The current cost of living is pushing more people into poverty, with almost 68% of low income...
Living standards
-
20/09/2012
Almost half ‘dissatisfied’ with personal finances
Almost half of all adults say they are dissatisfied with their current financial situation, according to a report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure compares with fewer than one in five people who say they are highly satisfied.
The ONS report focuses on the relationship between people's personal finances and their sense of well-being, as part of a wider project looking at how to measure national well-being. It looks at different aspects of household income, expenditure and wealth – including financial poverty and people's own views about their own financial situation.
Category: Reports -
12/09/2012
Young People and the Legacies of Conflict, Mike Tomlinson
This paper, presented to the ASITIS Children of Conflict Conference on 26 March 2012, addresses the question of what has the Northern Ireland conflict got to do with the challenges we face in addressing the needs, rights and opportunities of our young people today, especially those who are out of work and detached from education and training.
Category: -
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
Category: -
04/09/2012
£143,000 needed for child's minimum needs
The total cost of meeting the minimum basic needs of a child from birth to age 18 is £143,000, according to a new estimate. This equates to around £150 per week, averaged for a child across all ages and including childcare costs and housing.
The calculation, produced for the Child Poverty Action Group, is not based on what families actually spend on their children, but instead on detailed research into the cost of a minimum basket of goods and services that allows families to participate in society.
Category: Reports -
22/08/2012
Defining the Breadline: Is there a Northern Ireland Consensus? by Mike Tomlinson and Grace Kelly
The paper and presentation, presented to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 26 April 2012, report the findings of the Necessities of Life survey 2011 in Northern Ireland. The survey found a remarkable degree of consensus in respondents’ attitudes to necessities, between social groups and categories across income, occupation, community background and gender; though there are some significant differences, especially between young and old.
The results show that what most people think are necessities leads to a different set of indicators than those built into current deprivation rates (such as the EU measure). Mike Tomlinson’s contribution can be seen on the Northern Ireland Assembly website.
Category: Presentation -
22/08/2012
Living Standards in the UK
This conceptual note examines ways to operationalise and analyse living standards in the UK for the whole population, not just the poor, using PSE: UK survey data. It asks how the term ‘living standards’ should be defined, which components and aspects should be covered, and how this relates to concepts of ‘welfare’, subjective and objective.
It suggests that a definition of living standards should include ‘what people have, what they do and where they live’, and that they are determined ‘not only by choices and personal preferences but also by the degree of command they have over resources which restrict or do not restrict them in having or doing or participating in things they have reason to value including not only items and activities seen as essential but also those seen as desirable.’
Category: Conceptual notes -
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
Category: -
31/07/2012
Household incomes lowest since 2005
Household incomes fell in real terms in the first quarter of 2012, according to official statistics, leaving them at their lowest level since 2005. The figures confirm gloomy data on economic growth published a few days earlier.
Category: Reports -
26/06/2012
Austerity hitting public service workers
Public service workers face pay freezes and redundancy threats caused by austerity measures, according to a new report. The result is worsening personal finances, rising debt and cuts in spending on essential items.
Researchers from the Working Lives Research Institute carried out a survey of over 1,000 UNISON members, combining it with a number of face-to-face interviews. UNISON represents over 1.3 million members working in the public services or for linked private contractors.
Category: Reports -
15/06/2012
‘Near-record’ drop in average incomes since recession
Average incomes have fallen by near-record amounts in the aftermath of the global economic recession, according to a think-tank report. Inequality has fallen back to levels last seen in the mid-1990s but only because the ‘poverty line’ has also been falling.
The analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies is based on the latest statistics for households with below-average income.
Category: Reports
