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Commenting on new figures published today (Wednesday) by the Office for National Statistics, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

Commenting on new figures published today (Wednesday) by the Office for National Statistics, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“Tomorrow the Chancellor is likely to repeat his claim that disposable incomes continue to rise. But official figures prove this is nonsense.

“Real household disposable incomes per head have fallen so sharply in recent years that people are no better off today than they were back in 2005.

“The figures used by the Chancellor are meaningless to ordinary people who are concerned about their own money, rather than that of the nation. After all, you can’t pay the energy bills with other people’s pay packets.

“Rather than attempt to spin his way out of Britain’s living standards crisis, the Chancellor should use his Autumn statement to face up to it. We need policies to help rebalance the economy and create high quality jobs, not more gimmicks that do nothing to boost people’s pay.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- In late July 2013, the Chancellor wrote in The Times that “disposable incomes grew by 1.4 per cent above inflation last year despite the squeeze, the fastest for three years”. He cited figures for rising total real household disposable income, which has largely been driven by population growth in recent years.

- ONS figures published today show that real household disposable income per head has fallen sharply since 2009 www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_343680.pdf

- The TUC’s campaign plan can be downloaded from www.tuc.org.uk/campaignplan

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

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Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen   T: 020 7467 1248    M: 07778 158175    E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth    T: 020 7467 1372    M: 07717 531150     E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Gibson   T: 020 7467 1337    M: 07900 910624     E: egibson@tuc.org.uk

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