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Government cuts
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17/07/2012
Society’s most vulnerable people in a ‘fragile’ state
Many of society’s most vulnerable people have been left in a ‘fragile’ state by the economic downturn and cuts to public services and benefits, according to a new study.
Researchers examined the lives of around 100 vulnerable people living in one north London borough. They used focus groups, face-to-face interviews and ethnographic studies in which researchers shadowed residents for a day. They focused on three groups: disabled residents and carers, young people, and families on low incomes.
Category: Reports -
06/07/2012
Warning over children living in vulnerable families
The number of children living in vulnerable families will rise to over one million by 2015 unless urgent action is taken, a new report has warned.
A research study for three leading children’s charities measured the number of families with children who are most vulnerable to adverse economic conditions, and how they will be affected over the next few years.
Category: Reports -
26/06/2012
Austerity hitting public service workers
Public service workers face pay freezes and redundancy threats caused by austerity measures, according to a new report. The result is worsening personal finances, rising debt and cuts in spending on essential items.
Researchers from the Working Lives Research Institute carried out a survey of over 1,000 UNISON members, combining it with a number of face-to-face interviews. UNISON represents over 1.3 million members working in the public services or for linked private contractors.
Category: Reports -
25/06/2012
Measuring Access to Local Services in the PSE UK Survey
Support for most local services, in the sense of seeing them as being essential, remains very high and has in some cases increased since 1999. This is despite several decades of the promotion of ideas about privatisation of services and the current Coalition government’s austerity measures that have resulted in major reductions in spending on local public services, which will have a significant impact on both the level and quality of provision. In this context, this note explores the impact local services have on poverty, the quality and availability of services in poorer areas and the role local services play in anti-poverty strategies.
Category: Conceptual notes -
25/06/2012
‘Negative impact’ of recession on children
The recession is having a negative impact on the lives of children, says a cross-party group of MPs and peers. They highlight cuts to services, squeezed charity and community group funding, and increasing strain on family budgets.
Category: Reports -
22/06/2012
Benefit cuts for disabled people – ‘worst yet to come’
Disabled people have yet to feel the full impact of the government’s programme for benefit cuts, a think-tank report highlights. Budget cuts have already had a significant effect but the Welfare Reform Act 2012 means more cuts are on the way.
Since 2010 Demos has been following the lives of six disabled households, and its report is based on their experiences of benefit cuts.
Category: Reports -
21/06/2012
Local Services Under Seige: Attitudes to Public Services in a Time of Austerity
Recent austerity measures in the UK have resulted in major reductions in spending on local public services, which will have a significant impact on both the level and quality of local service provision. This paper presents a new analysis of people’s attitudes to local services and discusses to what extent the degree and allocation of public service cuts reflect the priorities of the general population. Overall, it was found that support for local services remains very high across the UK and has in some cases increased since 1999. This paper also notes that major cuts to preventative services may imply greater costs in core services in the long run. The analysis is based on the PSE: UK research questions on local services in the Omnibus Survey, conducted in the United Kingdom in July 2011. The paper also draws on previous analysis of the 1999 Poverty and Social Exclusion survey and the 1990 Breadline Britain Survey of comparable questions.
Category: Result analysis -
21/06/2012
Cutting council tax support in Wales
Any cuts to council tax support in Wales are bound to hit lower-income households, says a think-tank briefing.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has examined the likely impact on Wales of the UK government’s proposal to devolve council tax support from 2013/14 onwards, and to cut funding for it by 10 per cent. The briefing looks at the options available to the Welsh Government.
Category: Reports -
14/06/2012
Government strategy creating ‘perfect storm’ for low-income groups
The government’s austerity strategy is disproportionately hurting those on the lowest incomes, according to an Oxfam report. It describes a ‘perfect storm’ of factors – increasing unemployment, a lack of decent jobs, rising living costs, falling incomes and deep cuts to welfare and public services – hitting the most vulnerable people, both in and out of work.
The report combines an analysis of the recession’s effects with a series of policy recommendations.
Category: Reports -
14/06/2012
Cuts to local housing allowance – early impact
Just over two-thirds of housing benefit claimants in the private rented sector (and 8 out of 10 new claimants) face a ‘shortfall’ between their local housing allowance (LHA) and their rent, according to new research.
Sheffield Hallam University researchers examined the initial reactions of tenants and landlords to cuts in LHAs introduced in April 2011. From that date rates were capped at £250 per week for a one-bedroom property, rising to £400 per week for four bedrooms or more. The five-bedroom rate was scrapped. In addition, from October 2011, LHAs were set at the 30th percentile of local rents rather than the median (average).
Category: Reports
