An article said that research into the distribution of economic resources in society had primarily concentrated on the bottom of the economic distribution, namely the poor . It was time for social policy to move away from a narrow focus on poverty to consider the broader issue of inequality between different groups in the economic distribution and, by implication, the position of better-off citizens.
Source: Michael Orton and Karen Rowlingson, 'A problem of riches: towards a new social policy research agenda on the distribution of economic resources', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 36 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Dec
An article said that although New Labour continued to maintain that the welfare state should be used to tackle opportunity barriers, it no longer believed that the task of the welfare state was to extend opportunities for selflessness, enhance social solidarity, or deliver greater equality of outcome.
Source: Robert Page, 'Without a song in their heart: New Labour, the welfare state and the retreat from democratic socialism', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 36 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Dec
A paper described two classes of inequality indices - absolute and relative - that took into account 'envy' in the income distribution - the distance of each person?s income from his or her immediately richer neighbour. This was shown to be similar to justice concepts based on income relativities.
Source: Frank Cowell and Udo Ebert, Inequality and Envy, DARP 88, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion/London School of Economics (020 7955 6679)
Links: Paper
Date: 2006-Dec
A report by a think tank allied to the opposition Conservative Party examined a wide range of social problems, which it largely blamed on the breakdown of traditional marriage. Companion volumes covered economic dependency and worklessness; family breakdown; addictions; educational failure; consumer indebtedness; and the third sector.
Source: Breakdown Britain: Interim report on the state of the nation, Centre for Social Justice (020 7620 1120)
Links: Report | Economic dependence | Family breakdown | Addictions | Educational failure | Indebtedness | Third sector | CSJ press release | CPAG press release | OPF press release | NCH press release | NCVO press release | Acevo press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Dec
An article examined the extent to which a new political consensus on welfare could be identified. It analyzed responses from MPs to questions on welfare issues, and considered the extent to which MPs believed there to be some degree of consensus in approaches to welfare. It also considered whether any consensus existed merely in the political language used in relation to welfare issues, or whether there was a more substantive convergence.
Source: Hugh Bochel and Andrew Defty, 'MPs' attitudes to welfare: a new consensus?', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 36 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Dec
An article analyzed the incidence and distribution of economic hardship in three countries - Finland, Britain and Sweden - using measures of relative deprivation. The preliminary results contradicted, to a large degree, findings derived from more traditional studies based solely on income data.
Source: Bj rn Haller d, Daniel Larsson, David Gordon and Veli-Matti Ritakallio, 'Relative deprivation: a comparative analysis of Britain, Finland and Sweden', Journal of European Social Policy, Volume 16 Number 4
Links: Abstract
>Date: 2006-Nov
A report said that the chief executives of the top 100 quoted companies earned on average 98 times more than the average full-time employee during the year to July 2006.
Source: Directors Pay Report 2006, Incomes Data Services (020 7324 2599)
Links: Summary | IDS press release | TUC press release | FT report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2006-Nov
An article reported a scientific study which suggested a positive correlation between low socio-economic status and the speed of physical ageing.
Source: Lynn Cherkas et al., 'The effects of social status on biological aging as measured by white-blood-cell telomere length', Aging Cell, Volume 5 Issue 5
Links: Abstract | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Oct
A pamphlet (by a former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) said that the welfare state should be reshaped by tackling inequality of wealth as well as inequality of income, and by promoting self-reliance in place of dependency. This would mean basing policy on a something for something approach that matched the obligation of society (to ensure that opportunity was extended to all), with the responsibility of people to lift themselves out of poverty.
Source: David Blunkett MP, A Ladder out of Poverty: From state-dependence to self-reliance, Resolution Foundation (020 7489 4870)
Links: Pamphlet
Date: 2006-Oct
A paper said that the minimum wage had reduced pay inequality between men and women, but was likely to have cut corporate profitability. About 2 million workers, equivalent to 1 in 10, had benefited from its introduction in 1999. Among these were women, whose pay differential with men had narrowed from 17.4 per cent in 1998 to 13 per cent. Fears that unemployment would rise, as predicted by orthodox economic theory, had not been borne out.
