Poverty (140 Autumn 2011)

• Editorial and contents for Poverty 140 (57 KB pdf file)

End of a Faustian pact: workfare and riot

• During the past three decades, Guy Standing argues, politicians struck a Faustian pact. In return for ‘labour market flexibility’, government would top up declining wages through subsidies and tax credits and redirect social protection from an emphasis on social solidarity and social insurance to means-tested social assistance. In the aftermath of rioting, they must now face the following fact: it is the economic policies they have supported that are a major cause of the underlying malaise. If they do not, they will find themselves acceding to an increasingly coercive and punitive social policy, epitomised by workfare and the vogue term of ‘conditional welfare’. Politicians must step back from the utilitarian direction in which they have taken us during the past thirty years and consider an alternative road.
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Riots, redistribution and reparation

• Many people have asked why a tiny proportion of (mostly) young people rioted this summer. They have also questioned the part that rising inequalities could have played in making many people poor and some angry. After all, young adults in Britain today have only ever known a country in which income and wealth have been redistributed from poor to rich – to the detriment of all. How much money could be saved by doing the reverse and redistributing from rich to poor? And how much reparation is required in the long run for a sense eventually to emerge that we are all in this together? Danny Dorling seeks answers from an eclectic mix of sources, including a Chinese daily newspaper, a former London gang member and the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
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Universal credit: the gender impact

• The government’s plans to introduce a new universal credit are intended to improve work incentives and simplify a complex benefits system, but may work against its duty to promote gender equality. Here, Fran Bennett, drawing on work for the Women’s Budget Group, looks at the impact the new benefit may have on gender issues, in particular on financial autonomy for women. She argues that the proposals take insufficient account of the nature of modern families and the lives of those on low incomes and so may undermine some of the government’s other policy goals (including encouraging committed couple relationships and tackling child poverty), and may also result in greater economic dependence and threaten the return of a ‘single breadwinner’ family.
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Poverty (139 Summer 2011)

• Editorial and contents for Poverty 139 (57 KB pdf file)

Can welfare reform work?

• Since the late 1990s, successive governments have engaged in the process of welfare reform. A cross-party consensus has emerged, which prioritises moving benefit recipients into work and increasing the role of private and voluntary providers in delivering employment services. Sharon Wright outlines the pros and cons of this approach.
• Download this article: Can welfare reform work? (107 KB pdf file)
  

Child benefits in the European Union

• The future of a universal child benefit in the UK is currently under threat. Here Jonathan Bradshaw looks at how the UK compares with other European Union countries in its provision of child benefits and asks what the introduction of a means test will mean for families.
• Download this article: Child benefits in the European Union (113 KB pdf file)
  

Trying to get by: children and young people talk about poverty

• Politicians and campaigners talk a lot about child poverty, and all three main political parties have signed up to its eradication by 2020. But what does poverty mean for the children and young people themselves? Why are their voices missing from the current debate? In this article, Kerry Martin and Ruth Hart discuss the findings from a qualitative research project that reports on what children and young people have to say about the impact that poverty has on their lives.
• Download this article: Trying to get by: children and young people talk about poverty (103 KB pdf file)

Poverty (138 Spring 2011)
Special migration-themed issue

• Editorial and contents for Poverty 138 (62 KB pdf file)

Migration, migrants and child poverty

• Although international migration has always been a feature of national life, this aspect of population change has increased over the last twenty years, mostly as a result of asylum seekers arriving in the 1990s and, more recently, migration from the new member states of the European Union (EU). While many migrant families have a reasonable income and a few are very prosperous, migrant children are disproportionally represented among children living in poverty. Many of the causes of child poverty for migrants are similar to those facing the UK-born population, but there are some factors that are specific to migrant households, such as language barriers and the severing of support networks. Here, Jill Rutter examines the link between child poverty and migration in the UK.
• Download this article: Migration, migrants and child poverty (102 KB pdf file)
  

Welfare benefits, housing and social services

• Download this article by Nadine Clarkson and Lara ten Caten, solicitors with Hansen Palomares: Welfare benefits, housing and social services (79 KB pdf file)
  

