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Government policy
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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 -
08/01/2013
Controversial welfare benefits cap approved
MPs have voted to approve the controversial capping of benefit increases over the next three years. The Welfare Benefits Up-Rating Bill, which has been given a second reading in Parliament, provides for an increase of just 1 per cent for most working-age benefits, child benefit and certain tax credit elements in 2014-15 and 2015-16, rather than being uprated in line with inflation (in addition to similar arrangements already announced for 2013-14). Carers' benefits and certain disability-related benefits will be exempt, along with pensions.
Category: Reports -
07/01/2013
The welfare uprating bill penalises the poor, again
by Stewart Lansley
The coalition government’s proposal to strip nearly £4 billion from the welfare bill by capping increases in benefit levels to 1%, well below inflation, marks another shift towards a welfare system that is no longer fit for its fundamental purpose of protecting those in need.
The move is a significant departure in the post-war history of welfare in the UK and is, indeed, unprecedented since the war. The last deliberate political move to lower the real incomes of the poorest members of society was more than eighty years ago in 1931. Then attempts to cut benefits for the unemployed split the cabinet and led to the collapse of the Labour government under Ramsey MacDonald. The uprating bill, before Parliament on January 8, 2013, raises a vital question: why should the poor pay the price for the failure of Britain’s economic model to deliver enough jobs and decent wages.
Category: Articles
