LONDON, Jan 25 Reuters British income inequality rose to a threeyear high in the 202122 financial year after a dip during the coronavirus pandemic, but remains below peaks seen in the runup to the 2008 financial crisis, official figures showed on Wednesday.

The median British household had aftertax income including wages, cash benefits and investment income of 32,300 pounds 39,800 in the year to the end of March 2022, 0.6 less than the year before after adjusting for inflation.

Median incomes for the poorest fifth of households dropped by 3.8 after inflation in the 12 months to the end of March 2022 to 14,500 pounds while those for the richest fifth rose by 1.6 to 66,000 pounds, the Office for National Statistics said.

Inequality dropped during the pandemic as high earners suffered bigger percentage drops in earnings, while the poorest benefited from a temporary increase in benefits which was withdrawn in 202122.

Most Britons will have faced a bigger squeeze on their incomes during the current financial year, as consumer price inflation hit a 41year high of 11.1 in October.

Looking at incomes as a whole, including the effects of direct taxation and the benefits systems, inequality rose in 202122 to its highest since 201819 when calculated using the Gini coefficient, a measure widely used by statisticians.

However, it was generally higher in the second half of the 2000s, and peaked in 200708.

Income inequality rose fastest in Britain in the 1980s, under the…