Nottingham has the lowest disposable income per person in the UK, more than four times lower than the richest part of the country, research from a think tank has shown. Before housing costs, the average income per person in the city in 2019 was £11,708, which was 4.5 times lower than Kensington and Chelsea (£52,451).
The shocking figures come from a report published on Monday, June 27, by the Resolution Foundation, which found that differences in income were both “significant” and “persistent” across the UK. It said that levelling up the UK’s cities will require investment that goes “far beyond anything currently being contemplated” by the government.
The report found that Nottingham is in a poorer position relative to the UK average in 2019 than it was in 1997. The average income for a resident was 20 percent below the national average in 1997 - now it lags behind by 34 percent.
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The Resolution Foundation pointed out that this was the same with cities such as Leicester and Bradford, which both also have "industrial legacies". Lindsay Judge, research director at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Britain is beset by huge economic gaps between different parts of the country, and has been for many decades. While progress has been made in reducing employment gaps, this been offset by a surge in investment income among better-off families in London and the South East.
“People care about these gaps and want them closed, as does the Government via its ‘levelling up’ strategy. The key to closing these gaps is to boost the productivity of our major cities outside London, which will also lead to stronger growth overall.”
In another report due to be released on Thursday, the Resolution Foundation will argue that current Government policies do not go far enough. Taking Manchester as an example, where productivity is 30 percent lower than in London, the think tank said closing that gap would require tens of billions of pounds of investment, more graduates working in the city and an extra 300,000 workers moving to Greater Manchester.
Henry Overman, professor of economic geography at the London School of Economics, said: “Those looking for Britain’s productivity problems can find them in our under-performing major cities. Addressing this challenge will require Britain to completely turn around its poor record on investment, to take hard-headed decisions on where this investment should be prioritised, and for cities to embrace growth.” It comes during the cost of living crisis and with the energy cap set to rise again later this year. Meanwhile, in Bulwell, a town where a number of shops have closed, traders have called for serious investment.
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