UK households suffer biggest financial hit since 1970s due to coronavirus

Average income falls 4.5% in May compared with start of outbreak, thinktank says

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British households have suffered the biggest hit to their finances since the oil crisis of the mid-1970s as the coronavirus pandemic threatens to inflict severe financial hardship across the country.

Against a backdrop of rising job losses four months into the crisis, the Resolution Foundation thinktank said the average household in Britain had suffered a 4.5% drop in income in the month of May, compared with their average monthly income level in the financial year ending March 2020, before the crisis struck.