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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Working Households and Child Poverty – UK

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  • Child poverty ‘rises’ among working households, December 6, 2010, BBC News: “Child poverty within working households is rising and now accounts for 58% of all UK cases, a report has found. A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report says there are 2.1 million impoverished youngsters in homes where parents are in work – up slightly on last year. Co-author Tom MacInnes said it showed work alone was not the answer to lifting people above the bread line. The Department for Work and Pensions said it was reforming the welfare system to ensure work always paid. Overall, the number of children living in poverty fell to 3.7 million, the report called Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion found…”
  • Record levels of poverty among families with wages, By Jonathan Owen, December 5, 2010, The Independent: “A record number of children in the UK are living in poverty despite the fact that one or both of their parents work, according to a new report to be published tomorrow. The figure of 2.1 million is the highest on record – up 400,000 in the past five years, undermining the oft-repeated claim that people simply have to work their way out of poverty. The new figure accounts for more than half of the 3.7 million children living in poverty in Britain today, according to researchers from the New Policy Institute (NPI) who produced the report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). It is perhaps the most damning element of an analysis of the past decade, showing how initial progress in some areas has halted or been reversed…”
  • Most children living in poverty are not from workless households, report finds, By Karen McVeigh, December 6, 2010, The Guardian: “The number of children of working parents who are living in poverty in the UK has risen to an unprecedented 2.1 million, a report has found. A report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that while the number of impoverished children dropped overall to 3.7 million, the majority are now from homes where a parent or carer is working, accounting for 58% of the total. The number who live in workless households fell to 1.6 million – the lowest figure since 1984 – according to the Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion report…”