Revealed: where income is rising - and falling - fastest

People living in the Scottish Borders experienced the strongest disposable income growth across the UK in 2013, according to a report.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produced estimates of gross disposable household income - showing the amount of money that people have left over to spend or save after factors such as taxes are taken into account.

Gross disposable household income per person increased in all regions of the UK between 2012 and 2013, the ONS said. The West Midlands and Wales had the largest increases at a regional level, at 2.3% and 2.2% respectively.

It said that on a local level, the area with the strongest growth in disposable household income per person in 2013 was the Scottish Borders, increasing by 5.2%. Other notable areas were west Cumbria and the Western Isles, which both saw 5.1% growth.

At the other end of the spectrum, Redbridge and Waltham Forest in the London area both saw a 3.8% decline in gross disposable household income that year.

Manchester saw a 3.4% fall in gross disposable household income in 2013, while in York there was a 3.3% fall.

But other northern cities fared better, with Bradford seeing 4.2% growth and Hull and Sheffield recording increases of 3.8% and 1.5% respectively.

Strong disposable income growth took place across Shropshire and Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire in 2013, the report said.

The ONS said that in 2013, regional gross disposable household income was above the UK average of £17,559 in four regions - London, where it was £22,516, the South East, where it stood at £19,898, the East of England, where it was at £18,523, and the South West, at £17,693.

The lowest gross disposable household income per head was in Northern Ireland, at £14,347.

Residents in the London boroughs of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Camden, the City of London and Wandsworth typically had more than double the disposable income of the average UK resident, the research found.

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