How The Rich Get Richer: Channel 4 Dispatches

17 November 2014

As we countdown to the next general election, inequality has become an increasingly important political issue.  

In Britain, the richest and poorest often live side by side, so it can be difficult to get an accurate picture of these inequalities. 

Channel 4 Dispatches commissioned the Centre for Social Justice  to gather government data on 40,000 neighbourhoods. This enabled researchers to compare the million people in in the most affluent areas with the million people in the most deprived areas.

The research found that in the most deprived10pc of areas:-

• Family breakdown was far higher, with 3 times as many fatherless households (35% vs 12%)
• The most deprived areas are much more dangerous with levels of violent crime 12 times higher

When neighbourhoods were sorted by male life expectancy alone, Dispatches found there was an average 18 year difference.  The top million can expect to live to 88 and the bottom to 70.

 

For example in Parkhead, east end of Glasgow, male life expectancy is 64 years - on a par with Cambodia.  In Dowanhill, in the city’s west end, male life expectancy is 82 years - on a par with Sweden.

Wealth Inequality

Channel 4 Dispatches, which airs tonight (Monday 17th November at 8pm) also shows how, since the crash, the gap has widened between the very richest and the rest.

Our research indicates that the richest two and a half thousand British households are three times wealthier than they were in 2008.

At the other end of the social ladder, those on benefits or in low paid jobs are struggling to move up.

Government estimates show how of hundreds of thousands are in a benefits trap. If they work they could lose £7 pounds in benefits for every £10 pounds they earn. This is in effect a tax rate of over 70%.

Top 0.1% paying as much income tax as the bottom 50%

A Freedom of Information request by Channel 4 Dispatches reveals the Treasury expect that by this April the top 0.1% will be paying as much income tax as the bottom 50%.    

Notes to Editors

How The Rich Get Richer – Channel 4 Dispatches, Monday 17th November at 8pm

 

The reporter on this Dispatches is Fraser Nelson, the editor of The Spectator and a member of the advisory board of the Centre for Social Justice.