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From pandemic to cost of living crisis: low-income families in challenging times
- Authors:
- HILL Katherine, WEBBER Ruth
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2022
- Pagination:
- 36
- Place of publication:
- York
This report draws on a longitudinal study which followed a set of families on low incomes and their experiences of making ends meet over six years before and during the pandemic. It is based on interviews with parents in 13 families in November and December 2021, focusing on how families managed as the pandemic extended into a second year. It also considers the continuing implications and pressures of managing on a low income in a changing world as the pandemic eases (and state responses to mitigate the financial impact are rolled back), but the cost of living crisis emerges. The Covid crisis added another complication to the lives of those already dealing with multiple stressors. The post-pandemic world will bring ongoing and new challenges, as well as opportunities, in changing times. The uncertainty and instability faced by families with unpredictable income from work and benefits is now being exacerbated by the cost of living crisis which is predicted to have severe consequences for families already struggling to make ends meet. To address this growing crisis, action is required on a wide range of fronts. Families need: a state safety net that provides adequate and reliable financial support, at least rising with inflation; employment laws supporting access to secure, adequately paid employment, allowing people control over hours to fit in with family life; statutory sick pay paid from the first day of sickness, rather than the fourth; public services, including the benefits system, mental health and other GP services that are easier to access with better information and easier channels of communication; measures to help families achieve full digital access; greater efforts by policymakers to connect and engage with people like those in this study who can feel overlooked, with further action to ensure people's concerns are heard and addressed. (Edited publisher abstract)
It takes a village: the little village family poverty report, 2022
- Author:
- MOREAU Sophia
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2022
- Pagination:
- 31
- Place of publication:
- York
This report explores the rates, persistence and depth of poverty in families with babies and pre-school children in the UK. The report includes analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on the extent of the problem, which found that 1.3 million children under five in the UK are living in poverty. The report also sets out findings from a survey of 1,400 families living on low incomes in the UK (Edited publisher abstract)
Seeking an anchor in an unstable world: experiences of low-income families over time
- Authors:
- HILL Katherine, WEBBER Ruth
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2021
- Pagination:
- 60
- Place of publication:
- York
This report draws on the experiences of 14 low-income families over a five-year period ending on the eve of the pandemic. It identifies what helped families to keep afloat and what threatened to pull them under as they navigated through choppy waters. Good jobs which provide a route out of poverty, a social security system people can rely on when they are struggling and decent, affordable homes provide the anchor that families need in an unstable world. The report finds that living on a low income involved precarity with ups and downs over time. While some families on low incomes were ‘getting by’, and managing to keep up with outgoings, they were often working hard to keep their heads above water, and risked being pushed into deeper difficulty. Over a five-year period, the 14 families’ situations often fluctuated as changes in work, benefits, and family circumstances impacted on their ability to make ends meet. The factors most likely to help families get by or improve their lives were: steady work, two wages in the family, access to health-related benefits, reduced need for childcare as children got older, formal support and support from extended family. Secure and affordable housing also helped, with support towards rent from housing benefit crucial for those who were finding it hard to manage. Conversely, families were most likely to find it hard to keep afloat if they faced: unstable work, poor health, constraints balancing work and childcare, delays and difficulties with benefits, and high housing costs. (Edited publisher abstract)
Staying afloat in a crisis: families on low incomes in the pandemic
- Authors:
- HILL Katherine, WEBBER Ruth
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2021
- Pagination:
- 45
- Place of publication:
- York
This report provides a unique insight into the lives of 14 low-income families, exploring how they coped with the first six months of the coronavirus storm. The pandemic brought fresh challenges to low-income families and intensified the pressure they were already under. Holding onto work and a series of temporary lifelines helped some families to weather the storm. But the additional stresses of the pandemic threatened those in already precarious situations. The report reveals that families on low incomes who were already facing constraints and instability at the start of 2020 were more vulnerable to the impacts of the pandemic, with fewer resources to fall back on. Lone parents face extra pressures, depending on one income, and balancing work with childcare alone. During the pandemic, the impact of reduced earnings and extra costs was greater without the backup of a partner, and they could also receive less support from an ex-partner whose situation changed. The digital divide has become even more salient during the pandemic. This affected children who were home-learning without suitable equipment or adequate online access, as well as access to online services and support for parents if they were not confident internet users. (Edited publisher abstract)
UK poverty 2018
- Authors:
- BARNARD Helen, et al
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2018
- Pagination:
- 54
- Place of publication:
- York
Annual report examining the nature and scale of UK poverty and how UK poverty rates have changed over the last few years, as well as over the longer term. The research provides a comprehensive analysis of poverty trends and figures and the impact of poverty, focusing particularly on poverty among children, working-age adults, and pensioners. It provides an overview of how poverty is linked to disability and ethnicity and also examines the ways that housing market changes have affected low-income families and pensioners. It also considers how poverty restricts people's day-to-day lives and prospects, such as physical and mental health, healthy life and expectancy, and the links between destitution and debt, health and wellbeing. Key findings from the research show that child poverty has been rising since 2011/12 and that there are now 4.1 million children are living in poverty. In addition, four million workers are living in poverty, with increasing numbers of working parents living in poverty. The report highlights the importance of taking action to halt the rise in poverty among workers and their families, as well as among children in workless families. It also identifies strategies which have been shown to reduce poverty, such as improving access to better-paid work, enabling more families to live in low-cost rented homes and strengthening support through the social security system. (Edited publisher abstract)
