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Lowri Williams is struggling to cover her basic expenses. Earning a low income with very little support, she says she feels like she’s “living hand-to-mouth” and barely getting by.

She’s one of a large group of people in low-income households who are caught in a precarious position, earning too little to comfortably support themselves, but too much to qualify for significant financial help.

For people like Lowri, working more or earning a higher income could mean losing vital support like Universal Credit, leaving them no better off and in some cases even worse off.

Lowri Williams
Image:
Lowri Williams in her home

Higher tax bills for the lowest paid

Lowri’s salary is not high enough to pay tax. But there’s a wider group of low-income earners who are facing a heavy tax burden.

Sky News analysis has found that in the last three years, working people in the bottom 25% of earners have effectively had a 60% tax hike.

This is due to the freeze on personal allowances, introduced in 2021 and scheduled to end in 2028. For each year the freeze is enacted, earners effectively see their tax rates rise in real terms as a higher proportion of their income becomes taxable.

Labour may extend the freeze in their budget this week. If the chancellor proceeds with the plan, around 400,000 people who are currently exempt will find themselves paying income tax, and many current taxpayers will pay higher rates.

On top of this, low to middle-income households are seeing significant stagnation in how much their income is going up, according to analysis of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data by the Resolution Foundation.

This finding is part of an upcoming report in November, obtained by Sky News, which will delve deeper into the financial pressures these households face.

Between the mid-1990s and early 2000s, low to middle-income households experienced an almost 50% rise in income. But in the last decade, that growth has slowed dramatically to just 11%.

Fluctuating earnings and a squeeze on benefits

The government is also reportedly considering restricting sickness benefits, a move which may exacerbate the issue.

“Economic vulnerability and insecurity are particularly high among people with ill health or disabilities,” said Alfie Stirling, director of insight and policy at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

“Any policy that reduces their support, or limits access to it, will likely worsen hardship and increase the number of people at risk,” he added.

Low income families in these situations can receive state support like Universal Credit to supplement their income.

Universal Credit, first introduced in 2013, combines several state-funded benefits, including housing support, child tax credits, and income support, into one payment. It provides support to households both in and out of work.

Around 2.5 million people in work receive this support, but some, like Lowri, a part-time charity worker, miss out at times due to fluctuating monthly earnings.

Universal Credit is reduced by 55p for every £1 earned, a calculation known as the taper rate. Some people receive an allowance before this reduction, depending on their circumstances.

Lowri, who is impacted by the taper rate, explained: “If you earn over the limit, you lose out immediately. Not only do you lose Universal Credit, but also your council tax benefit, which is another £150 a month.

“So, while you might earn £50 more, you could end up £100 worse off.”

“Every penny you have coming in is paying just bills,” she said.

Finding ways to save

Below is Lowri’s household expenditure for some essential bills.

While she’s able to receive UC, she’s eligible for social tariffs, which are a discounted package for household bills, which could help her save.

This could amount to a saving of nearly £70 for Lowri’s mobile and broadband budget, according to analysis by Nous, an AI-powered bill-tracking tool.

With social tariffs in place, her water bill could be cut in half.

The National Living Wage

While Lowri’s income means she doesn’t pay tax, people on the National Living Wage (NLW), £11.44 per hour (£22,308 annually), who earn more than her, are heavily affected by tax and benefits decisions made by the Conservative government, which Labour are reportedly proposing to extend.

At the budget in March, the NLW increased by 10%.

The chancellor may announce a further hike in the NLW at this week’s budget, which sounds like good news.

But Lalitha Try, economist at the Resolution Foundation says: “Our research shows that the introduction and ramping up of the minimum wage has delivered a major living standards boost to lower income families over the past 25 years.

“But it’s important to recognise that there are limits to what it can achieve. For workers on Universal Credit, over half of the wage gains will be clawed back through lower benefit entitlement.

And the minimum wage can’t help those who may earn more than the legal minimum but struggle with low hours or high housing costs. Other policies are needed to solve those challenges.”

Losing access to support like Universal Credit could also mean people no longer qualify for things like social tariffs and free school meals.

On top of that, the freezing of the personal allowance thresholds which heavily affects the lowest 25% of earners in the UK has also had a significant impact on people earning the NLW.

The amount of tax that someone working full time on the living wage will pay annually in 2024/2025 is over £1,000 more in real terms than it was in 2019/2020.

That’s a lot of money for someone earning just over £22,000 per year.

It means their effective tax rate has almost doubled, from 4.4% to 8.7%, in five years.

These are only a few examples of how an increase in NLW means they have less money in their pockets.

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How much does this family spend per month?

Two salaries and still struggling

It’s a similar story for people on what is meant to be a more comfortable income.

Chris and Tracey Matthewman, who live with their three daughters in Basildon, Essex, are among the tens of millions of people living below the Minimum Income Standard (MIS).

This is the amount the Joseph Rowntree Foundation defines as necessary for an acceptable standard of living.

