Last updated 10:08, Wednesday, 02 July 2008

A single person needs to earn at least £13,400 a year before tax to have a minimum standard of living in Britain and a couple with two children £26,800.

A mobile phone

The “minimum income” is enough to cover needs like food and warmth, as well as the occasional film ticket and simple meal out, says a new study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

A couple with two children need to spend £370 a week, excluding rent or mortgage and an OAP couple need £201, says the charity.

A car and internet access if you don’t have children at senior school are luxuries but multi-channel TV and mobile phones are not. Film tickets, a bottle of wine and a bird feeder are among the items that people need to participate in society, it adds.

The minimum standard of living is not only the amount of money required for survival. It includes "more than just food, clothes and shelter", the report states.

"It is about having what you need in order to have the opportunities and choices necessary to participate in society," it says.

For a single person of working age that included walking boots, a pay-as-you-go mobile phone and a bicycle.

For a pensioner couple, an occasional carvery meal and a bird feeder were on the list, and a single mother needed £210 a week for items including nappies for the baby and a Christmas tree.

The report is the result of a two year study involving panelists from a range of households and on varying incomes. They were helped by experts to make sure the budget provided an adequate diet and enough warmth to remain healthy.

The basic state pension gives a retired couple about three quarters of the minimum income but claiming the means-tested Pension Credit could top their income up to just above the minimum standard, the report claims.

The study found that almost everybody classified as being in poverty - having a household income of 60 per cent of the UK average - had an income too low to pay for an “adequate” standard of living as defined by the panellists.

The foundation’s report took in the views of people from various social groups, in rural and urban areas, before coming up with an average.

It concluded that a car was not required by any social group, nor were cigarettes, but some alcohol consumed at home was acceptable.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "This government is committed to a fairer, more inclusive society, providing opportunity for all. We have lifted 600,000 children and nearly a million pensioners out of poverty.

"We have increased winter fuel payments to £400 for someone aged over 80 and £250 for 60 years plus.”

Is a car a luxury item in Cumbria? Would a bird feeder make you feel more of a part of society? Is the internet a luxury – or now an everyday necessity? Tell us below . . .