When Theresa May first took office in July 2016, she promised to stand up for those who were ‘just about managing’ – people from working families who worry about paying their mortgage, the cost of living and getting their kids into a good school.

But just over two years later, the so-called ‘JAMs’ are significantly worse off today than they were the day she took office.

According to new TUC analysis, households have spent on average £1250 more than they earned in the period since May became Prime Minister – that’s £34 billion in total.

There has been a shortfall in every quarter since she took office. Plus, the shortfalls are concentrated over the poorest fifth of households, where debt levels have soared.

The first shortfall in 30 years has not been driven by excessive spending, but by a collapse in incomes.

So rather than just about managing, it’s clear that many working families simply aren’t managing at all.

The facts

Let’s put the performance of household budgets since Theresa May became Prime Minister in July 2016 into context.

We can see from the following chart that in every quarter since July 2016, household outgoings have outstripped income (2016Q4 to 2017Q1):