The latest Joseph Rowntree Foundation annual report, finds that those who had been struggling to...
Government policy
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24/04/2013
‘Substantial progress’ on social justice strategy
There has been 'substantial progress' over the past year in promoting social justice, according to the coalition government's first annual progress report on its social justice strategy.
The strategy, published in March 2012, defines social justice in terms of transforming the lives of the most disadvantaged individuals and families. A set of seven 'key indicators' covers issues such as family breakdown, educational inequality, reoffending (by both young people and adults), worklessness, drug and alcohol addiction, and 'social investment'. The indicators do not cover low income.Category: Reports -
01/04/2013
April 2013 ‘Big Bang’ for benefits and taxes
A series of major changes to the tax and benefits systems came into effect from April 2013, accompanied by disputes over their purpose and likely impact. The Chancellor George Osborne described them as being about backing 'hard working people who want to get on in life'.
Category: News stories -
01/04/2013
Duncan Smith says he could live on £53 a week
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, has said he could manage to live on £53 a week 'if he had to'. He had been challenged on the BBC's Today programme by a market trader, David Bennett, who said he was forced to survive on that amount – his net income 'after paying rent and bills'. (The current level of jobseeker's allowance is £71.70 a week for those aged 25 or over.)
Following the programme, an online petition gathered 460,000 signatures, in the space of ten days, calling on Duncan Smith to prove his claim in practice.
Category: News stories -
26/03/2013
Consultation on child poverty measurement
This policy working paper is a response to the government's consultation paper on Measuring Child Poverty. The working paper argues that the government consultation paper is ‘conceptually completely inept and confused’. In particular, ‘it fails to recognise the fundamental distinction between measures of poverty and the characteristics of poor children and the associations and the consequences of poverty'.
Category: Policy response -
25/03/2013
Call for anti-poverty strategies in EU countries
Each EU member state should develop a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy, and set 'ambitious, effective' poverty and social targets, says a European campaign network. It highlights the need to ensure that austerity measures do not drive an increase in poverty and exclusion.
The network's recommendations are based on a European Commission analysis of responses to the Europe 2020 strategy for inclusive growth, contained in the so-called 'Country-Specific Recommendations'.Category: Reports -
18/03/2013
2012 Autumn Statement ‘will increase child poverty’
Tax and benefit changes announced by the Chancellor in his 2012 Autumn Statement will mean an extra 200,000 children living in poverty by 2017-18, according to a new analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank.
The Autumn Statement announced several important changes to the tax and benefit system from April 2013 – including a higher personal tax allowance and a 1 per cent cap, for three years, on the annual uprating of most working-age benefits and tax credits.Category: Reports -
05/02/2013
Vulnerable groups ‘protected’ under universal credit
The government has defended its plans for the new universal credit system, saying 'considerable effort and resource' has been committed to developing tailored arrangements that will help vulnerable claimants cope with the changes needed.
The government was responding to a report by a committee of MPs, published in November 2012, that expressed concerns over the potential impact of the online claims system and the proposed system of single monthly payments.
Category: Reports -
04/02/2013
DWP adds to confusion over consultation on child poverty
by Nick Bailey and Mike Tomlinson
The Department of Work and Pensions has just published the results of an online poll as part of its contribution to its own consultation on measuring child poverty. But, like the consultation itself, it is deeply flawed.
The PSE team has already published its (highly critical) submission (PSE policy response working paper No. 8) to the government consultation which closes on 15 February.
Category: Articles -
28/01/2013
The measurement of poverty: a sham consultation?
by Stephen Crossley and John Veit-Wilson
On Monday 21st of January, in response to a question about the government’s commitment to reducing child poverty, the Secretary of State for Work and Pension talked of a:
‘full public consultation about a better way to measure real child poverty that the coalition Government will set and measure ourselves against. Income will be part of it, but not the dominant part ...’ (Hansard, vol. 557, no. 100, p73)
Category: Articles -
21/01/2013
PSE team slam government consultation on child poverty
The government's consultation paper on Measuring Child Poverty is ‘conceptually completely inept and confused’, argues Professor Jonathan Bradshaw in the PSE research team’s response to the consultation. In particular, ‘it fails to recognise the fundamental distinction between measures of poverty and the characteristics of poor children and the associations and the consequences of poverty’.
Category: Reports
