In his TV interview with Andrew Marr on 1st December, the Prime Minister argued that;
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Poverty forecast
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31/03/2012
Income poverty dynamics in the European Union
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. The analysis focuses on the main determinants of households falling into or rising out of income poverty, and finds that events related to the labour market are the most influential because of both their frequency and their impact.
The paper provides a broad-brush picture of poverty dynamics for individuals living in the enlarged EU, using data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. Previous studies had examined only the ‘old’ EU 15 member states, and were more than 10 years old.
The analysis identifies which types of event are associated with the probability of entering – and exiting from – poverty.
Category: Reports -
22/03/2012
Government publishes strategy for achieving social justice
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:
Category: Reports -
21/03/2012
The impact of the Budget on low income households
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. The key announcements contained in the Budget Report 2012 are as follows:
Tax changes
The personal allowance for Income Tax will increase by £1,100 in 2013/14, with some of this increase passed on to higher rate tax payers. The higher personal allowances for those over 65 are to be frozen and then phased out. The top rate of income tax is to be cut to 45p from 2013/14 and some tax loopholes closed. Analysis of the budget (by the IFS and Resolution Foundation – see below) shows that maintaining tax credit levels is more effective at helping those on lowest incomes than raising the tax threshold.
Child Benefit
Category: News stories -
21/03/2012
Targeting benefits at the poorest will not reduce poverty
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.
Brady, the author of Rich Democracies, Poor People: How Politics Explain Poverty (Oxford University Press, 2009) says we need to rebuild trust in a welfare state that everyone feels they benefit from. The problem he sees developing in Britain is similar to the situation that exists in the USA, where welfare is now only for the very poorest people. ‘The more [that] “welfare” is a broad portfolio of social policy to help people across the life span, the more effective it is at reducing poverty.’
The interview can be read on the Guardian website.
Category: News stories -
17/03/2012
Will raising the tax threshold reduce UK poverty?
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 briefing also argues that while, taken in isolation, the impact of the Coalition government’s aim to raise the tax threshold to £10,000 could help those on low incomes, it must be seen in the context of overall tax and benefit changes.
The briefing notes that for families with children the raising of the income tax threshold by £1,000 in April 2011 more than outweighed the gains created by freezing child benefit, reducing tax credits and reducing child care reimbursement.
The briefing draws on evidence from the organisation’s previous research to show how potential policy decisions in the Budget would affect poor places and people in the UK.
Category: Reports -
14/03/2012
Part-time jobs skewed to low paid
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 report shows that the part-time recruitment market is skewed strongly in favour of vacancies with salaries below £20,000 full-time equivalent earnings. It found that resistance to part-time recruitment was highest among employers who had not previously recruited part-time staff at over £20,000 full-time equivalent earnings. The report argues that:
Category: News stories -
13/03/2012
Welfare reforms could push 250,000 children deeper into poverty
The government’s new Universal Credit will hit poorer working mums the hardest, according to a report by the charity Save the Children. The report, Ending Child Poverty: Ensuring Universal Credit Supports Working Mums, argues that the potential impact of the new welfare system, which is due to replace tax credits and most benefits from 2013, risks making life harder for some families.
It identifies three main areas of concern:
insufficient earnings disregards for working mothers lack of support for childcare costs Universal Credit payments will be withdrawn too quickly.Without changes in these areas, it argues, the scheme’s aims of making work pay by supporting parents into work and of reducing child poverty could be undermined.
Category: News stories -
08/03/2012
Coalition ministers clash over child poverty
In a speech to the think-tank ResPublica, the Children’s Minister Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather argued that ‘those who suggest that income plays no part in poverty are wrong’.
This appeared directly to contradict an earlier statement by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith (see Iain Duncan Smith rejects benefits as way to tackle poverty) that ‘tackling child poverty by boosting family income through benefits is a narrow approach’.
Category: News stories -
01/03/2012
ESRC research projects on child poverty identify barriers to mobility
Current policies are unlikely to meet child poverty targets, according to a summary of research projects by the Economic and Social Research Council, Child Poverty Casts A Long Shadow Over Social Mobility. This ESRC Evidence Briefing, one of a series on social mobility, provides a detailed summary of the findings of a number of current research projects on child poverty. The research consistently identifies significant detrimental outcomes for children living in poverty and key barriers to moving out of poverty.
Category: Reports -
01/02/2012
Austerity measures lead to rise in poverty across European Union
The 2011 Assessment of Social Inclusion Policy Developments in the EU concludes that during 2011 the financial and economic crisis, together with associated austerity measures, led to an increase in poverty and social exclusion in more than half the member states. The report is the summary of the findings of national reports written by members of the European Union Network of Independent Experts on Social Inclusion assessing the policy developments in their countries during 2011. In the countries where the situation has worsened over the past year, the most frequently cited factors for the worsening situation is a fall in employment rates and a rise in unemployment, or the persistence of an already high level of unemployment. Many experts particularly highlight the poor situation of the young unemployed and the growing proportion of long-term unemployed.
Category: Reports