The health and healthcare of vulnerable migrant children

• Download this article by Peter J Aspinall, Reader in Population Health in the Centre for Health Services Studies, University of Kent: The health and healthcare of vulnerable migrant children (80 KB pdf file)

The impact of poverty on the educational experiences of migrant children

• Download this article by Jill Rutter, a research and policy officer at the Daycare Trust, the national childcare charity, and an associate fellow of the Institute for Public Policy Research: The impact of poverty on the educational experiences of migrant children (94 KB pdf file)

Employment and migrant poverty

• Download this article by Sean Bamford, policy officer in the TUC’s European Union and International Relations Department: Employment and migrant poverty (77 KB pdf file)

Destitution among refugee and asylum-seeking children

• Download this article by Ilona Pinter, Policy Adviser at The Children's Society: Destitution among refugee and asylum-seeking children (79 KB pdf file)

Poverty (137 Autumn 2010)

• Editorial and contents for Poverty 137 (57 KB pdf file)

The effect of fiscal tightening on family incomes and child poverty

• A new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that the Coalition Government’s Emergency Budget hit families with children hardest. Here, Mike Brewer, James Browne and Peter Levell summarise the analysis of who will bear the brunt of the Government’s deficit-busting plans.
• Download this article: The effect of fiscal tightening on family incomes and child poverty (99 KB pdf file)
  

The parent trap: promoting poor children’s mental health

• The physical health of children today is arguably the best it has been since the Second World War, with their environments and nutrition substantially improved. However, while their physical health has improved through measures such as immunisation and better access to healthcare, mental health problems among children have increased. Here, Dr Duncan Randall, Dr Robert Williams and Christopher Wagstaff argue that the evidence linking children’s mental health to income inequalities means that health policy and practice need a social justice.
• Download this article: The parent trap: promoting poor children’s mental health (96 KB pdf file)
  

Work: the best route out of poverty?

• Ever since New Labour first set the welfare reform bandwagon in motion in 2006, the mantra of work has been used by all sides of the political spectrum as ‘proof’ that the benefits system is in need of large-scale reform. The ‘logic’ is this: work is the best route out of poverty. The benefits system, by its very nature, provides a disincentive to work. Ergo, the benefits system traps people in poverty. Ergo, we must reform the benefits system. QED. But, asks Nick Jones, is work always the best route out of poverty?
• Download this article: Work: the best route out of poverty? (89 KB pdf file)

Poverty (136 Summer 2010)

The child poverty strategy: what worked?

• Over the past decade, the UK has embarked on an ambitious effort to end child poverty. Jane Waldfogel has tracked the progress of the initiative and reports on it in her new book, Britain’s War on Poverty . Here, she provides some highlights of her study and suggests some next steps.
• Download this article: The child poverty strategy: what worked? (208 KB pdf file)
  

Mind the gap: New Labour’s legacy on child poverty

• ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’ asked the People’s Front of Judea in The Life of Brian’s fictional recording of ungrateful subjects ignoring their rulers’ largesse. But what does the People’s Front of Judea have to do with modern-day critics of the 1997–2010 New Labour government? Danny Dorling argues what went wrong.
• Download this article: Mind the gap: New Labour’s legacy on child poverty (183 KB pdf file)
  

What should be done next?

• Child poverty is not a discrete social problem that can be eradicated without tackling wider inequalities of income and wealth. As the recent National Equality Panel report demonstrates, ear nings, income and wealth are all distributed highly unequally, thereby undermining the goal of ‘equality of opportunity’ for children espoused by the main political parties. 1 Social class interacts with other social divisions such as gender, ethnicity and disability to shape the contours of poverty and inequality. Ruth Lister argues that a multi-pronged (gendered) strategy is required, which explicitly aims to create a more equal society within which all children can flourish..
• Download this article: What should be done next? (162 KB pdf file)

Poverty (135 Winter 2010)

Supporting families

• Supporting the family is key to both the Government’s and the Conservatives’ approach to eradicating child poverty, and is one of the major issues on which the election is likely to be fought. But are the underlying assumptions about the family that are driving current policies correct, and are they being implemented effectively? Here, Philippa Stroud from the Centre for Social Justice argues that providing greater financial support for couples will reduce the sort of family breakdown that generates poverty, while Sarah Jackson from Working Families stresses the economic and social benefits of introducing family-friendly policies in the workplace.
• Download this article: Supporting families (166 KB pdf file)
  

Child poverty: political consensus or electoral battleground?

