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Inequality and redistribution under New Labour
- Author:
- SEFTON Tom
- Journal article citation:
- Benefits, 13(2), June 2005, pp.109-114.
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
Reports on the challengs faced by New Labour in respect of income distribution and the attempt to reduce poverty and inequality. The article states that to reduce poverty will require more distribution to the poorest, especially those unable to work. It also argues that to reduce inequality will almost certainly require something to be done to curb growth in very high incomes, as well as measures to address the long-term drivers of inequality.
A fair share of welfare: public spending on children in England
- Author:
- SEFTON Tom
- Publisher:
- London School of Economics. Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 78p.
- Place of publication:
- London
It is increasingly recognised that improving the quality and quantity of children’s services is an essential part of any long-term strategy to tackle poverty and social exclusion among children. As part of its wider programme to address child poverty in England, Save The Children commissioned this review of expenditure to examine how much is spent on children, particularly poor children, on major public services – education, health, social care, and housing – as well as social security. The results give an indication of the priority this government attaches to meeting the needs of children, in particular poor children, which can be set alongside evidence on outcomes for children, including trends in child poverty, children’s health and educational outcomes.
The relationship between women’s work histories and incomes in later life in the UK, US and West Germany
- Authors:
- SEFTON Tom, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of European Social Policy, 21(1), February 2011, pp.20-36.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This study examines the relationship between employment history and the personal income of older women in the UK, US and West Germany. It compares three countries with different welfare and pension systems, and aims to achieve a better understanding of the interaction between the life course, pension system and women’s incomes in later life. The study draws on data from longitudinal surveys, and includes 1,418 samples from the UK, 1,127 from the US and 2,270 from Germany. Findings reveal that the association between older women’s incomes and employment history is strongest in West Germany and weakest in the UK, where there is evidence of a pensions poverty trap and where only predominantly full-time employment is associated with significantly higher incomes in later life. Employment history matters less for widows in all three countries and more for recent birth cohorts and more educated women in the UK only. In ending, the paper discusses the adequacy of the treatment of women under different pension systems.
Income dynamics and the life cycle
- Authors:
- RIGG John, SEFTON Tom
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Policy, 35(3), July 2006, pp.411-435.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Place of publication:
- Cambridge
This article argues that the understanding of income and poverty dynamics benefits from taking a life-cycle perspective. A person's age and family circumstances – the factors that shape their life cycle – affect the likelihood of experiencing key life events, such as partnership formation, having children, or retirement; this in turn affects their probability of experiencing rising, falling, or other income trajectories. Using ten waves of the British Household Panel Survey, the authors analyse the income trajectories of people at different stages in their lives in order to build a picture of income dynamics over the whole life cycle. We find that particular life events are closely associated with either rising or falling trajectories, but that there is considerable heterogeneity in income trajectories following these different events. Typically, individuals experiencing one of these life events are around twice as likely to experience a particular income trajectory, but most individuals will not follow the trajectory most commonly associated with that life event. This work improves understanding of the financial impact of different life events and provides an indication of how effectively the welfare state cushions people against the potentially adverse impact of these events.
Economic evaluation in the social welfare field: making ends meet
- Author:
- SEFTON Tom A.J.
- Journal article citation:
- Evaluation, 9(1), 2003, pp.73-91.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This article argues that economists have a potential valuable contribution to make to evaluation in the social welfare field. It contrasts the perspectives of mainstream economists and other evaluators working in this field, which often appear to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. The article provides a brief discussion of economic evaluation: how it is defined; why it is important and provides examples from published studies of how the recommendations might be applied in practice.
Making the most of it: economic evaluation in the social welfare field
- Authors:
- SEFTON Tom, et al
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 106p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- York
Economic evaluation involving the systematic assessment of costs and outcomes has a valuable contribution to make to evidence based policy making, by providing evidence of value for money or cost effectiveness in a rational and explicit manner. This book seeks to apply these principles of evaluation to social welfare intervention in the form of case study evaluations of community development, homelessness prevention, foster care and fuel poverty.
Assessing small community groups
- Authors:
- RICHARDSON Liz, SEFTON Tom A. J.
- Journal article citation:
- Community Work and Family, 8(1), February 2005, pp.69-92.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Many community groups in the UK do micro-project work to help families and young people in low-income neighbourhoods. This paper establishes a common set of criteria for assessing the effectiveness of small community groups and uses these as basis for developing an evaluation tool for community groups and those working with them. It draws on the literature to identify those factors that are seen to be important to the functioning of community groups, where necessary adapting these to smaller groups. These criteria are then 'tested' on a small number of community groups across the UK, using a participative approach and questionnaire to explore these issues with each group. Our framework appears to capture all the key aspects of the groups we visited, although some of the assessment criteria need to be interpreted carefully, helping to refine our own understanding of what makes a good community group. This approach is a useful way for community groups to identify their own strengths and weaknesses and, if developed further, has potential applications in the evaluation of capacity-building schemes.
