Reeves’s statement will leave poorest £500 a year worse off, thinktank finds

Rachel Reeves, seen leaving 11 Downing Street to make the spring statement on Wednesday, said she was ‘absolutely certain’ the changes would not push people into poverty. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Lower-income households are on track to become £500 a year poorer by the end of the decade as a result of the UK chancellor’s spring statement, according to analysis by a leading thinktank.

The Resolution Foundation said a combination of weak economic growth over the next five years and benefit cuts that fell disproportionately on lower-income households would result in an average annual loss of £500 in 2030 for those in the poorest half of the population.