• There is now a political consensus now exists that high levels of child poverty in the UK are unacceptable. However, while all three parties support the Child Poverty Bill and its commitment to eradicate child poverty by 2020, differences of interpretation and approach are emerging about the causes of poverty and how best to reduce it. In this article, Jamie Reed MP for Labour, Andrew Selous MP for the Conservatives and Steve Webb MP for the Liberal Democrats analyse the issues and outline the policies their parties will be pursuing.
• Download this article: Child poverty: political consensus or electoral battleground? (153 KB pdf file)
  

A false economy: undervaluing childcare

• The provision of high-quality, affordable and accessible childcare lies at the heart of the Government’s child poverty strategy. And yet childcare as a profession is undervalued. This illustrates a system-wide problem, in which the most valuable occupations to society are among the lowest paid, while those which may be damaging to society, the environment and the economy, may be among the highest paid. Helen Kersley outlines research findings from two reports which take a radically different look at child poverty.
• Download this article: A false economy: undervaluing childcare (222 KB pdf file)

Poverty (134 Autumn 2009)

Tackling in-work poverty

• A few years ago, the concept of ‘in-work poverty’ was relatively unheard of. When the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) first report on the subject was published in early 2007, the simple statistic that nearly half of all poor children lived in working families was enough to make headlines in nearly every national newspaper. Since then, further work by IPPR, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and others has pushed in-work poverty up the agenda and it is now firmly recognised as a key piece in the poverty puzzle. In fact, it has become almost cliché to question the rhetoric that work is the best route out of poverty. To be sure, it still is – but we also know that it has failed for too many people and that the Government has done too little to address this. Kayte Lawton argues that the current recession provides an opportunity to rebuild a labour market that not only gets people into work, but which delivers fair pay and a real route out of poverty.
• Download this article: Tackling in-work poverty (194 KB pdf file)
  

A guide to the Child Poverty Bill

• The Child Poverty Bill was first announced by Gordon Brown in September 2008, and introduced to Parliament in July 2009. It has now had its first Parliamentary debate (its so-called ‘second reading’) and will go into committee stage after MPs return from their summer recess in October. The legislation will be debated over the forthcoming months and is likely to be passed before the next general election. Not only does the Bill have the support from all three major political parties, but CPAG and other organisations concerned about child poverty have welcomed it. Paul Dornan outlines what it contains.
• Download this article: A guide to the Child Poverty Bill (175 KB pdf file)
  

The costs of compliance

• Claimants of benefits and tax credits incur a range of costs. These include financial costs, as well as the time and psychological impact associated with making a claim and meeting the various requirements imposed by the Government. Could these costs be taken into account when considering policy changes? Fran Bennett reports on a recent scoping study.
• Download this article: The costs of compliance (159 KB pdf file)

Obituary: Sir Henry Hodge

• Obituary of Sir Henry Hodge, 12 January 1944 – 18 June 2009, by Roger Smith, Director, JUSTICE
• Download this article: Sir Henry Hodge (143 KB pdf file)

Poverty (133 Summer 2009)

Child wellbeing and income inequality in rich countries

• The wellbeing and behaviour of young people have recently attracted more than the usual negative attention from the media, policy and law. On almost any measure, child wellbeing decreases with lower social status. But too often people concerned with child wellbeing avoid making a clear distinction between whether the problem is absolute poverty, or relative poverty and inequality. Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson argue that this question has a clear answer that should not be fudged.
• Download this article: Child wellbeing and income inequality in rich countries (183 KB pdf file)
  

Transmitting deprivation? The media and public attitudes towards poverty

• Poverty in the UK does not appear to be a priority issue for the mainstream UK media, and the picture of poverty the media does provide is skewed towards certain issues and representations. Building support for the reforms necessary to reduce poverty significantly in the UK requires understanding the influence of the media in shaping public perceptions. Stephen Sinclair and John H McKendrick describe their recent research.
• Download this article: Transmitting deprivation? (132 KB pdf file)
  

