British Asian Families Bear Brunt of Cost-of-Living Crisis, Warns Indian Workers Association

Britain’s Indian and wider South Asian communities are being pushed to the brink by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, according to the Indian Workers Association (Great Britain). The organisation has accused the UK government of “protecting corporate profits” while leaving ordinary working families to struggle with soaring prices and stagnant wages.

Sital Singh Gill, the association’s general secretary, said that families from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Black working-class backgrounds are facing unbearable financial pressures.

“People are paying more and getting less,” Gill 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.”

Inflation and Inequality

The International Monetary Fund projects that the UK will have the highest inflation in the G7 this year, at around 3.2 per cent, with only a modest decline expected by 2026. Everyday costs remain punishingly high — grocery prices are up by over 5 per cent, and the average annual energy bill now stands at £1,755 (₹2.07 lakh), according to Ofgem, the energy regulator.

Gill criticised the government’s system of fixed daily energy charges, which he said unfairly penalises low-income and low-usage households.

“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.”

Minority Families Hit Hardest

Research by the Runnymede Trust and UK government data confirm that minority households — particularly those of South Asian origin — are among the worst affected. Twenty-two per cent of Indian households fall below the low-income threshold after housing costs, rising sharply to 47 per cent for Pakistani families and 53 per cent for Bangladeshi ones.

Child poverty remains a severe concern. More than a quarter (27 per cent) of Indian-origin children live in poverty, with the figure climbing to 59 per cent for Pakistani and 65 per cent for Bangladeshi children.

“These are the same families who kept Britain going during the pandemic,” Gill said. “They drove our taxis, cared for the sick, worked in factories and hospitals. Yet they are the first to suffer when prices rise.”

Overcrowding and Declining Services

Housing pressures compound the crisis. Figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that overcrowding affects 4 per cent of Indian households and nearly one in five Bangladeshi households, compared with just 2 per cent of White British families.

Gill accused the government of presiding over a system that benefits corporations while working families face rising taxes and decaying public services.

“We are paying Scandinavian-level taxes but getting American-level inequality,” he said. “If Britain is truly recovering, why are our families queuing at food banks?”

The IMF has also cautioned that widening inequality and weak household spending could stall Britain’s fragile economic recovery.

A Call for Fairness and Reform

Ahead of the Autumn Budget, the Indian Workers Association is calling on ministers to direct meaningful support towards low-income and overcrowded households. Their demands include reforming standing energy charges, tackling the ethnicity pay gap, regulating supermarket pricing, investing in energy efficiency, and reversing cuts to local services.

Gill confirmed that the association will be writing to the Treasury and other government departments to press for urgent action.

“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.”