The combined wealth of all private households in Great Britain was £9.5 trillion by 2012

Just 10 per cent of Britain’s population owns almost half of the country’s wealth, with vast holdings of property, possessions, savings and cash.

Official figures found that 9 per cent of the population are millionaires and more than one in ten have a second home.

By contrast the least well-off half of Britain owns just 9 per cent of the nation’s wealth.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics prompted criticism that the country is becoming more and more polarised.

Altogether the combined wealth of all private households in Great Britain was £9.5 trillion by 2012 and the average household total wealth stood at £218,400. The richest 10 per cent hold 44 per cent of all the wealth.

Rachael Orr, Oxfam’s head of its