“No one knows what the future can hold”: the impact of the two-child limit after three years
- Authors:
- SEFTON Tom, MONK-WINSTANLEY Rhiannon, HOWES Sophie
- Publisher:
- Child Poverty Action Group
- Publication year:
- 2020
- Pagination:
- 35
- Place of publication:
- London
This report is part of a series of annual reports on the impact of the two-child limit, and is based on a survey of nearly 1,000 families affected by the policy. The two-child limit was part of a package of welfare reforms announced in 2015. From 6 April 2017, families having a third or subsequent child are no longer entitled to additional support through child tax credit and universal credit, worth more than £50 a week per child. The study estimates that 230,000 families have been affected by the two-child limit by April 2020, and that an additional 60,000 families could be affected as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. By the end of this Parliament, more than 600,000 families are likely to be subject to the limit, pushing an estimated 1.3 million children into, or deeper into, poverty. Affected families are having to cut back on basic items, including adequate or healthy food, clothes, haircuts and baby equipment. In order to get by, many families report getting into problem debt and rent arrears – a situation they acknowledge is not sustainable. The report calls on the government to lift the two-child limit and help all children to thrive. At the very minimum, it should suspend the two-child limit for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to protect families who are making a new claim for universal credit as a result of the economic fallout of the virus. (Edited publisher abstract)
Family ties: women's work and family histories and their association with incomes in later life in the UK
- Authors:
- SEFTON Tom, EVANDROU Maria, FALKINGHAM Jane
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Policy, 40(1), January 2011, pp.41-69.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Place of publication:
- Cambridge
This article examines the relationship between the family and work histories of older women and their personal incomes in later life. The analysis uses retrospective data from the first 15 waves of the British Household Panel Survey. The association between women's family histories and their incomes later in life are found to be relatively weak, explaining only a small proportion of the overall variation in older women's incomes. Divorce, early widowhood and re-marriage are not associated with any significant differences in older women's incomes, while motherhood is only associated with a small reduction in incomes later in life. While there are significant differences in the work histories of older women with different family histories, this translates into relatively small differences in their personal incomes, because the types of employment career pursued by most women are not associated with significantly higher retirement incomes and because public transfers dampen work history-related differentials, especially for widows. On the one hand, this could be seen as a positive finding in that the ‘pension penalty’ associated with life-course events such as motherhood and divorce is not as severe as often anticipated. On the other hand, the main reason for this is that the pension returns for working longer are relatively low, particularly for women with few qualifications. The analysis suggests that women retiring over the next two decades are unlikely to benefit significantly from the additional years they have spent in employment, because most of this increase has been in part-time employment.
Poverty in Britain: the impact of government policy since 1997
- Authors:
- SUTHERLAND Holly, SEFTON Tom, PIACHAUD David
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2003
- Pagination:
- 80p.
- Place of publication:
- York
Relative poverty, measured as households with less than 60 per cent of the national mid-point income, fell by around one million between 1996/7 and 2000/1, including half a million children. This was largely due to increasing levels of employment and above-inflation increase in some benefits, especially those for families with children. Policy modelling taking account of more recent tax and benefit changes including the introduction of child tax credits - shows that the Government’s policies would remove 1.3 million children from poverty by April 2004, other things being equal. However, the overall national increase in incomes since 1997 has served to raise the poverty threshold, with the result that the actual reduction in child poverty is likely to be around one million. The researchers estimate that the number of children in poor households will be one third below its 1997 level by 2004 before housing costs are taken into account, and a quarter lower after housing costs are deducted. This means that the Government should meet its short-term target, unless other factors, such as employment, take a turn for the worse. The study also anticipates a significant fall in poverty among pensioners between 1997 and 2003/4. However, the assessment of how many older people have been taken out of poverty depends heavily on which income measurement is used.The incomes of many pensioner households are clustered close to the poverty line; while their housing costs tend to be significantly lower than those of working-age adults. This means that the numbers measured ‘below the poverty line’ are particularly sensitive to where the line is placed and whether housing costs are included in the calculation. Calculated after housing costs, more than 1.2 million pensioners will have been raised above the poverty line by policies that include the Minimum Income Guarantee. But when household incomes are measured before deducting housing costs the expected reduction in pensioner poverty is only 270,000. A further analysis, looking at the impact of changes in duty on cigarettes, alcohol and petrol, and other indirect taxes, shows that poor families tend to be disproportionately affected. Even so, the overall reduction in poverty since 1997 would only be marginally lower if indirect taxation changes were reflected in official figures.