It goes beyond just food, clothing, and shelter; it includes the ability to participate in society, such as being able to socialise and having access to technology.

In 2024, the MIS was £28,000 for a single person and £69,400 for a couple with two children.

Tracey teaches in a primary school and Chris looks after the fleet of vehicles his company uses.

The Matthewman family, with their daughters Matilda, Alice and Grace (from left to right).
Image:
The Matthewman family

The Matthewman household income is below the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) for a family of their size, a little over £80,000 in total.

After tax, their combined household income is around £4,000 a month. A lot of that gets spent on energy bills and council tax, not to mention other essentials.

Chris is clearly worried about how to keep the family afloat. When I visited his home he repeatedly showed me his detailed spreadsheet which he uses to meticulously track his family’s expenses.

Chris says: “It’s frustrating. We have to accept living paycheque to paycheque, just surviving month to month.”

And Tracey had this message for Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, ahead of Labour’s budget: “They need to remember that there are people living in this country who don’t receive any benefits and are still struggling.”

“We’re in that demographic that ends up paying more – more national insurance, more tax. We keep tightening up, but we’re not eligible for any benefits. That’s tough.”

Additional reporting: Daniel Dunford, Senior Data Journalist


The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Concierge firm founded by Queen’s nephew hunts buyer

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Concierge firm founded by Queen's nephew hunts buyer

Quintessentially, the luxury concierge service founded by the Queen’s nephew, is in talks to find a buyer months after it warned of “material uncertainty” over its future.

Sky News has learned that the company, which was set up by Sir Ben Elliot and his business partners in 1999, is working with advisers on a process aimed at finding a new owner or investors.

City sources said this weekend that Quintessentially was already in discussions with prospective buyers and was anticipating receipt of a number of firm offers.

Sir Ben, the former Conservative Party co-chairman under Boris Johnson, owns a significant minority stake in the company.

The Quintessentially group operates a number of businesses, although its core activity remains the provision of lifestyle support to high net worth individuals including celebrities, royalty, and leading businesspeople.

It also counts major companies among its clients and offers services such as organising private jet flights and performances by top musicians.

The sale process is being overseen by a firm called Beyond, although further details, including the price that the business might fetch, were unclear on Saturday.

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One insider said parties who had been contacted by Beyond were being offered the option to buy a controlling interest in Quintessentially.

This could be implemented through a combination of the repayment of outstanding loans, an injection of new funding into the business, and the purchase of existing shareholders’ interests, they added.

Quintessentially’s founders, including Sir Ben, are thought to be keen to retain an equity interest in the company after any deal.

In January 2022, newspaper reports suggested that Quintessentially had been put up for sale with a valuation of £140m.

Deloitte, the accountancy firm, was charged with finding a buyer at the time but a transaction failed to materialise.

Sir Ben, who was knighted in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list, turned to one of Quintessentially’s shareholders for financial support during the pandemic.

World Fuel Services, an energy and aviation services company, is owed £15.5m as well as £3.5m in accrued interest, according to one person close to the process.

The loan is said to include a warrant to convert it into equity upon repayment.

Read more from Sky News:
This year’s Sunday Times Rich List revealed
Gold spike means you should update your insurance
Cheapest pint in the UK revealed

Quintessentially does not disclose the number or identities of many of its clients, although it said in annual accounts filed at Companies House in January that it had increased turnover to £29.6m in the year to 30 April 2024.

The accounts suggested the company was seeing growth in demand from clients internationally.

“During the last year, we have not only renewed important corporate contracts like Mastercard, but have also expanded by adding new corporate clients like Swiss4 in the UK, R360 in India, and Visa in the Middle East and South America,” they said.

In its experiences and events division, it won a contract to work with the Red Sea Film Festival and to provide corporate concierge services to the Saudi Premier League.

It added that Allianz, the German insurer, BMW, and South African lender Standard Bank were among other clients with which it had signed contracts.

The accounts included the warning of a “risk that the pace and level at which business returns could be materially less than forecast, requiring the group and company to obtain external funding which may not be forthcoming and therefore this creates material uncertainty that may cast ultimately cast doubt about the … ability to continue as a going concern”.

This weekend, a Quintessentially spokesman declined to comment on the sale process.

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Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

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Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

Adele, the Grammy award-winning artist, has joined the list of music superstars investing in Audoo, a music technology company which helps artists to receive fairer royalty payments.

Sky News has learnt that the British musician and Adam Clayton, the U2 bassist, have injected money into Audoo as part of a £7m funding round.

The pair join Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus as shareholders in the company.

Changes to Audoo’s share register were filed at Companies House in recent days.

Audoo, which was established by former musician Ryan Edwards, is trying to address the perennial issue of public performance royalties, in order to ensure musicians are rewarded when their work is played in public venues.

Mr Edwards is reported to have been motivated to set up the company after hearing his own music played at football stadia and in bars, without any payment for it.

