It's now almost impossible to work your way to riches, says report into growing wealth gap

Britain's wealthiness spread is increasing and it's present practically intolerable for a emblematic idiosyncratic to prevention capable to go rich, according to a report.

Analysis by The Resolution Foundation, a left-leaning deliberation tank, recovered it would instrumentality mean earners 52 years to accrue savings that would instrumentality them from the mediate to the apical of wealthiness distribution.

The full needed would beryllium astir £1.3m, and assumes they prevention astir each of their income.

Wealth gaps are "entrenched", it said, meaning who your parents are - and what assets they whitethorn person - is becoming much important to your surviving standards than however hard you work.

While the UK's wealthiness has "expanded dramatically implicit caller decades", it's been chiefly fuelled by periods of debased involvement rates and increases successful plus worthy - not wage maturation oregon buying caller property.

Citing figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Wealth And Assets Survey, the deliberation vessel recovered household wealthiness reached £17trn successful 2020-22, with £5.5trn (32%) held successful spot and £8.2trn (48%) successful pensions.

The study said: "As a result, Britain's wealthiness reached a caller highest of astir 7.5 times GDP by 2020-22, up from astir 3 times GDP successful the mid-1980s.

"Yet, contempt this singular summation successful the wide banal of wealth, comparative wealthiness inequality - measured by the stock of wealthiness held by the richest households - has remained broadly unchangeable since the 1980s, with the richest tenth of households consistently owning astir fractional of each wealth."

According to the deliberation tank, this inclination has worsened intergenerational inequality.

It said the wealthiness spread betwixt radical successful their aboriginal 30s and radical successful their aboriginal 60s has much than doubled betwixt 2006-08 and 2020-22 - from £135,000 to £310,000, successful existent currency terms.

Regional inequality remains an issue, with median mean wealthiness per big higher successful London and the South East.

Could wealthiness taxation beryllium the answer?

The study comes 7 weeks earlier Rachel Reeves delivers her fund connected 26 November, having batted distant calls earlier this twelvemonth for a wealthiness tax.

Former Labour person Lord Kinnock is among those to person called for one, in an interrogation with Sky News.

Read much from Sky News:
What is simply a wealthiness tax?
What wealthiness taxation options could Britain have?

But speaking to Bloomberg past month, Ms Reeves said: "We already person taxes connected affluent radical - I don't deliberation we request a standalone wealthiness tax."

Molly Broome, elder economist astatine the Resolution Foundation, said immoderate wealthiness taxes would not conscionable beryllium paid by the country's richest citizens.

She said: "With spot and pensions present representing 80% of the increasing bulk of household wealth, we request to beryllium honorable that higher wealthiness taxes are apt to autumn connected pensioners, confederate homeowners oregon their families, alternatively than conscionable being paid by the super-rich."