Source: David Metcalf, On the Impact of the British National Minimum Wage on Pay and Employment, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics (020 7955 7673)
Links: v | Briefing | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Oct
Official estimates for spring 2006 showed that there were 336,000 jobs with pay less than the national minimum wage held by people aged 16 or over - an increase of 28,000 compared with the estimates for 2005. This constituted 1.3 per cent of the total number of United Kingdom jobs.
Source: Low Pay Estimates: Spring 2006, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Oct
A new book said that Britain was neither classless nor a functioning meritocracy. Instead it was dominated by an 'oligarchy of professional egalitarians', whose aim was not to raise popular aspirations but to exploit mass taste, mass gullibility, or mass spending power for their own advantage.
Source: George Walden, New Elites: The end of social mobility, Gibson Square Books (020 7096 1100)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Sep
A new book called for the full introduction of economic, social and cultural rights in the United Kingdom, and countered the opposing arguments made by the political and judicial establishment. It surveyed the need for such rights in education, housing, and employment, and to combat poverty and discrimination.
Source: Stuart Weir, Unequal Britain: A human rights route to social justice, Politico's Publishing (0870 850 1110)
Links: Summary | Essex University press release
Date: 2006-Sep
A paper reviewed recent literature relating to relative deprivation, reference groups, and social comparisons. It discussed some ideas for qualitative research which might assist in determining how one might replicate W.G. Runciman s Relative Deprivation and Social Justice (1966) in the early 21st century.
Source: David Rose, Social Comparisons and Social Order: Issues relating to a possible re-study of W.G. Runciman s Relative Deprivation and Social Justice, Working Paper 2006-48, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2006-Sep
A new book examined how the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity related to modern social policy. It considered the political and moral dimensions of a wide range of social policies.
Source: Paul Spicker, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Sep
A think-tank pamphlet set out the principles on which governance should be based, in the interests of a good society. The individual and the family should have freedom to determine how they wanted to live their lives, and to take responsibility for their destiny, The size of the state should be constrained in order to ensure that government was the servant of the people, not its master. Individual and national prosperity depended on wealth creation by enterprise and on global competitiveness in open markets.
Source: Norman Blackwell and Ruth Lea, From Principles to Policy: What an alternative manifesto should say, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Pamphlet
Date: 2006-Sep
A pamphlet examined whether the passion and commitment harnessed by the 'Make Poverty History' campaign against world poverty could be channelled into action to tackle poverty and injustice in the United Kingdom.
Source: David Lammy MP, Making Poverty History at Home, Christian Socialist Movement (020 7233 3736) and Von Hugel Institute Centre for Faith in Society
Links: Summary | Church Times report
Date: 2006-Sep
A survey found that the median total remuneration for chief executives of the largest publicly quoted companies had increased by 9 per cent in the previous year, to 2,329,000. Big bonuses had become too commonplace, and were in danger of creating a shareholder backlash unless they became better related to performance.
Source: Survey of Directors Compensation 2006, KPMG (020 7311 1000)
Links: KPMG press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2006-Sep
A paper provided an overview of the key issues in the measurement of income inequality.
Source: Frank Cowell, Inequality: Measurement, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion/London School of Economics (020 7955 6679)
Links: Paper
Date: 2006-Aug
An article examined the longitudinal association between socio-economic position and common mental disorders in a general population sample. None of the socio-economic indicators studied was significantly associated with an episode of common mental disorder at follow-up after adjusting for baseline psychiatric morbidity.
Source: Petros Skapinakis, Scott Weich, Glyn Lewis, Nicola Singleton and Ricardo Araya, 'Socio-economic position and common mental disorders: longitudinal study in the general population in the UK', British Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 189, Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Aug
An article said that, contrary to the view of New Scotland as a 'prosperous, smart, and successful' country, marked class divisions and structured inequalities persisted within contemporary Scottish society.
Source: Alex Law and Gerry Mooney, '"We ve never had it so good": the "problem" of the working class in devolved Scotland', Critical Social Policy, Volume 26 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Aug
A think-tank report said that the poorest households in Britain were paying a higher share of tax, and getting a lower share of benefits, than before the Labour government came to power in 1997. If the poorest fifth of households paid the same share of total taxes and got the same share of total benefits as they did in 1996-97, they would have been 531 per year better off in 2004-05.
