Divide between the rich and poor in UK is Widening: Oxfam Research Report

A Tale of Two Britains research report published by anti-poverty charity Oxfam on 17 March 2014 has concluded that the divide between the rich and poor in the United Kingdom has widened.

The Oxfam report claimed that the wealth and power in Britain is concentrated in few hands leaving the rest behind. It claimed that the property, savings and other assets of five Britons worth 28.2 billion pounds, which when combined is more than the wealth of poorest 20 percent (about 12.6 million people) of the population that totals to 28.1 billion pounds.

The report titled A Tale of Two Britains says that 0.1 percent of the total population of Britain have seen an average growth of 24000 pounds a year whereas, the incomes of the poorest 90 percent of Britons have gone up only by an average of 2.82 pounds a week or 147 pounds a year.

The findings of the Oxfam report came in wake of the report released in January 2014 claiming that 85 richest people (billionaires) on the planet owns almost same amount of wealth that is with the half of the world’s population (approx 3.56 billion people).

The research report in its findings used the report of Forbes Magazine that claimed the London-based Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja have a combined wealth of 10 billion dollars.

The five top richest Britons listed in the Forbes report are
• The Duke of Westminster is the richest
• The David and Simon Reuben
• The Hindujas
• The Cadogan family
• Sports Direct retail boss Mike Ashley