- Poverty in Britain is at a nine year high, says Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, By Christopher Hope, December 3, 2009, The Telegraph: “The Tories said the report was an indictment of the Government’s failure to tackle low earnings and blew ‘Labour’s hollow claim to be the party of poverty.’ The study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that the gap between the haves and have-nots started growing in 2004, long before the recession began. The foundation’s report found that the number of people living in ‘low income’ households was now 13.4 million, the highest level since 2000 when it was nearly 14 million. A low income household is one that lives on less than 60 per cent of the average UK household income in the year in question – after housing costs and council tax. For a family of four it is £14,560 a year. The annual report into poverty in Britain also found that nearly one in eight people of working age are out of work – the highest proportion since Labour came to power in 1997. Repossessions were now back at the level they were in 1994, the study said…”
- Poverty on the rise, says Joseph Rowntree report, December 3, 2009, BBC News: “Poverty has been rising in the UK since 2004 and is now at the same level as the start of the decade, a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says. The group said that issues of unemployment and the repossession of homes had become more acute before the recession started. It said long-term solutions were needed to reverse the poverty trend. But the report also pointed to improvements over the last decade, such as a decreasing fear of crime. It added that 11 to 16-year-olds were getting better basic school results, and there were fewer youngsters thrown out of school. The rate of premature deaths is falling and infant mortality has also dropped over the past 10 years…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty