Campaigners have warned that the work capability assessment is causing stress and anxiety for single homeless people. Over three-quarters of those surveyed said they are unhappy with the outcome of their assessment.

The government’s anti-poverty ‘tsar’ has accused the Prime Minister of ignoring a study into how to break the cycle of deprivation. Frank Field MP told the Daily Mail that David Cameron has squandered two years by failing to implement any of his suggestions. He is quoted as saying:

LSE researchers have warned about the spread of new means tests devised by local bodies. They say the tests are the combined result of spending cuts, efforts to protect low-income groups from some of their effects, and the general trend towards ‘localised’ decision making.

An all-party group of MPs has said the point of greatest ‘leverage’ for social mobility is what happens to children between ages 0 and 3, primarily in the home.

The government has published an annual progress report on implementation of the European Union’s strategy for inclusive economic growth – including the target of lifting at least 20 million people out of the risk of poverty and exclusion by 2020.

The wealth of the richest 1,000 in Britain has grown by a further 4.7 per cent, to reach a new high of more than £414 billion, according to the 2012 Sunday Times ‘Rich List’. The Rich List tracks the wealth of the 1,000 richest individuals in Britain.

The Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, has said that plans by his own government for an extra £10 billion of benefit cuts are ‘unacceptable’.

New research has found that since the start of the economic recession teachers are witnessing increasing numbers of pupils coming into school ‘hungry’, ‘dirty’ and ‘struggling to concentrate’.

Researchers in Germany have concluded that governments are capable of reducing income inequality. They say that the evidence is stronger for the effects of social spending than for progressive taxation.

Over a quarter of children aged 2 to 15 in Ireland are experiencing deprivation, according to the results of new research on childhood deprivation, Understanding Childhood Deprivation in Ireland, published jointly by the Irish government and the Economic and Social Research Institute in

Child poverty in Northern Ireland could increase as a result of welfare reforms proposed by the UK Coalition government, warns Patricia Lewsley-Mooney, the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People.

Almost one in five people (18 per cent) are finding it increasingly hard to afford essentials such as food and energy bills, according to new polling data from the Resolution Foundation think tank.

Oxfam has published the first results of a new ‘Humankind Index’ for Scotland, designed to measure prosperity through a wider set of indicators than simple gross domestic product.

The cuts in housing benefit will adversely affect some of the most disadvantaged groups in society and are likely to lead to an increase in homelessness, warns the homeless charity Crisis.

An inner London borough is looking to move homeless tenants to a housing association in Stoke-on-Trent, 160 miles away in the Midlands.

Researchers in the Czech Republic have found high levels of material deprivation in UK households compared with a representative sample of four European countries.

Current government policy on social justice hinges on the claim that there are 120,000 ‘troubled’ families in Britain but this is deeply flawed, argues Professor Ruth Levitas in There may be ‘Trouble’ Ahead: What We Know About Those 120,000 ‘Troubled’ Families (PSE: UK, policy working pa

Anti-poverty campaigners in Europe have raised concerns over whether national governments are planning to ignore poverty reduction targets when they take decisions on the next round of EU Structural Funds (2014–2020).

More than half of all school-aged children living in poverty do not receive free school meals, finds The Children’s Society in Fair and Square: Free School Meals for All Children in Povert

A report by a committee of MPs has said that the costs and benefits of cutting the highest income tax rate from 50p to 45p are ‘highly uncertain’. They argue that the figures quoted by the Coalition government could be significantly out.

A think-tank report has calculated that the planned increase in the national minimum wage for 2012 will leave it lower in real terms than it was in 2004, and 6 per cent below its 2009 peak.

A paper by the OECD in Paris has highlighted growing income inequality in European countries – with large income gains among the top 10 per cent of earners as the main cause.

Researchers in Dublin have proposed a novel ‘multi-dimensional’ way to measure poverty in European countries.

Poor neighbourhoods are increasing in number in outer London boroughs but getting fewer in the centre, a new analysis by the University of Sheffield has shown.

