Panorama: Season 2023, Episode 11

2023 - 11: Surviving the Pay Squeeze

Millions of people in the UK feel like they've had a pay cut, with wages often not keeping up with the cost of living. As public sector workers continue to take strike action, the BBC's Analysis Editor Ros Atkins asks why so many people are feeling so poor. He returns to Cornwall, where he grew up, to meet families struggling to make ends meet in what has become one of the country's most deprived areas. The government says the pandemic and the war in Ukraine are the key drivers of the cost-of-living crisis, but Ros discovers problems stretching much further back and asks whether we are getting the full story about the extent of the challenges facing the UK economy.