The energy price crisis caused the sharpest increase in UK absolute poverty in 30 years, new figures show. Steep prices rises, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, meant hundreds of thousands more people fell into absolute poverty. The figure jumped to 12 million in 2022-2023, a rise of 600,000. This means the rate of absolute poverty in the UK now stands at 18% - a rise of 0.78 percentage points. Absolute poverty is the measure used by the prime minister when describing the government's record. Even more families would have fallen into absolute poverty had it not been for government support like the Cost of Living payments. Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride - whose department compiled the figures - pointed to the government's "biggest cost of living package in Europe, worth an average of £3,800 per household". The government says that without these measure the increase would have been three times worse. A bar chart showing the annual rise and fall
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