UK inflation: How much Bucks workers lost as costs soar

National World has tracked the median earnings of people living in the county to uncover the real effects of the cost of living crisis.

These figures shows that the median worker in Bucks has lost £89 per month as a result of soaring costs.

Across the entirety of the UK real terms pay is down new analysis from National World shows.

Last month inflation hit a 9% increase compared to the year prior, a record figure, since tracking began in the 1980s.

In Bucks the median real terms pay cut is 3.6% less than the previous year.

The figures refer to employees only, with salaries for self-employed people excluded.

National World’s data focuses on people living in Bucks, not people who travel to the county for their jobs.

Increases to the National Living Wage (NLW) and national minimum wage haven’t stopped real-terms drops in the UK.

Since the financial crisis in 2008, wages have more-or-less flatlined in the UK, with real-terms wage growth between 2010 and 2020 the lowest over any 10 year period in peacetime since the early 19th century.

An increase in wholesale energy prices, and the knock-on effect of these on production costs are strong factors in the soaring inflation rate.

The Bank of England has projected a further increase in October due to the UK-wide increase in energy costs.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned the poorest 10% of households, who spend a higher proportion of their income on gas and electricity, currently face an even higher rate of inflation, around 10.9%.

The Government says global factors are driving inflation and warned that it “cannot protect people completely” from the resulting increases in the cost of living.

There are growing calls for an emergency budget ahead of the next scheduled energy cap rise in October, while Labour has called for a windfall-tax on energy companies which have posted record profits.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “We’re saving the average worker £330 a year through reducing National Insurance Contributions, changing Universal Credit to save over a million families around £1,000 a year, and providing millions of families with £350 each this year to help with their energy bills.”