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Government cuts
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28/01/2013
Austerity in UK ‘hits high-income households hardest’
High-income households in the UK have lost proportionately more than those in poverty as a result of austerity measures, according to new research published by the European Commission.
Researchers compared the distributional effects of 'fiscal consolidation' measures in nine European Union countries (including the UK) that have experienced large budget deficits following the financial crisis of the late 2000s and subsequent economic downturn.
Category: Reports -
17/01/2013
Cuts ‘targeted’ at poor and disabled people
The government's public spending cuts are targeted at people in poverty and at disabled people, according to think-tank analysis. It accuses the government of having made no effort to understand the cumulative impact of the cuts on minority groups, especially those with the greatest needs.
Category: Reports -
15/01/2013
Extra 200,000 children in poverty due to benefit cap
The government has admitted its policy of capping increases in benefits will result in around 200,000 more children being in relative income poverty by 2015-16. The information has emerged in a written answer in Parliament from a junior DWP minister.
Following the recent Autumn Statement, the government is planning to limit the increase in most working-age benefits to just 1 per cent in each of the three years, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. This is likely to lead to benefits both being cut in real terms (relative to consumer prices) and falling behind average earnings increases over the period.
The Child Poverty Action Group said the government's child poverty strategy was in 'utter disarray', with its policies overall set to push a million more children into poverty by 2020, and accused ministers of being 'in denial'. The government said it was 'not helpful' to look at relative income in isolation as a way of tracking progress on eradicating child poverty.
Category: News stories -
14/01/2013
Benefits cuts in Scotland ‘a toxic mix’
The UK government's programme of benefits cuts is a 'toxic mix' that will cause a substantial increase in poverty in Scotland, according to a new report. As well as looking at the impact of the cuts, the report attempts to identify ways in which the worst effects can be lessened.
Category: Reports -
04/01/2013
Support for benefit cuts ‘linked to ignorance’
Trade unions are warning the government not to count on continuing voter support for capping benefit rises. A new poll commissioned by the TUC has found that those people least able to give accurate answers to basic questions about benefits are the most likely to back cuts. Once people are made aware of the full facts, support for cuts drops significantly.
The YouGov poll found widespread ignorance about benefits:
Category: News stories -
11/12/2012
Wealthy groups ‘not paying their way’ in society
Rich, powerful and well connected groups in society are depriving the country of vital investment spending and costing the government billions in lost annual revenues, according to a new report from the Compass think tank.
The report takes the rhetorical language used by the government to justify cuts in claimants' benefits and applies it instead to much more privileged groups and organisations.
Category: Reports -
06/12/2012
Chancellor hits benefits again
Most benefits and tax credits for working-age people will be cut in real terms for three years in a row from 2013-14, under plans announced by the Chancellor in his 2012 Autumn Statement on the public finances.
The Chancellor admitted he would fail to meet his pledges on public borrowing as a result of worsening prospects for economic growth. Forecasts of growth from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility were revised down significantly for every year between 2012 and 2016. As a result, the Chancellor said, the government's 'austerity measures' would have to be extended until at least 2017-18 – three years longer than originally promised.
In overall terms, however, the measures outlined in the Autumn Statement were neutral in their effect on the public finances. Instead the Chancellor chose to make significant changes in the way spending cuts will fall on different groups and areas of spending.
Category: News stories -
28/11/2012
Spending cuts ‘hit families with children worst’
Families with children are at greatest risk from cuts in public services, according to a trade union report that looks at the potential impact of cuts (other than those to benefits and tax credits) on different family and household types. Families with children fare much worse than households without them, whether they are in or out of employment.
The analysis is based on a model that allocates total government spending to households on the basis of which households receive and use particular services.
Category: Reports -
26/11/2012
Warning of more public spending cuts
The outlook for public finances has worsened significantly in recent months, according to a briefing from the Institute for Fiscal Studies. As a result the Chancellor is likely to need to find more public spending cuts than already planned, and to consider additional tax increases.
Category: Reports -
19/11/2012
Austerity threatens ‘social crises’
The combined impact of benefits reform and public sector cuts is putting huge strains on a welfare system already 'buckling' in the face of growing demand and underfunding, according to a think-tank report. The long-term result is that social crises are likely to build up leading to unsustainable human, social and economic costs.
The report is the outcome of an 18-month project with people in some of the most deprived communities in Birmingham and Haringey (London), designed to explore their experiences of the government’s austerity measures and its ambitions for building a ‘Big Society’.
Category: Reports
