Top 1 Earners – Are They Doing Well?

When you look at the top 1 earners uk it’s tempting to think these people are doing pretty well, especially as they drive so much growth in our economy. But our research has revealed they are starting to question the link between hard work and success, and many worry that their children will struggle to make it up the ladder as middle-class professions are hollowed out by offshoring, automation, and precarisation.

Our interviews also reveal that they have misperceptions about wider society. For example, they tend to believe that state social spending is higher than in other countries, and that people in poverty are largely out of work. This is despite the fact that the richest 1% of households in the UK have more than double the wealth of those in the remaining top 10% of the population. View more

Top 1% Earners in the UK: How Much Do You Need to Make

While it isn’t easy to break into the top 1%, if you have the right mix of motivation, dedication and career choices you can boost your income and become part of this elite group. Choosing the highest-paid jobs and companies will help, but even with a salary of £300,000, it would take around 10 years to hit that mark in the UK.

While there are no readily available figures on what proportion of tax the top 1% pay (HM Revenue and Customs only publish data back to 1999), we can say that it is a small percentage, and has remained consistent across Labour, Coalition and Conservative governments.