Income poverty

  • 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.

    Subjects: Benefits, Government policy, Income poverty, Minimum income level
    Category: News stories
  • 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'.

    Subjects: Europe, Government policy, Income poverty
    Category: Reports
  • 11/09/2012

    Poor Britain

    In Poor Britain (1985) Joanna Mack and Stewart Lansley set out the ‘consensual’ approach to poverty pioneered in the 1983 Breadline Britain survey. They introduce the concept of ‘socially perceived necessities’ and distinguish between those who lack necessities from choice and those who can’t afford them. They define poverty as ‘an enforced lack of socially perceived necessities’. Poor Britain is now out of print but you can download this influential book by clicking on the links below. We have provided both the full book, 324 pages, as one PDF, and each chapter and appendices as separate PDFs for download.

    Copyright remains with J.H. Mack and S. Lansley. Please cite ‘J. Mack and S. Lansley (1985) Poor Britain, London, George Allen & Unwin’ if quoting from this book.

    Poor Britain: whole book

    Subjects: Deprivation, Income poverty, Inequality, Living standards, Necessities, Poverty measurement
    Category:
  • 16/08/2012

    Poverty in the United Kingdom

    In Poverty in the United Kingdom (1979) Peter Townsend examined relative deprivation covering a wide range of aspects of living standards, both material and social. He found that there were levels of income below which consumption and participation fell well below what might be seen as normal or acceptable in an increasingly affluent society and argued that this group should be seen to be in poverty. By clicking on the libks below you can download this seminal book. We have provided the full book, 1,216 pages, as one PDF as well as individual chapters and appendices as separate PDFs for download.

    Please cite ‘Townsend, P. (1979) Poverty in the United Kingdom, London, Allen Lane and Penguin Books’ if quoting from this book.

    Poverty in the United Kingdom: whole book

    Subjects: Deprivation, Income distribution, Income poverty, Inequality, Living standards, Poverty measurement
    Category:
  • 25/06/2012

    Child Poverty in the PSE Research

    There is a great deal of academic debate around the measurement of child poverty. The PSE: UK research provides the opportunity to gain a more nuanced picture of child poverty, drawing on three measurement approaches that can be investigated individually and/or combined to form composite measures. These approaches include income poverty, deprivation and social exclusion.

    Subjects: Child poverty, Deprivation, Government policy, Income poverty, Poverty forecast, Social exclusion, Working papers
    Category: Conceptual notes
  • 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.

    Subjects: Europe, Poverty forecast, Income poverty, Poverty measurement, International comparisons
    Category: Reports
  • 16/11/2011

    Deprivation and poverty

    Direct measures of poverty that look at deprivation and living standards have a very long history, particularly in Britain. From Charles Booth and before, through to Seebholm Rowntree and Peter Townsend in the twentieth century, the living conditions of the poor have been investigated to establish those who live in poverty.

    Peter Townsend, in particular, pioneered a relative deprivation approach to poverty that covered a wide range of aspects of living standards, both material and social. For Townsend:

    Subjects: Deprivation, Income poverty, Poverty measurement
    Category:
  • 16/11/2011

    Income threshold approach

    Many poverty measurements use household income, adjusted for household size (see equivalence scales below), to find out who is in poverty. A level is set and those who fall below this are seen as being ‘in poverty’ and those above it are not.

    Subjects: Income distribution, Income poverty, Poverty measurement
    Category:

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