Child poverty and child wellbeing

• Enhancing children's lives and improving child wellbeing should be the central objective of any children's policy. But what do we mean by 'wellbeing'? Here, Paul Dornan draws on recently published research from the University of York to explore different aspects of child wellbeing and what they mean for policy in the UK.
• Download this article: Child poverty and child wellbeing (183 KB pdf file)

Remembering Peter Townsend

• Obituary of Peter Townsend, one of CPAG's founders and our president, born 6 April 1928, died 7 June 2009.
• Download this article: Remembering Peter Townsend (194 KB pdf file)

Poverty (132 Winter 2009)

Recession: a major threat to tackling poverty

• How will the current downturn in the labour market affect poverty? Adrian Sinfield looks back at previous recessions and asks what can be learnt in order to prevent a similar rise in poverty to that seen in the 1980s.
• Download this article: Recession: a major threat to tackling poverty (93 KB pdf file)
  

Social mobility in the UK: what does the evidence tell us?

• In November 2008 the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit asserted that recent research demonstrated that government policy was improving social mobility in the UK. But what does research actually tell us about the reality of social mobility now or, more correctly since the evidence is always retrospective, in the recent past? David Byrne examines the evidence.
• Download this article: Social mobility in the UK (90 KB pdf file)
  

A decade of debt: lessons for the future

• Over the last few months we have seen the gathering clouds of what could provde to be a deep recession. Peter Tutton draws on the debt problems encountered by the CAB service over the last ten years to investigate how the recession might affect future debt problems - particularly for lower income households, and what lessons policy makers might take.
• Download this article: A decade of debt (88 KB pdf file)

Poverty (131 Autumn 2008)

Who is fuel poor?

• By June 2008 the domestic fuel commodity price index had increased by 51 per cent from 2005, more than five times the rate of general inflation. The energy companies have warned that prices will rise again – by between a quarter and a third this winter. Harriet Harman told us that she had she spent her week as Acting Prime Minister working on a package of measures to increase the level of investment in energy-saving schemes in low-income housing and exploring other ways to tackle fuel poverty. Here, Jonathan Bradshaw asks who the Government should be targeting.
• Download this article: Who is fuel poor? (128 KB pdf file)
  

Unjust rewards

• After months of persuasion and with great difficulty, Polly Toynbee and David Walker managed to assemble focus groups of some of the country’s highest earners. Most of these City merchant bankers and lawyers were in the top 0.1 per cent, earning around £500,000, some up to £10 million, a year. Ipsos Mori had never before managed to assemble such high earners. Here, Polly Toynbee describes the key findings from these focus groups, now published in Unjust Rewards. What did they know and think about Britain’s growing inequality, and the widening gap between themselves and everyone else? Were they uneasy? Did they worry about their children being brought up so isolated from the rest?
• Download this article: Unjust rewards (145 KB pdf file)
  

Celebrating sixty years of the welfare state?

• In the recent celebrations of the sixtieth anniversary of the implementation of the majority of Beveridge’s welfare state reforms, the National Insurance Acts and the National Assistance Act, which together introduced a nationwide system of national insurance and a means-tested safety net, seem to have been forgotten. Fran Bennett looks at what happened.
• Download this article: Celebrating sixty years of the welfare state? (148 KB pdf file)

Poverty (130 Summer 2008)

60 years of the welfare state

• The welfare state at 60
  Paul Dornan considers the up and downs of social change since 1948, championing the need for a renewed sense of purpose in social policy research.
• The moral case to end child poverty
  The most recent argument for the abolition of child poverty has become one of logic and finance. It is too costly to have a proportion of the population in poverty – it is a waste of resources. So what happened to the idea that poverty is simply wrong and immoral in a modern civilised society? The Rt Rev Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark, reminds us of the true motivation at the heart of the fight against poverty and what local and religious communities must do to contribute.
• Lack of education, lack of opportunity by Louise Bamfield, The Fabian Society
• What about disability? by Paul Treloar, Disability Alliance
• Health: ‘equity’ or ‘choice’? by Bob Williams and Duncan Randall
• Where does poverty live? by Adam Sampson, Shelter
  Draw a picture of poverty, and there’s a good chance it will feature a bleak tower block or a crumbling flat. More and more, housing is being included as an indicator of poverty; yet housing situations are not simply effects of poverty. An individual or family’s housing – its security, its location, its cost – all contribute hugely to the cause of their poverty, the difficulties they face and their children’s’ life chances.
• Mother, carer, worker
  When Beveridge set up the welfare state in 1944, he assumed that couples were married, that men would be the breadwinners, and that care was the responsibility of women within the family. The situation now could hardly be more different. Mothers are now expected to be in the labour market – irrespective of their marital status and whether or not they have young children, grandchildren or a frail elderly parent. Hilary Land considers the changing expectations of women and mothers – as carers and as workers – and identifies a current failure to recognise that family care is a service which is as vital to society as high employment levels.
• Whose birthday are we celebrating?
  The national insurance system of 1948 was a breakthrough achievement for a post-war Britain on its way towards an egalitarian society where everyone had rights as well as responsibilities. John Veit-Wilson stops to consider what 60 years of the welfare state really means – that it has been a long journey, but we still have far to go.
• A right to rights
  ‘Rights and responsibilities’ lie at the heart of the Government’s child poverty strategy, and the concept is driving New Labour’s welfare reform programme. But has a system evolved where those who have fewest rights have the greatest responsibilities? 2008 sees two big reforms, for lone parents and those incapable of work, which provide an opportunity to consider the question. Edward Graham and Gabrielle Preston look at the new changes and the repercussions for the future.
  
  
• Download this series of articles: 60 years of the welfare state (439 KB pdf file)
  

Poverty (129 Winter 2008)

Child poverty and well-being in the here and now

• Since New Labour pledged to eliminate child poverty by 2020, a myriad of policy changes have been made to address the problems associated with poverty and deprivation during childhood. Much of the research and policy emphasis is on the costs of child poverty and its impact on life chances and outcomes in adulthood. Recent research by Mark Tomlinson, Robert Walker and Glenn Williams relates the various dimensions of poverty to children’s well-being in their lives today.
• Download this article: Child poverty and well-being in the here and now (80 KB pdf file)
  

An interview with Ed Balls

• In the wake of the creation of the new, cross-governmental Child Poverty Unit and the implementation of the Children’s Plan, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls MP is optimistic about the future. Labour has done a lot to eradicate child poverty since 1997, he says, and remains the only party with a true commitment to the cause. But the job is far from done. He answers here some questions from Gabrielle Preston.
• Download this article: An interview with Ed Balls (90 KB pdf file)
  

Poverty and the child's world: assessing children's needs

• Poverty in a child’s life is the result of specific social and economic circumstances, which are always interrelated and complex. However, frontline workers are often unaware of the causes and consequences of poverty. Owen Gill and Gordon Jack argue the case for exploring children’s living environments to articulate more holistic approaches to the fight against poverty.
• Download this article: Poverty and the child's world: assessing children's needs (74 KB pdf file)
  

Poverty (128 Autumn 2007)

Poverty and 'place': does locality make a difference?

• It’s easy to view poverty as an all-encompassing and uniform experience. However, the reality of poverty varies from place to place. Carol-Ann Hooper, Sarah Gorin, Christie Cabral and Claire Dyson present new research that highlights the impact that community context has upon families living in poverty
• Download this article: Poverty and 'place': does locality make a difference? (104 KB pdf file)
  

Child poverty and party politics: what hopes of a consensus?

• All the main parties agree that child poverty must be eradicated. But recent reports reveal a lack of common ground on the right level of state intervention. Lisa Harker analyses the different political approaches.
• Download this article: Child poverty and party politics: what hopes of a consensus? (88 KB pdf file)
  

'Mini-jobs' for lone parents?

• Juggling work and childcare is the big conundrum of being a lone parent. But as the Government increasingly promotes work as the best way out of poverty, lone parents have little to choose from. Now however, new research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found that working in a so-called 'mini-job' for under 16 hours a week could be the way to bring lone parents gradually back into full-time employment while also allowing them to adjust their childcare needs. But are the advantages to lone parents real ones? What happens once benefit cuts are taken into account? Kate Bell considers the different options, as well as whether the strategy could contribute to achieving the Government's target of halving child poverty for 2010.
• Download this article: 'Mini-jobs' for lone parents? (92 KB pdf file)
  

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