If someone asked you what poverty was, you might think about how far someone’s pay packet goes. Can they afford their household bills? Can they ever go on holiday?
But rather than looking at how someone is making ends meet, the main way poverty is assessed is by using a relative measure – “relative poverty”.
It’s calculated by taking the median income in the country – that’s the midpoint where half of the working population earn more than that amount and half earn less. It was £569 a week in 2018.