I feel like I am walking on the edge of a cliff and at any moment I might fall off.
The Department of Communities and Local Government claims that the Troubled Families Programme is ‘on track at the half-way stage’. Ruth Levitas unpicks the figures and argues this is far from the truth.
Many people in Britain have lost faith in the benefit system, according to a new think-tank report charting the major pressures facing families today.
The interim report of the Condition of Britain project, being conducted by the Institute for Public Policy Research, says many families fear for the future of their children. Most people want to work hard and contribute, it says – but they need to know that, in return, they will get support to find work, avoid hardship if they lose their job, and not fall into a spiral of debt if they need to borrow.
Two government programmes aimed at helping families with multiple problems will miss their targets unless improvements are made, according to a report from the National Audit Office.
One programme, Troubled Families, was introduced by the DCLG to ‘turn around’ in three years the lives of 120,000 families identified as facing multiple challenges. A second, Families with Multiple Problems, is designed by the DWP to move 22 per cent of people in families with multiple problems towards employment within three years.
Over a million people admit they plan to use payday loans to cover the cost of Christmas spending this year, according to a new survey from the Money Advice Service.
The research was carried out among 2,000 United Kingdom adults by One Poll in October 2013.
At their annual conference in September, the Royal Statistical Society organised a session on the government’s consultation on child poverty. With the next announcement on consultation now expected before Christmas, Paul Allin and John Veit-Wilson summarise the presentations and discussion.
Meeting the minimum needs of a child up to age 18 now costs around £148,000 – equivalent to around £160 a week – according to an updated analysis published by the Child Poverty Action Group. The figure has risen by 4 per cent between 2012 and 2013.
The calculation is based on the 'minimum income standard' – the income needed in order to reach a minimum socially acceptable standard of living, based primarily on popular consensus. It is averaged for a child across all ages, and includes childcare costs and housing.
The concept of 'intergenerational poverty' is of doubtful validity and lacks an evidence base, according to a review by the National Foundation for Educational Research.
The researchers conducted a wide-ranging review of UK and international studies, focusing on how children and young people can be helped to escape poverty and deprivation.
In all the talk of tackling child poverty, one group has been largely ignored, children of refugees and asylum seekers. Stephen Crossley reports on poverty amongst this 'minority within a minority' and the role local agencies should play.