Torsten Bell delivers the Challenge Poverty Week Lecture

Workers in Scotland are £10,000 a year worse off due to 15 years of wage stagnation, the Challenge Poverty Week Lecture has heard.

Torsten Bell, Chief Executive of the independent think tank the Resolution Foundation outlined how poverty has changed in the 21st century with more families, single households, and disabled people struggling due to stagnant wages.

A trustee of the Child Poverty Action Group, Torsten worked in HM Treasury, as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers during the financial crisis, and is a former Director of Policy for the Labour Party.

Discussing the impact of the financial crisis on wage levels, he said: "What happened was wages stopped growing.

"If you told me that this was what was going to happen, I would have told you it was completely impossible - that you would go 15 years with no wage growth.

"That's a big deal. That's £10,000 - the gap between the trend line and what actually happened. It's not £50 - it's ten grand - on average."

The Poverty Alliance hosted the free lecture in partnership with The Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit at Glasgow Caledonian.