Peter Matejic

Chief Analyst, Insights and Analysis, at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation working to solve UK Poverty

[Helen Barnard @Helen_Barnard]

Your regular reminder:
Welfare reform is not cuts.
It’s reform to improve support & open up opportunities.

Government attempts to cut disability benefits last year failed because it wasn’t reform. It was just cuts. Would disabled people & push them further from labour market

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

Message is don't forget childhood poverty in any NEET discussions.

[Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf_uk]

If the system is to work, it needs strong foundations.

Without financial security, too many young people are held back from the start.

📈 Our new analysis shows that growing up in poverty *more than triples* the risk of being out of earning or learning.

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

An excellent 1 minute video version of a great policy idea - see https://t.co/zI2iMELaT9 for the full details!

[Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf_uk]

Energy bills are far too high. (a🧵)

JRF’s Affordable Energy Guarantee would give every household a protected amount of cheaper energy, cutting bills now and protecting people from future shocks.

For lowest-income households, savings would be worth over a month’s free energy.

[Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf_uk]

🚨 NEW!

Our report out today concludes rent controls can ease the pressure on renters, without jeopardising the private rented sector. A rent control could:

- Make renters nearly £1200 a year better off by 2030
- Reduce the housing benefit bill by £600m

Here's how 👇

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

This led to the UK falling to 20th place out of the 21 high-income countries, whereas in 2011, we were in (still a pretty poor position) of 14th.

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

The Health Foundation have now looked at how this compares with 20 other high-income countries: https://t.co/nn6Tq6OVza. Picture is grim. The UK saw the second biggest fall in healthy life expectancy over the decade to 2021, beaten only by the US.

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

How long have you got to live and live healthily? It’s well known that people in less deprived areas live longer. Let’s look at a boy born in 2023 in the most deprived tenth of areas. They can expect to live 10 years fewer than a boy born in the least deprived tenth of areas.

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

Join us! This is a very important role, working with some brilliant analysts (and others!)

[Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf_uk]

📢 We're hiring a new Principal Policy Adviser to lead our Work and Care policy areas!

Are you a visionary leader with the arguments, policies and ideas to address the challenges underpinning poverty in the UK?

We'd love to hear from you!

Apply here: https://t.co/PWLJNPwfM0

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

We may yet see a fall from 3.3% in the April data (out in May) because of falls in the April energy price cap, and falling wage growth and a fading impact from higher employer NICs driving down inflation in services. But sadly the predicted return to ~target level won't happen.

[Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf_uk]

📉 Before the conflict in the Middle East, inflation was expected to fall to close to 2% in the middle of 2026.

Today's @ONS CPI figure for March shows things are moving in the opposite direction, and this is before the impact of higher energy prices hits household bills. 🧵

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

See a resurrected JRF chart showing how disappointing real wage growth has been since September 2024, compared to the year before then. And this is before any impacts from the Iran conflict. Earnings up £1.40/wk over last 17 months, compared to £11.60/wk up in the prev 12 months.

[Office for National Statistics (ONS) @ONS]

Regular wage growth in the three months to February 2026 was 3.6% excluding bonuses, down from 3.8% the previous period.

Including bonuses the rate was 3.8%, down from 4.1% in the previous period.

Read the release ➡ https://t.co/Q3xewe5pSt

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

@chrisbelfield These modelled estimates assume a lifetime in one deprivation decile. Moves between areas with different deprivation levels aren’t reflected. Notwithstanding this, gaps are very large, and the slope across deciles large too. H/T to @AnnaClarke_____ for clarification.

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

How long have you got to live and live healthily? It’s well known that people in less deprived areas live longer. Let’s look at a boy born in 2023 in the most deprived tenth of areas. They can expect to live 10 years fewer than a boy born in the least deprived tenth of areas.

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

Want to look at variation in life expectancy for someone your age/sex? Enter your details here to find out: https://t.co/djLYAgOSaD. Enter your postcode at https://t.co/SvQidVgK8W to find out what deprivation decile where you live falls into. H/T to @chrisbelfield for this.

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

Now with a chart clear of random messages

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

Gaps in healthy life expectancy are even bigger. That same boy will have 19.4 fewer years of good health compared to someone born in the least deprived tenth of areas (it’s 20.3 years for girls).

[Peter Matejic @StatsPeter]

This is a precis of an excellent paper from @J_Elliott94, @notRosalind_W and Ruby Blower at JRF. Do skim the thread or better still, read the paper.

[Joseph Elliott @J_Elliott94]

It's a bit of a myth that rents are constantly increasing faster than earnings or overall inflation - on average, they're not.

So what *is* the problem of unaffordability in the private rented sector? And what does this mean for how we go about fixing it?

Our take 🧵⬇️