Cost-of-living crisis: Wealden wage growth falls just below inflation

File photo dated 26/01/18 of a UK five pound, ten pound, twenty pound and fifty pound notes with one pound coins, as Governments across the world must increase benefits and wages in line with inflation or "lives will be lost", the UN's poverty expert will warn.

Wage growth in Wealden has narrowly missed matching inflation in the last year, new figures show.

But across the UK, real terms wages have fallen again, while strike action across a range of industries is due to take place every day until the end of the year.

The Trades Union Congress said working people "have been pushed to breaking point" and urged the Government to engage in meaningful pay talks with unions.

Office for National Statistics figures show monthly median pay for employees in Wealden sat at £2,136 in November – up from £2,100 the month before.

Monthly pay in the area has risen by 9% in the last year, as the rising cost of living hits people's wallets.

The Consumer Prices Index inflation accounting for owner occupier's housing costs (CPIH) – which the ONS uses to calculate real-terms pay – sat at 9.6% in the year to October, the highest since records began in 1989.

It means that wage growth in Wealden has roughly matched inflation in the last year.

But across the UK, real-terms pay between August and October fell by 2.7% compared to the same period the year before – slightly above the record 3% drop seen between April and June.

Ben Harrison, director at the Work Foundation, said workers face "stark challenges" because of inflationary pressures on their pay packets and are being forced to make difficult decisions, including whether to turn the heating on as freezing temperatures bite.

The ONS figures also show strike action led to 417,000 days of work being lost in October across the UK – the highest level in a decade.