 31 October 2026

Where they sit

People in other workless families: share in each income fifth, before housing costs, April 2024 to March 2025
Survey-based evidence · Family Resources Survey, April 2024 to March 2025
  • Lowest-income fifth44%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Second fifth26%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Middle fifth17%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Fourth fifth9%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Highest-income fifth5%

    Everyone: 20%

If this group had the same incomes as everyone else, each bar would be 20%. About 6.4 million people were in this group.

Show the workings and sources
People in other workless families by income fifth, BHC
FifthShare of group
Lowest-income fifth43.8%
Second fifth25.8%
Middle fifth17.0%
Fourth fifth8.8%
Highest-income fifth4.6%

HBAI Table 3.1db (Economic status of adults in the family). Row label as published: “Workless, other inactive”.

  • Survey-based: Family Resources Survey 2024/25, UK private households. DWP publishes no confidence intervals for these breakdowns; small groups have wider uncertainty.
  • From FYE 2022 HBAI links survey answers to DWP and HMRC records; earlier years are not comparable (DWP note 1).
  • Fifths rank people, not households: each fifth holds a fifth of individuals, so households in it differ in number and size.
  • Ethnic group is that of the head of household, and ethnic group and region rows are 3-year averages; their sizes are pooled and differ slightly from the latest-year total (DWP note 81).
  • Disability is self-reported limiting long-term illness or condition (DWP note 38).

How has this changed?

Share of people in other workless families in relative low income, before housing costs, 1994/95 to 2024/25
Survey-based evidence · Family Resources Survey, each year since 1994/950%10%20%30%40%50%60%1995/962000/012005/062010/112015/162020/21Break in series

People in other workless families · everyone. Relative low income means a household income below 60% of the UK middle income that year.

  • Before the break, UK figures: 49.4% in 2002/03 and 40.4% in 2019/20: down 9.0 percentage points. Earlier years are for Great Britain only, so they are shown but not compared.
  • Since the break: 34.9% in 2021/22 and 36.4% in 2024/25: up 1.5 percentage points.

From 2021/22 DWP links survey answers to benefit and tax records, so the two parts of the line are not comparable and no change is worked out across the gap. Years before 2002/03 cover Great Britain only.

Missing years

  • Economic status was not collected on this basis before 1996/97 (note 16).
  • DWP does not publish 2020/21 below headline level because of pandemic sample quality (note 70).
Show the workings and sources
Share in relative low income, BHC: People in other workless families and everyone
YearCoveragePeople in other workless familiesEveryoneSeries
1994/95Great Britainnot published18.7%Before break
1995/96Great Britainnot published17.9%Before break
1996/97Great Britain47.4%19.4%Before break
1997/98Great Britain49.4%19.5%Before break
1998/99Great Britain47.8%19.3%Before break
1999/00Great Britain49.2%19.1%Before break
2000/01Great Britain49.3%18.4%Before break
2001/02Great Britain50.1%18.3%Before break
2002/03United Kingdom49.4%17.8%Before break
2003/04United Kingdom47.8%17.6%Before break
2004/05United Kingdom45.9%16.9%Before break
2005/06United Kingdom46.9%17.4%Before break
2006/07United Kingdom48.3%17.9%Before break
2007/08United Kingdom47.1%18.2%Before break
2008/09United Kingdom44.5%17.9%Before break
2009/10United Kingdom41.3%16.9%Before break
2010/11United Kingdom35.9%16.0%Before break
2011/12United Kingdom35.8%15.7%Before break
2012/13United Kingdom32.4%15.4%Before break
2013/14United Kingdom32.8%15.2%Before break
2014/15United Kingdom36.5%15.9%Before break
2015/16United Kingdom36.7%16.4%Before break
2016/17United Kingdom37.6%16.2%Before break
2017/18United Kingdom40.2%17.1%Before break
2018/19United Kingdom36.4%16.7%Before break
2019/20United Kingdom40.4%17.9%Before break
2020/21United Kingdomnot published15.8%Before break
2021/22United Kingdom34.9%15.4%Linked records
2022/23United Kingdom35.9%15.7%Linked records
2023/24United Kingdom33.8%15.2%Linked records
2024/25United Kingdom36.4%15.9%Linked records

HBAI time-series Table 3.11ts. Row label as published: “Workless, other inactive”. Published percentages from HBAI time-series Tables 3.10ts, 3.11ts, 3.12ts and 3.17ts, before and after housing costs. No change is calculated across the 2021/22 break, and 3-year windows that include years on both sides are flagged as spanning it.

  • Survey-based: Family Resources Survey, private households. DWP publishes no confidence intervals for these group series; year-to-year movements in small groups are often sampling noise.
  • Relative low income moves with the median: if middle incomes fall, fewer people can be below 60% of it without anyone being better off.
  • Telephone-only interviewing in 2020/21 and 2021/22, and mixed mode from 2022/23, changed who responded (DWP note 5).

Other groups

Income fifths: Lowest-income fifth · Second fifth · Middle fifth · Fourth fifth · Highest-income fifth

All groups · Income, low income and food

Built from official tables and checked by automated tests; it has not yet had independent analytical review. About these numbers.