Source: Charlie Elphicke, Robin Hood or Sheriff of Nottingham? Winners and losers from tax and benefit reform over the last 10 years, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Aug
An article examined the theory that social inequalities in health disappeared, or were attenuated, in early adolescence - possibly due to changing risk exposures. Social equalization in youth was noted for some health outcomes, and by some measures of socio-economic status: but not for others. Inequalities in parent-rated health status and long-standing illness persisted among young people in workless households and those experiencing severe material hardship.
Source: Nick Spencer, 'Social equalization in youth: evidence from a cross-sectional British survey', European Journal of Public Health, Volume 16 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Aug
A new book reported and analyzed the findings of a five-year research programme into social variations in health across Europe. People born into poor socio-economic conditions had double the death rate between 26 and 54 years than people in the best socio-economic conditions, regardless of any later improvement in their personal situation.
Source: Michael Marmot and Johannnes Siegrist (eds.), Social Inequalities in Health: New evidence and policy implications, Oxford University Press (01536 741727)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Jul
A think-tank report said that despite extensive government activity, health inequalities had actually widened since 1997. Too often, the government had provided only short-term responses to long-term problems, not allowing reforms to bed in before changing direction. Its health inequalities targets were arbitrary, and they did not convey the full extent of the problem.
Source: Alasdair Murray and Edward Seed, Keeping Up With the Pack: Can government reduce health inequalities?, CentreForum (020 7340 1160)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jul
A report presented a comprehensive picture of activity in 2005-06 across all Welsh Assembly Government departments contributing to social justice in Wales.
Source: Social Justice Report 2006, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jul
A think-tank report examined the concept of "compassionate conservatism" used by the new leader of the opposition Conservative Party. It said that the two greatest threats to society came from a weakening of social ties, and terrorism.
Source: Jesse Norman and Janan Ganesh, Compassionate Conservatism: What it is, why we need it, Policy Exchange (020 7340 2650)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jun
An article reported a study which found that people from low-income groups conversed in a way to suggested that socio-economic inequalities deeply affected their health and well-being.
Source: Rosemary Davidson, Jenny Kitzinger and Kate Hunt, 'The wealthy get healthy, the poor get poorly? Lay perceptions of health inequalities', Social Science & Medicine Volume 62 Issue 9
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-May
An article examined how taxes and benefits redistributed income between various groups of households in the United Kingdom. In 2004-05 original income (before taxes and benefits) of the top fifth of households was around 16 times greater than that for the bottom fifth (?66,300 per household per year compared with ?4,300). After adjusting for taxes and benefits, this ratio was reduced to 4 to 1 for final income.
Source: Francis Jones, 'The effects of taxes and benefits on household income, 2004/05', Economic Trends 630, May 2006, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Article | ONS press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
A government report presented new analysis and evidence on the extent of educational social class attainment gaps at all stages of the education system, and explored the key drivers of any gaps. It also reviewed the government's policies across the age range, and considered what contribution they might be making to narrowing the attainment gap, as well as increasing attainment for all pupils.
Source: Social Mobility: Narrowing Educational Social Class Attainment Gaps, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | CPAG press release
Date: 2006-Apr
An article said that there was a significant positive correlation between the extent to which a region's economy had become knowledge based and its level of income inequality.
Source: John Hudson, 'Inequality and the knowledge economy: running to stand still?', Social Policy and Society, Volume 5 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
An article examined whether the scale of a society's income inequality was a determinant of population health. Most studies suggested that health was less good in societies where income differences were bigger.
Source: Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, 'Income inequality and population health: a review and explanation of the evidence', Social Science & Medicine Volume 62 Issue 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
A study measured the extent to which growing up in poverty made children more likely to be poor as adults. Living in poverty at age 16 increased the chances of living in poverty in the early thirties. Teenage poverty had a greater impact on later outcomes for teenagers in the 1980s compared with teenagers in the 1970s.
Source: Jo Blanden and Steve Gibbons, The Persistence of Poverty Across Generations: A view from two British cohorts, Policy Press for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Report | JRF Findings | JRF press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
A new book examined the rise of a new 'super wealthy' class. It said that soaring salaries by company bosses had been driven by greed and power rather than improved performance; that the super-rich boosted their fortunes by manipulating tax laws; and that despite their escalating wealth, the rich were relatively meaner than the poor when it came to giving to charity.
