Cost-of-living crisis: Britain's Indian, Asian communities bear brunt of austerity

Britain’s Indian and Asian communities are among the worst hit by the continuing cost-of-living crisis, according to the Indian Workers Association (Great Britain), which has accused the government in London of failing ordinary families while protecting corporate profits.

The Leicester-based organisation, one of Britain’s oldest grassroots movements for South Asian workers, says rising energy bills and food prices are pushing thousands of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black working-class families to breaking point.

“People are paying more and getting less,” Sital Singh Gill, the Association’s general secretary, told The Tribune. “Working-class families, especially within Asian, Indian and Black communities, are carrying the heaviest burden. The government talks about stability, but for our people, there is no stability — only struggle.”

According to the International Monetary Fund, the United Kingdom will record the highest inflation rate in the G7 this year, about 3.2 per cent, easing only slightly in 2026. Grocery inflation has climbed again to 5.2 per cent, while the average annual household energy bill now stands at £1,755 (about ₹2.07 lakh) under Ofgem’s latest price cap. Ofgem, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, is the UK government regulator that sets limits on household energy prices.

For many low-income households, Gill said, the system of fixed standing charges for gas and electricity makes matters worse. “Even if you use less energy, you still pay the same daily fee,” he explained. “It hits pensioners, low-usage homes and those already struggling to survive. It’s time the government reformed these standing charges.”

Government and charity data confirm that minority households, including those of Indian origin, are being squeezed the most. According to figures from the Runnymede Trust and the UK government, 22 per cent of Indian households are classed as low income after housing costs, compared with nearly half of Pakistani (47 per cent) and Bangladeshi (53 per cent) households.

Child poverty rates are also high: 27 per cent of Indian-origin children live in poverty, rising to 59 per cent among Pakistanis and 65 per cent among Bangladeshis.

“The poorest in our communities — whether Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Black — have the least savings and face the highest costs,” Gill said. “These are the same families who kept Britain going during the pandemic. They drove our taxis, cared for the sick, and worked in factories and hospitals. Yet they are the first to suffer when prices rise.”

Overcrowding adds to the pressure. Data from the Office for National Statistics show that 4 per cent of Indian households and 18 per cent of Bangladeshi households live in overcrowded conditions, compared with just 2 per cent of White British families.

The association accused the government of protecting corporate profits while workers face higher taxes and stagnant wages. “We are paying Scandinavian-level taxes but getting American-level inequality,” Gill said. “If Britain is truly recovering, why are our public services collapsing and our families queuing at food banks?”

The IMF has similarly warned that inequality and weak household spending could undermine Britain’s fragile recovery.

Ahead of the country’s Autumn Budget, the IWA is urging British ministers to target support towards low-income and overcrowded households, reform standing charges, invest in energy efficiency, ensure transparency in supermarket pricing and profits, tackle the ethnicity pay gap, and reverse cuts to local public services.

Gill said the association will write to the Treasury and relevant departments in the coming days.

“We, the Indian, Asian and Black communities, are part and parcel of the British working class,” he said. “We helped build this country — and we stand shoulder to shoulder with all working people, Black, White and Asian alike, to demand fairness, dignity and justice.”