A charity chief executive has resigned from a government panel in protest at an ‘inhumane system’ that is designating severely ill and disabled people as being fit to work.

New research covering the UK, USA and Scandinavia has found that middle-class people are in an advantaged position compared with less affluent social groups when it comes to accessing public services – the so-called ‘sharp elbows’ effect.

The new rules on working tax credits from the start of the 2012/13 tax year will hit around 212,000 low income families, according to information published by the House of Commons Library. This will reduce their income on average by £2,600 each year.

An updated analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests that the combined effect of all the tax and benefit changes effective from April 2012 would be an average loss of £511 per year for households with children.

The importance of understanding child poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon is highlighted in a new report from UNICEF, Child Poverty and Inequality: New Perspectives.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has launched the Coalition government’s social mobility strategy, Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers.

The level of the yearly uprating in the minimum wage has a direct impact on other low-wage employees, with large increases producing a positive impact on wage levels, argues a new paper from the University of York on the impact of the minimum wage.

Researchers at Essex University have provided a detailed analysis of the near-doubling of average UK household income over the 40 years up to the start of the global recession in 2008.

UNICEF researchers have estimated the degree to which deprivation is experienced by children in 29 European countries, using a child-specific scale.

Two researchers in Italy have published a paper that provides an updated analysis of income poverty in European Union (EU) countries up to 2007 and covers the newest member states.

There has recently been a rapid increase in the number of housing benefit claimants who are in paid work, according to a study carried out by the Building and Social Housing Foundation.

Two separate analyses have found that women are bearing the brunt of austerity measures introduced by the Coalition government. One analysis, by the House of Commons Library, calculates that nearly 75 per cent of budget savings since 2010 have primarily hit women’s incomes.

Homelessness and levels of rough sleeping are increasing as a result of deep cuts to hostel and housing services, according to a survey of homeless charities, Homeless Watch, a survey of needs and provisions 2012.

A new review of research on families living on a low income finds that the recent recession has generated additional burdens for parents in these circumstances, including increased time pressures, a decline in nutrition, and higher stress levels.

The government has laid out its strategy for achieving social justice. The strategy, Social Justice, Transforming Lives, Cm 8314, is based on the following principles:

In an interview with the Guardian, the American sociologist David Brady argues that ‘targeting benefits at the very poorest people won’t effectively reduce poverty’. ‘No affluent democracy has achieved relatively low poverty without robust social policy’, he says.

The Chancellor’s annual budget statement contained a number of measures, many of which would affect the living standards of those on the lowest incomes.

Stewart Lansley, London, Gibson Square Books, 320 pp, ISBN-10: 1908096063 (hbk)

Reviewed by Joanna Mack

Lane Kenworthy, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 176 pp, ISBN 978-0-19-959152-7 (hbk)

Reviewed by Stewart Lansley

Households will lose an average of £160 in 2012/13, rising to £370 in 2013/14, as a result of the Coalition government’s tax and benefit reforms, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

The government announced that from October 2012 the adult rate of the minimum wage would rise by 11p, taking it to £6.19. This is a rise of 1.8 per cent, which is below the rate of inflation.

The Coalition government risks repeating the mistakes of the previous Labour government by focusing too much on tax and benefit incentives as the only solution to poverty, argues a budget briefing from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, What will Budget 2012 Mean for UK Poverty? The briefin

More than one third of the 141,100 people going through incapacity benefits reassessment have been found to be fit for work, according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The remaining 63 per cent of claimants were entitled to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA):

Improving the quality of part-time opportunities for second earners is crucial to reducing child poverty, according to a new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Building A Sustainable Quality Part-time Recruitment Market.

The government’s new Universal Credit will hit poorer working mums the hardest, according to a report by the charity Save the Children.

A primary school in London’s most affluent borough is set to lose half its pupils as a result of the government’s benefits cap, according to a report in the Observer.