Estimates suggest that artists lose out on billions of dollars of unaccounted royalties each year.

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London-based Audoo uses a monitoring device – which it calls an Audio Meter – to recognise songs played in public venues, and which is said to have a 99% success rate.

It has struck what it describes as industry-first partnerships with organisations including the music licensing company PPL/PRS to track and report songs played in public performance locations such as cafes, hair salons, shops and gyms.

“At Audoo, we’re incredibly proud of the continued support we’re receiving as we work to make music royalties fairer and more transparent for artists and rights-holders around the world through our pioneering technology,” Mr Edwards told Sky News in a statement on Friday.

“We have successfully reached £7m in our latest funding round.

“This funding marks a pivotal moment for Audoo as we focus on our growth in North America and across Europe, bringing us closer to our mission of revolutionising the global royalty landscape.”

Sources said the new capital would be used partly to finance Audoo’s growth in the US.

The latest funding round takes the total amount of money raised by the company since its launch to more than $30m.

Mr Edwards has spoken of his desire to establish a major presence in Europe and the US because of their status as the world’s biggest recorded music markets.

Adele’s management company did not respond to an enquiry from Sky News.

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The Sunday Times Rich List: Billionaires fall as King rises to match Rishi Sunak

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The Sunday Times Rich List: Billionaires fall as King rises to match Rishi Sunak

The King’s personal fortune has shot up by £30m to put him on par with Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, while the overall number of billionaires in the UK has plummeted, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.

The 2025 list, published on Friday, shows the King’s personal wealth grew from £610m to £640m, taking him up 20 places to 258 – level with former prime minister Mr Sunak and his wife.

The number of overall UK billionaires has fallen to 156 from 165 in 2024, marking the biggest drop since the rich list began 37 years ago.

Gopi Hinduja and his family, behind the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group, topped the list for the fourth year running with £35.3bn.

Meanwhile, founder and chairman of global chemicals company Ineos Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who became part owner of Manchester United last year, dropped from fourth place to seventh after his reported wealth went from £23.5bn to £17.05bn.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Pic: PA.
Image:
Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Pic: PA.

Sir Jim’s £6.47bn losses marked the biggest on the list, while Russian-born brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman, who built a fortune on mobile games such as Gardenscapes and Fishdom, made the biggest gains with nearly £6.2bn.

New entries included makeup mogul Charlotte Tilbury with £350m and Ellen DeGeneres, who left the US for the Cotswolds last year.

Ellen DeGeneres with wife Portia de Rossi at Wimbledon. Pic: Reuters
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Ellen DeGeneres with wife Portia de Rossi at Wimbledon. Pic: Reuters

The Sunday Times said the list was one of its toughest to compile due to Donald Trump’s tariffs and the subsequent stock market turbulence, adding many from previous years had dropped off the list and others were no longer eligible having fled Britain after Labour’s non-dom crackdown.

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How British ‘geeks’ launched one of most lucrative gaming franchises of all time

Overall, the combined wealth of those on the list stood at £772.8bn – down 3% from the last list.

Speaking to Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast, Rich List compiler Rob Watts highlighted the story of Tom and Phil Beahon, who own sportswear clothing brand Castore which is now worth £1bn, as one of his favourites.

The brothers from Wirral have debuted at joint 345 on the list with an estimated wealth of £350m.

Calling their story “inspiring”, Mr Watts said: “They dreamed of being sportsmen as lads – one of them got onto the books of Tranmere Rovers and the other played cricket for Lancashire, but their sporting careers were over in their early 20s.

“And they say that failure was critical to driving them to create this £1bn sports kit business that you’ll now see being worn by the England cricket team and the England rugby team.”

File photo dated 21-09-2024 of England's Olly Stone who has been ruled out for the majority of the summer after undergoing knee surgery. Issue date: Friday April 4, 2025. PA
Image:
England cricketer Olly Stone wearing a kit manufactured by Castore. Pic: PA

The top 20:

1. Gopi Hinduja and family – £35.3bn

2. David and Simon Reuben and family – £26.87bn

3. Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £25.73bn

4. Sir James Dyson and family – £20.8bn

5. Idan Ofer – £20.12bn

6. Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – £17.75bn

7. Sir Jim Ratcliffe – £17.05bn

8. Lakshmi Mittal and family – £15.44bn

9. John Fredriksen and family – £13.68bn

10. Igor and Dmitry Bukhman – £12.54bn

11. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £12.51bn

12. Michael Platt – £12.5bn

13. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £10.09bn

14. Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family – £9.88bn

15. Lord Bamford and family – £9.45bn

16. Denise, John and Peter Coates – £9.44bn

17. Carrie and Francois Perrodo and family – £9.3bn

18. Barnaby and Merlin Swire and family – £9.25bn

19. Marit, Lisbet, Sigrid and Hans Rausing – £9.09bn

20. Alex Gerko – £8.75bn

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