UK poverty 2017: a comprehensive analysis of poverty trends and figures
- Author:
- JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2017
- Pagination:
- 113
- Place of publication:
- York
This report assesses the progress the UK is making in reducing poverty rates and tackling the underlying drivers of poverty, examining how UK poverty has changed over the last 20 years, as well as more recent developments. Nearly a quarter (24%) of the UK’s population lived in poverty 20 years ago. By 2004, this had fallen to one in five (20%) of the population. By 2015/16, the proportion had risen slightly to 22%. However, the overall trend masks large variations in the fortunes of different groups. Over the last 20 years the UK succeeded in reducing poverty significantly among those groups who had traditionally been at most risk – pensioners and some types of families with children. Very little progress was made in reducing poverty among working-age households without children. In more recent years, poverty rates have started to rise again among both pensioners and families with children. The report suggests that solving poverty in the UK will require urgent action in five areas: reform of Universal Credit so people keep more of what they earn and a lifting of the working-age benefits freeze so incomes keep up with prices; reduce the cost of living, particularly housing, for those on low incomes; improve education and skills, especially among children from low-income backgrounds and adults in low-paid work; work with employers and business to create more and better jobs where they are needed, and to offer more opportunities and better pay to people who currently struggle to enter and gain from work – particularly disabled people, those caring for adults or children, and part-time workers; work with communities and service providers to improve health, family relationships and social support to reduce the damage done by poverty and improve prospects. (Edited publisher abstract)
Universal Credit: a Joseph Rowntree Foundation briefing
- Author:
- SCHMUECKER Katie
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2017
- Pagination:
- 14
- Place of publication:
- York
This briefing looks at the implementation of Universal Credit across the UK and provides recommendations on how the system could be improved. The report generally welcomes the introduction of Universal Credit, which brings together six separate benefits into one integrated payment, but highlights three priorities for action to ensure that Universal Credit is successful in reducing poverty. These are: a reduction in waiting times for Universal Credit, increasing the child element of Universal Credit so it is not limited to the first two children only, and for Universal Credit to provide employment support to help people into work. (Edited publisher abstract)
Foreign-born people and poverty in the UK
- Authors:
- HUGHES Ceri, KENWAY Peter
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 29
- Place of publication:
- York
Drawing on analysis of the Family Resources Survey, this report highlights that migrants to the UK are at a higher risk of poverty than people born in the UK. The report looks at the number of migrants in the UK and key characteristic such as age on arrive and length of time living in the UK. It then discusses the levels of poverty among the foreign born population, and how this varies across different ages, tenures and for people with different family and work arrangement. The report shows that, on average over the three-year period to 2013/14, there were 2.5 million foreign-born people in poverty (32% of all foreign-born people), contrasting with a poverty rate of 19% for UK-born people. It finds that foreign-born people living in poverty are more likely to have characteristics or live in circumstances associated with higher rates of poverty for UK-born people, such as: being young adults; renting privately; and in families where only one adult in a couple is in work. The report highlights two key groups at most risk of poverty, children born to foreign-born parents and people who have spent ten or more years in the UK. In the three years to 2013/14 most (73%) of the foreign-born population who were in poverty had lived in the UK for at least five years. The poverty rate for children with foreign-born parents was high, reaching 45% compared with 24% for the children of UK-born parents. It highlights the need to consider how best to support those migrants who have lived in the UK for many years, to access the opportunities available to others. (Edited publisher abstract)
Falling short: the experiences of families below the Minimum Income Standard
- Authors:
- HILL Katherine, et al
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 62
- Place of publication:
- York
Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 families who have incomes below the Minimum Income Standard (MIS), this qualitative research investigates the consequences these families face living in 21st century Britain. Although these families do not necessarily face severe material deprivation, their incomes are seen to be too low to allow the choices and opportunities required to participate fully in society. The research considers their experiences of low income; the impact of low income on the practicalities of family life and emotional and psychological well-being; and how families prioritise their spending while living with less than the MIS budget. The study shows that the severe pressures of living on a low income are not restricted to a few families in the most severe poverty. Families differed in the extent to which they were coping. Important factors included: what level of costs parents faced, whether they had support from friends and family, their own budgeting skills, and whether they could achieve a degree of stability, often undermined by irregular employment and hours, changes in benefits and tax credits, and insecurity in private rented housing. Key issues for policy-makers identified include: rolling out the Universal Credit system, enabling greater stability for those living in private rented housing, and increased accessibility to child care. (Edited publisher abstract)
The relationship between poverty, child abuse and neglect: an evidence review
- Authors:
- BYWATERS Paul, et al
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 74
- Place of publication:
- York
This rapid review examines UK and international evidence on how poverty affects a child’s chance of being abused or neglected, and the impact abuse or neglect in childhood has on poverty in adult life. It also explores the economic costs of child abuse and neglect, identifies strengths and weaknesses in the evidence base, and outlines broad policy implications, with a particular focus on the UK. The review found a strong association between family poverty and a child’s chance of suffering child abuse or neglect, despite limited evidence in a number of areas. Adverse events in childhood, including abuse and neglect, are also associated with a negative effect on adult economic circumstances. It also identified a lack of joined up thinking and action about poverty and child abuse and neglect in the UK; a limited UK evidence base; and the need to develop anti-poverty policies which are likely to reduce the extent and severity of child abuse and neglect in childhood, the socio-economic consequences of child abuse and neglect in adult life and the wider economic costs. (Edited publisher abstract)