Newcastle Utd owner Mike Ashley one of five billionaires who own more than 20 per cent of UK's poorest households

A report on inequality by Oxfam revealed that the five richest families in the UK have a combined wealth of £28.2bn – more than the £28.1bn combined money and assets belonging to 12.6 million Britons living on the breadline.

The latest rich list from Forbes magazine showed that the five top UK entries were the family of the Duke of Westminster, David and Simon Reuben, the Hinduja brothers, the Cadogan family, and Mr Ashley.

The Sports Direct retail boss has a personal fortune of £3.3bn, which is equivalent to the wealth of almost 20,000 North-East typical households where the average wealth is £165,900.

Oxfam said their report, A Tale of Two Britains, highlighted the scale of Britain's growing inequality.

Oxfam's director of campaigns and policy, Ben Phillips, said: "Britain is becoming a deeply divided nation, with a wealthy elite who are seeing their incomes spiral up, while millions of families are struggling to make ends meet.

"It's deeply worrying that these extreme levels of wealth inequality exist in Britain today, where just a handful of people have more money than millions struggling to survive on the breadline."

Oxfam said the wealth gap in the UK was widening because the better off could capture the lion's share of the proceeds of growth.

Since the mid-1990s, the incomes of the top 0.1 per cent have grown by £461 a week or £24,000 a year. By contrast, the bottom 90 per cent had seen a real terms increase of only £2.82 a week or £147 a year.

Oxfam said the Government should use this week’s Budget to raise revenues from those that could afford it by clamping down on companies and individuals who avoid paying their fair share of tax.

Buckinghamshire-born Mr Ashley, who according to the 2013 Sunday Times Rich List is the richest man in the North-East, is in line for a further windfall worth a potential £65m if Sports Direct meets its sales targets for this year and next.