Real household disposable incomes in Britain falling at fastest rate since 2011 : Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Household living standards are falling at their fastest pace since 2011 since last June’s Brexit vote, according to a new survey released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in Britain. (File Photo)

Real household disposable incomes in Britain are falling at their fastest rate since 2011, UK government figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the amount that families have to spend fell by 2 percent in the first quarter of 2017, compared to 2016.

The ONS said that was the biggest decline for more than five years and the main reason for the fall was the rise in inflation, which hit 2.3 percent in the first quarter.

Over the same period, wages rose by just 2.1 percent.

“It's official. Britons are getting poorer,” said Frances O'Grady, general secretary of Trades Union Congress (TUC).

“Having just lived through the longest wage squeeze since Victorian times, their living standards are in freefall again. The government cannot sit on its hands and watch this crisis unfold,” he added.

The TUC also said the government needs to create better-paid jobs.

The fall in the value of sterling since the Brexit vote has increased the cost of imports, including food, thus boosting inflation.

Real household income per head has now fallen for three months in a row, the first time that has happened since 2013.

Britain could lose up to £66 billion ($81 billion) a year in GDP and the government could lose almost a tenth of its tax revenue under a so-called hard Brexit, leaked government papers suggest.

UK economic output could fall up to 9.5 percent if the country leaves the European Union’s single market, The Times reported, citing a draft government paper.