THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Rising inflation, energy bills and food prices are pushing Asian, Indian and Black working-class families in Britain to breaking point, the Indian Workers Association (Great Britain) has warned.
The national organisation, based in Leicester, says that the government’s current economic policy is “failing ordinary families” and leaving minority communities disproportionately exposed to the cost-of-living crisis.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Kingdom is projected to record the highest inflation rate among G7 nations in 2025 — around 3.2 per cent, easing only slightly next year.
“People are paying more and getting less,” said Sital Singh Gill, General Secretary of the Indian Workers Association.
“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.”
Rising Prices and Shrinking Pay
The Association pointed to new figures showing that grocery inflation has climbed again to 5.2 per cent, and the average energy bill is now £1,755 a year under the latest Ofgem price cap for October to December.
Standing charges — the fixed daily fees for gas and electricity — remain at 53.68p a day for electricity and 34.03p for gas, a system the IWA calls “unfair on low-income households.”
Gill added: “Even if you use less energy, you still pay the same daily fee. It hits pensioners, low-usage homes and those already struggling to survive. It’s time the government reformed these standing charges.”
‘We Are All Paying the Price’
The IWA said the crisis is deepening long-standing racial and class inequalities.
Figures from the Runnymede Trust show Black and Asian families are two-and-a-half times more likely to live in poverty than White households.
Within South Asian communities, government data shows:
• 47% of Pakistani and 53% of Bangladeshi households are classed as low-income after housing costs.
• 22% of Indian households are low-income, while 27% of Indian-origin children live in poverty.
• 59% of Pakistani and 65% of Bangladeshi children live below the poverty line.
(Sources: Runnymede Trust, CPAG, GOV.UK, 2024)
Overcrowding remains another key issue: 18% of Bangladeshi, 16% of Black African, and 4% of Indian households live in overcrowded housing, compared with 2% of White British.
“The poorest in our communities — whether Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Black — have the least savings and face the highest costs,” said Gill.
“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.”
Criticism of Government Economic Policy
The IWA accused the government of protecting corporate profits while ordinary workers face cuts and higher taxes.
“We are paying Scandinavian-level taxes but getting American-level inequality,” said Gill.
“If Britain is truly recovering, why are our public services collapsing and our families queuing at food banks?”
The IMF has also urged caution, warning that inequality and weak household spending continue to threaten the UK’s fragile recovery.
Call for Reform
The Indian Workers Association is urging ministers to:
• Target support towards low-income and overcrowded households;
• Reform standing charges and invest in energy efficiency;
• Ensure transparency in food pricing and supermarket profits;
• Tackle the ethnicity pay gap;
• Reverse cuts to local public services.
Gill said the Association will be writing to the Chancellor and relevant ministers ahead of the Autumn Budget to press for urgent reforms.
“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.”
