This literature review looks at the main patterns, themes and key issues relating to research on ethnicity and experiences in work in the UK.

This study investigates the racial housing wealth gap in the UK and reveals enduring inequalities experienced amongst racialised minorities in the UK in accessing homeownership, securing mortgage ...

Our current housing system isn't working for everyone. Here's how to explain why, build understanding, counteract fatalism, and increase support for solutions. People recognise that the current ...

Most people would expect Universal Credit to be based on a logical calculation, such as the cost of life’s essentials, but it never has been. This is leaving families going without food, utilities and ...

This literature review was commissioned by JRF and carried out by researchers at the London School of Economics. It compiles and analyses evidence on the relationship between ethnicity, racism and ...

Low-income families continue to face severe hardship, frequently going without essentials and struggling to make ends meet, with damaging consequences for health and wellbeing. In October 2025, a ...

Living in poverty for longer, and at greater depth, has a greater impact. Families in deep poverty, especially those experiencing destitution, struggle to afford even basic essentials. Poverty in the ...

Low-income households are far more likely to hold little or no savings and face heavy debt burdens, increasing financial insecurity and hardship. Households on low incomes are disproportionately ...

Children in migrant families face high and entrenched levels of poverty. Even when their parents are working, they are far less protected from hardship. In 2023/24, 1 in 2 children in migrant families ...

Poverty rates are highest among private and social renters. High housing costs push many private renters into poverty, while social renters are disproportionately living on low incomes. Housing costs ...

Young people from low-income families have lower educational attainment. Education is a devolved power and this means that education systems vary across the 4 countries in the UK and so are not ...

Poverty rates vary across UK nations, regions and constituencies. Differences are shaped by local inequalities in employment, housing costs and tenure, benefit adequacy and access to services. Poverty ...