UK living standards ‘to fall at fastest rate since mid-1950s’

Conditions unlikely to return to pre-Covid levels until at least 2024 despite Sunak's intervention, warns Office for Budget Responsibility

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Living standards in Britain are expected to fall at the fastest annual rate since the mid-1950s and will take until at least 2024 to return to pre-Covid levels, according to the government's independent economic forecaster.

Despite the measures announced by Rishi Sunak at his spring statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said real household disposable incomes per person would fall by 2.2% in 2022-23 as earnings from work fail to keep pace with soaring inflation.