Source: Stewart Lansley, Rich Britain: The rise and rise of the new super-wealthy, Politico's Publishing (0870 850 1110)
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
An article examined changes in socio-economic inequalities in Census measures of health in England and Wales between 1991 and 2001. There was evidence that socio-economic inequalities in self-reported morbidity decreased.
Source: Jean Adams, Laura Holland and Martin White, 'Changes in socioeconomic inequalities in Census measures of health in England and Wales, 1991 2001', Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 60 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Mar
Statistics were published on the number of households below average income, covering the period 1994-95 to 2004-05. Since the 1996-97 peak, absolute poverty (individuals in households below 60 per cent of the 1996-97 median income) for the whole population had been cut by 7.1 million people after housing costs, and by 4.8 million before housing costs. Relative poverty (those below 60 per cent of the median) fell in the same period by 1.1 million before housing costs, and 2.4 million after housing costs.
Source: Households Below Average Income 2004/05, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Report | DWP press release | Statistical press release | IFS press release | CPAG press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
The government announced that the minimum wage would rise by 6 per cent in October 2006, to 5.35 per hour. The youth rate for those aged 18-21 would rise by 4.7 per cent to 4.45, and the rate for those aged 16-17 would rise by 10 per cent to 3.30. A government Minister reportedly said that the minimum wage might then be "close to the right level".
Source: Press release 20 March 2006, Department of Trade and Industry (020 7215 5000)
Links: DTI press release | LPC press release | TUC press release | CPAG press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
A Commission report set out why reducing inequalities in life chances was essential to ending child poverty and building a fairer society. It examined how the public argument for greater equality could be won, drawing on original research into public attitudes. It argued that a 'life chances' approach could build a wider coalition than an exclusive focus on poverty would achieve.
Source: Commission on Life Chances and Child Poverty, Narrowing the Gap, Fabian Society (020 7227 4900)
Links: Summary | Fabian Society press release | Ministerial speech | CPAG press release | Independent report
Date: 2006-Mar
A think-tank report said that Labour governments since 1997 had left inequality virtually unchanged. The number of people living on less than 60 per cent of median income had remained constant during a period when average incomes had been rising more quickly than they had under previous Conservative governments. In Labour's second term, spending on social security and tax credits had increased by 3.9 per cent a year: but it was unlikely to be able to maintain that level of growth.
Source: Mike Brewer, Alissa Goodman, Jonathan Shaw and Luke Sibieta, Poverty and Inequality in Britain: 2006, Commentary 101, Institute for Fiscal Studies (web publication only)
Links: Report | IFS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
The government said that reforms to 'make work pay', such as the minimum wage and tax credits, had lifted 2.4 million people out of relative poverty since 1997. Measures such as the pension credit had helped lift a million pensioners out of relative poverty since 1997, with a 15 per cent fall in pensioner poverty in the latest year alone. The target of reducing child poverty from 4.1 million to 3.1 million by April 2005 was missed by 300,000: but the government reaffirmed the target of eliminating child poverty by 2020.
Source: Making a Difference: Tackling poverty a progress report, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Report | DWP press release | IFS press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
An article said that IQ scores were a significant factor in explaining socio-economic gradients in health.
Source: David Batty, Geoff Der, Sally Macintyre and Ian Deary, 'Does IQ explain socioeconomic inequalities in health? Evidence from a population based cohort study in the west of Scotland', British Medical Journal, 11 March 2006
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Mar
The opposition Conservative party published a statement of values. It said that it believed in trusting people, sharing responsibility, championing freedom, and supporting the institutions and culture people shared as one nation. It committed the party to reducing poverty.
Source: Built to Last, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Statement | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Feb
A discussion paper (drawing on cross-country studies) said that there was a negative correlation between inequality and interpersonal trust.
Source: Andrew Leigh, Does Equality Lead to Fraternity?, Discussion Paper 513, Centre for Economic Policy Research/Australian National University (mailto:andrew.leigh@anu.edu.au)
Links: Paper
Date: 2006-Jan
An article said that inequalities in adverse perinatal outcomes increased in Scotland during the 1990s in all strata defined by maternal characteristics.
Source: Lesley Fairley and A. Leyland, 'Social class inequalities in perinatal outcomes: Scotland 1980-2000', Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 60 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan