An article (in the 27th British Social Attitudes report) examined public attitudes towards income inequality and redistributive policies. There was high – and growing – concern about income inequality, and a belief that the government should act to reduce it. But only 27 per cent of people agreed that the government should spend more on welfare benefits – compared with well over one-half (58 per cent) in 1991.
Source: Karen Rowlingson, Michael Orton and Eleanor Taylor, 'Do we still care about inequality?', in Alison Park and Elizabeth Clery (eds.), British Social Attitudes: The 27th Report, SAGE Publications
Links: Summary | NatCen press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Dec
A paper examined what could be learnt about the 'valuation' of freedoms and opportunities (or capabilities) using a general population social survey data source on values.
Source: Polly Vizard, Developing and Agreeing a Capability List in the British Context: What can be learnt from social survey data on 'rights'?, CASEpaper 142, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion/London School of Economics
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Dec
The interim report was published of a government-commissioned review of 'fair pay' in the public sector. It set out the case for a maximum pay multiple that would keep the pay of top executives in the public sector bounded by what their staff earned.
Source: Hutton Review of Fair Pay in the Public Sector: Interim Report, HM Treasury
Links: Report | Review press release | Labour Party press release | ATL press release | Hay Group press release | NASUWT press release | TUC press release | Unite press release | Guardian report | BBC report | People Management report | Morning Star report | Personnel Today report | Public Finance report
Date: 2010-Dec
A report said that 17 per cent of the European Union population in 2008 – 81 million people – had disposable income that was below their national 'at-risk-of-poverty' threshold.
Source: Anthony Atkinson and Eric Marlier (eds.), Income and Living Conditions in Europe, Eurostat/European Commission
Links: Report | Eurostat press release
Date: 2010-Dec
A new book examined how the European Union's new strategy for sustainable and inclusive growth ('Europe 2020') could lead to a stronger social EU, with less poverty and greater social cohesion. It considered the format and role of EU co-ordination and co-operation in the social field under the new EU governance framework, in a context marked by slow recovery after the global economic crisis.
Source: Eric Marlier and David Natali (eds.) with Rudi Van Dam, Europe 2020: Towards a More Social EU?, Peter Lang
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Dec
A new book offered contrasting perspectives on social rights. One author said that in order for social rights to work effectively in the wider promotion of social justice, they needed to be kept as far away as possible from the courts. The other author argued for their 'legalization', and examined the role of courts and legislatures in this process.
Source: Conor Gearty and Virginia Mantouvalou, Debating Social Rights, Hart Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Dec
The European Commission published a strategy for lifting 20 million people out of poverty by the European Union target of 2020. It said that it wanted to encourage new ways of working and help governments and other actors develop more effective and innovative methods to tackle poverty.
Source: The European Platform Against Poverty and Social Exclusion: A European framework for social and territorial cohesion, European Commission
Links: Strategy | EC press release | Solidar press release | EurActiv report
Date: 2010-Dec
An article examined elements of a socially just response to the economic recession. Applying the principle of 'progressive social justice', it proposed two particular policy responses to the crisis: the restoration of effective unemployment insurance at home, and the cementing of the commitment to overseas aid as part of the United Kingdom's global responsibilities.
Source: Tony Atkinson, 'Progressive social justice and responding to the crisis', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, Volume 18 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Nov
An article critically examined the argument that the levels of income and wealth enjoyed by older cohorts (the 'welfare generation' born in the post-war period) could only be sustained by cutbacks in entitlements for younger cohorts – leading to a growing 'generational fracture' over welfare policy.
Source: Paul Higgs and Chris Gilleard, 'Generational conflict, consumption and the ageing welfare state in the United Kingdom', Ageing and Society, Volume 30 Issue 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Nov
A report for the equal rights watchdog examined one of the 15 target 'national outcomes' identified by the Scottish Government in 2007, which called for 'a strong, fair and inclusive national identity.' It considered whether such a goal was possible; where Scotland stood in relation to this aspiration; and what could be done to make it a reality.
Source: Steve Reicher, David McCrone and Nick Hopkins, 'A Strong, Fair and Inclusive National Identity': A Viewpoint on the Scottish Government's Outcome 13, Research Report 62, Equality and Human Rights Commission
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Nov
The government published a White Paper on plans to reform the social security system. It proposed the phased introduction, from 2013, of a new 'universal credit' designed to simplify the system and to 'make work pay'. The credit would be an integrated working-age credit that would provide a basic allowance with additional elements for children, disability, housing, and caring. It would support people both in and out of work, replacing working tax credit, child tax credit, housing benefit, income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance, and income-related employment and support allowance. The amount of the credit would depend on the level of income and other family circumstances. Once a recipient found paid work the credit would be withdrawn at a constant rate of around 65 pence for each pound of net earnings. There would be higher earnings disregards for selected groups.
Source: Universal Credit: Welfare that works, Cm 7957, Department for Work and Pensions/TSO
Links: White Paper | Impact assessment | Equality impact assessment | Consultation responses | Hansard | DWP press release | Speech | Conservative Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Labour Party press release | 4Children press release | CAP press release | Carers UK press release | CBI press release | CIH briefing | Citizens Advice press release | CPAG press release | CSJ press release | Disability Alliance press release | IPPR press release | Mencap press release | NHF press release | NHF briefing | Oxfam GB press release | PCS press release | Rethink press release | Sane press release | Scope press release | Turning Point press release | Work Foundation press release | Working Families press release | Children & Young People Now report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | New Start report | Personnel Today report | Community Care report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Nov
A new book examined why the New Labour government's 'Third Way' project had 'failed', and set out what was needed for an adequate replacement as a political and moral project. It criticized the economic analysis on which the Third Way approach to policy had been founded, and suggested an alternative to its 'legalistic and managerial' basis for the regulation of social relations.
Source: Bill Jordan, Why the Third Way Failed: Economics, morality and the origins of the 'Big Society', Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Oct
A new book said that reconstructing the financial system was not just a technical question: it could not be done without a wholesale revision of the wider system and values on which it was based. Fairness needed to be placed at the heart of the new capitalism for the sake of society's future well-being.
Source: Will Hutton, Them and Us: Changing Britain – Why we need a fair society, Little, Brown & Company
Links: Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Oct
A think-tank report said that modern welfare states and high levels of public debt 'undermined human flourishing'. In the field of welfare, the state was displacing networks of solidarity, reciprocity, and community – rather than supporting them.
Source: Philip Booth, The Free Economy, the Welfare State and Government Borrowing, Institute of Economic Affairs
Date: 2010-Oct
Three linked papers examined the relationship between globalization and inequality in the United Kingdom, and discussed how global institutions could work towards poverty alleviation in the UK.
Source: Patrick Diamond, How Globalisation Is Changing Patterns of Marginalisation and Inclusion in the UK, Joseph Rowntree Foundation | Jan Aart Scholte, The Impact of Global Governance on Poverty in the UK, Joseph Rowntree Foundation | Tony McGrew, The Links Between Global Governance, UK Poverty and Welfare Policy, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Paper (1) | Paper (2) | Paper (3)
Date: 2010-Oct
An article said that there was remarkably little public concern or anger about poverty, with many people tacitly accepting that 'the poor would always be with us'. Many people believed that there were sufficient opportunities to succeed for those who tried hard enough, and also that it was the middle class that actually struggled the most, economically or financially. These assumptions were highly conservative in their ideological and political implications because they limited public support for egalitarianism and extensive wealth redistribution from rich to poor.
Source: Peter Dorey, 'A poverty of imagination: blaming the poor for inequality', Political Quarterly, Volume 81 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Oct
A report examined the extent to which potential cuts in public spending might impact on intergenerational fairness. It developed a set of principles designed to ensure fairness in an ageing society. Maintaining and increasing employment should be the government's main priority. Spending on education at all stages of life should be protected as far as possible.
Source: Craig Berry and David Sinclair, Intergenerational Fairness and the Spending Review 2010, International Longevity Centre – UK
Links: Report | ILC press release
Date: 2010-Oct
A think-tank pamphlet said that the gap between rich and poor was still increasing, and at the same time there was growing fragmentation in communities. It set out a detailed policy prescription for how to combine equality and solidarity. Social integration was not an adjunct to issues of equality, but was part of the same broad progressive agenda.
Source: Nick Johnson, Separate and Unequal: How progressive integration can help deliver the good society, Fabian Society
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Sep
A think-tank report said that although the political system in Northern Ireland was primarily concerned with the need to deliver political stability, it needed to begin to provide answers to severe social problems and reverse the impact of intergenerational social breakdown.
Source: Breakthrough Northern Ireland, Centre for Social Justice
Links: Report | NIO press release | BBC report
Date: 2010-Sep
A think-tank briefing paper modelled the impact of tax and benefit changes in the 2010 'emergency' Budget on different income and expenditure groups. It said that many of the progressive tax rises that would be introduced over the years 2010-2012 had been announced by the previous government, and that the Budget measures scheduled to come in between 2012 and 2014 were generally regressive. Moreover, the distributional analysis in the Budget documentation did not include the effects of some cuts to housing benefit, disability living allowance, and tax credits that were likely to affect the poorer half of the income distribution more than the richer half.
Source: James Browne and Peter Levell, The Distributional Effect of Tax and Benefit Reforms to be Introduced Between June 2010 and April 2014: A Revised Assessment, Briefing Note 108, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note | IFS press release | ECP press release | Children & Young People Now report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Aug
A think-tank report offered a critique of the thesis (advanced in a book entitled The Spirit Level) that social inequalities damaged all groups in society. It said that very little of the statistical evidence was valid, and that the causal argument in the book was 'full of holes'.
Source: Peter Saunders, Beware False Prophets: Equality, the good society and The Spirit Level, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Tax Research UK press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jul
An article examined the development of the Conservative Party's approach to poverty and social justice in the period since David Cameron's election as its leader in 2005. The path that Cameron had followed in these areas reflected his determination to move the Conservative Party towards the political 'centre'.
Source: Robert Page, 'David Cameron's Modern Conservative approach to poverty and social justice: towards one nation or two?', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, Volume 18 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Jul
The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government announced that Frank Field (an opposition Labour MP) would lead an independent review on poverty and what the government could do to improve the lives of the least advantaged people. Mr Field would chair the 'Review on Poverty and Life Chances', which would report to the Prime Minister by the end of 2010.
Source: Press release 5 June 2010, Downing Street
Links: Downing Street press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Jun
An article examined the policies of the opposition Conservative party on poverty, the family, and welfare reform. While welcoming the Conservatives' recognition of poverty and inequality as problems, it said that the party's approach depended on assertions about the importance of family structure and a presumed culture of 'welfare dependency' that were not supported by the available evidence – as well as being characterized by a determination to downplay the effects of structural and economic factors, and the role and responsibility of government.
Source: Ruth Lister and Fran Bennett, 'The new "champion of progressive ideals"? Cameron's Conservative Party: poverty, family policy and welfare reform', Renewal, Volume 18 Number 1
Links: Article
Date: 2010-Apr
A paper examined the record of the Labour government on inequality. Although the fastest increase in inequality in the previous 30 years had been during the 1980s, there had still been some (small) increase after 1997.
Source: Stephen Machin, Inequality: Still Higher, But Labour's Policies Kept It Down, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Apr
The Labour Party published its manifesto for the 2010 general election. It said that National Health Service patients would get legally binding guarantees on the treatment they received. All hospitals would become foundation trusts, with greater freedom to manage their budgets and decide their priorities; poorly performing hospitals would be taken over by successful trusts. 1,000 secondary schools – roughly one-third – would become part of chains of schools run by an executive headteacher. A 'toddler tax credit' would be introduced, worth an extra £200 per year for families earning less than £50,000 with children under three years old. Paid paternity leave would be doubled to one month. The link between increases in earnings and in the basic state pension would be restored from 2012. There would be a pilot scheme giving primary-school children free school meals.
Source: A Future Fair for All: The Labour Party Manifesto 2010, Labour Party
Links: Manifesto | Labour Party press release | IFS press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | RCN press release | BMA press release | NUT press release | NASUWT press release | NCVO press release | Runnymede Trust press release | SEC press release | Friends of the Earth press release | Transform press release | Fawcett Society press release | Liberal Democrats press release | People Management report | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Personnel Today report | Professional Pensions report | Inside Housing report | Nursing Times report | Telegraph report | Children & Young People Now report | Inside Housing report | New Start report
Date: 2010-Apr
A think-tank report (written by the Prime Minister) outlined the philosophical case for progressive politics. It said that there was a need to harness the power that came from people acting together to create a better and fairer society.
Source: Gordon Brown MP (Prime Minister), Why the Right is Wrong: The progressive case for Britain's future, Fabian Society
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Apr
An article examined the theoretical stance underpinning New Labour's approach towards social policy – with particular reference to 'individualization' – and reviewed its strategies for tackling poverty and economic inequality. Despite a decade of unprecedented investment, there was an impasse in reducing child poverty, and economic inequality had increased. The assumption that education would facilitate social mobility, by serving to position the United Kingdom at the high end of the global labour market, failed to address the prevalence of the 'low pay no pay' cycle associated with the flexible labour market. Further measures were necessary to ensure that the labour market accommodated the needs of those entering it.
Source: Noel Smith, 'Economic inequality and poverty: where do we go from here?', International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Volume 30 Issue 3-4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Apr
The opposition Conservative Party published its manifesto for the 2010 general election. It said that parents, charities, and private organizations would be allowed to set up state-funded schools. Police authorities would be overseen by a directly elected official setting policing priorities, budgets, and strategies. Married couples, and people in civil partnerships, would be given a tax cut of £150 per year. The inheritance tax threshold would be increased to £1 million. Council tax would be frozen for two years. There would be a voluntary 'national citizen's service' for 16-year-olds. The national identity card scheme would be scrapped. There would be an annual cap on non-European Union migrants who were allowed to live and work in the United Kingdom.
Source: Invitation to Join the Government of Britain, Conservative Party
Links: Manifesto | Conservative Party press release | Speech | IFS press release | NUT press release | NASUWT press release | BMA press release | RCN press release | SEC press release | Friends of the Earth press release | Greenpeace press release | Stonewall press release | Runnymede Trust press release | Fawcett Society press release | Transform press release | CBI press release | ERS press release | Labour Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Telegraph report | Professional Pensions report | Personnel Today report | BBC report | Children & Young People Now report | Community Care report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report | Charity Times report | New Start report | Ekklesia report | Nursing Times report
Date: 2010-Apr
A briefing paper said that there was strong evidence of an increase in the rate of severe poverty since 2004-05, mirroring a rise in the official poverty rate – although the rate of persistent poverty (where people remained poor for a number of years) seemed to have fallen under Labour, at least until 2007. But the evidence was less conclusive as to whether severe poverty was higher than when Labour had come to power in 1997.
Source: Mike Brewer, David Phillips and Luke Sibieta, What Has Happened to 'Severe Poverty' Under Labour?, Briefing Note 90, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note | IFS press release
Date: 2010-Apr
A new book examined the New Labour government's anti-poverty agenda, and the transition from 'dramatic early success' to eventual 'stalled progress'. It compared Britain's anti-poverty initiative with welfare reform in the United States of America, showing how the policies of both countries had affected child poverty, living standards, and well-being in low-income families. It suggested next steps for future reforms.
Source: Jane Waldfogel, Britain's War on Poverty, Russell Sage Foundation
Links: Summary | LSE press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Apr
A new book examined the factors that caused social inequality to persist. It said that in rich countries inequality was no longer caused by not having enough resources to share, but by unrecognized and unacknowledged beliefs that actually propagated it – the five new 'tenets of injustice'. These were that elitism was efficient; exclusion was necessary; prejudice was natural; greed was good; and despair was inevitable.
Source: Daniel Dorling, Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists, Policy Press
Links: Summary | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | New Start report
Date: 2010-Apr
A paper said that over the decade from 1998, the highest-paid 10 per cent of workers saw their share of total annual wages rise from 27 per cent to 30 per cent. The majority of this went to the top 1 per cent and could be mainly accounted for by bonuses to financial sector workers. By 2008, the increased share that bankers were taking amounted to an extra £12 billion per year in wages alone.
Source: Brian Bell and John Van Reenen, Bankers' Pay and Extreme Wage Inequality in the UK, Special Paper 21, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics
Date: 2010-Apr
The opposition Liberal Democrat Party published its manifesto for the 2010 general election. It said that the first £10,000 of annual earnings would be made tax-free, taking about 3.4 million of the lowest-paid people out of tax altogether and giving an average tax cut of £700 per year: the cost would be met partly by closing tax loopholes and partly by tax rises in other areas – including ending higher-rate tax relief on pension contributions, and introducing an annual 1 per cent tax on domestic properties valued above £2 million. There would be cuts of £15 billion in public spending. The national identity card scheme would be scrapped.
Source: Liberal Democrat Manifesto 2010, Liberal Democrats
Links: Manifesto | LD press release | Speech | IFS press release (1) | IFS press release (2) | NUT press release | NASUWT press release | BMA press release | RCN press release | PAS press release | Friends of the Earth press release | Greenpeace press release | Runnymede Trust press release | Fawcett Society press release | Transform press release | Stonewall press release | SEC press release | CBI press release | IOD press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Telegraph report | Professional Pensions report | People Management report | Personnel Today report | New Start report | Guardian report | Community Care report | Children & Young People Now report | BBC report | Nursing Times report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Apr
A briefing paper said that living standards had grown during the Labour government's period in office. Between 1996-97 and 2008-09, real household disposable incomes grew by 2.0 per cent per year on average. In 2007-08 income inequality was slightly higher than when Labour came to power and higher than in any year since at least the 1950s: but the rise in income inequality under Labour was far smaller than the rise observed under the Conservatives during the 1980s.
Source: Alastair Muriel, David Phillips and Luke Sibieta, Living Standards, Inequality and Poverty: Labour's Record, Briefing Note 89, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note | IFS press release
Date: 2010-Apr
A report examined trends in income and wealth, based on the latest official statistics (for 2008 and 2009). In 2007-08 people living in workless households were concentrated in the bottom one-fifth of the income distribution: 70 per cent were in the bottom group, and only 2 per cent in the top one-fifth.
Source: Matthew Hughes (ed.), Social Trends 40: Chapter 5 – Income & Wealth, Office for National Statistics
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Apr
A think-tank briefing said that the tax and benefit measures implemented by the Labour government since 1997 had increased the incomes of poorer households and reduced those of richer ones, largely halting the rapid rise in income inequality seen under the previous Conservative government.
Source: James Browne and David Phillips, Tax and Benefit Reforms Under Labour, Briefing Note 88, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note | IFS press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Apr
A new book said that questions about particular policy objectives tended to be framed in terms of their efficiency, profitability or cost – rather than whether they were good or fair: but the ability to ask questions about moral goodness and fairness was essential in order to tackle the problems facing modern societies.
Source: Tony Judt, Ill Fares the Land: A treatise on our present discontents, Penguin Allen Lane
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Mar
An article reviewed and extended research on levels of income inequality and intergenerational social mobility. Although there continued to be widespread concern about inequality of incomes, this was declining and focused mostly on higher earners. Recent research on social mobility had been influential and might be one means of focusing attention on the effects of a widening income distribution: nonetheless an egalitarian agenda faced 'considerable challenges'.
Source: Stephen McKay, 'Where do we stand on inequality? Reflections on recent research and its implications', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, Volume 18 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Mar
An article said that people could have more than one sense of what constituted a fair split of the tax burden between rich and poor, depending on how the question was framed. People favoured progressiveness – taxing the rich more – more strongly when considering other people's post-tax income rather than the amount of tax paid.
Source: Stian Reimers, 'A pay-check half-empty or half-full? Framing, fairness and progressive taxation', Judgment and Decision Making, Volume 4 Number 6
Links: Article | ELSE press release
Date: 2010-Feb
An article reported a qualitative study examining ideas about fairness and social provision in Germany and the United Kingdom. Although respondents in both countries valued equality of opportunity as a normative principle, those in Germany were much more likely to argue that an equal opportunity approach required government to guarantee equal access to basic services. They were also more likely to express concerns about market freedoms that allowed those who could afford it better access to healthcare and education. Real differences in welfare values remained, loosely following differences of regime type, despite the greater emphasis on activation and individual responsibility across European welfare states.
Source: Peter Taylor-Gooby and Rose Martin, 'Fairness, equality and legitimacy: a qualitative comparative study of Germany and the UK', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 44 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Feb
A collection of essays examined the central ideological issues facing the centre-left, such as its attitude to: equality; political economy; community and identity; and power and democracy.
Source: James Purnell and Graeme Cooke (eds.), We Mean Power: Ideas for the future of the left, Demos
Date: 2010-Feb
A new book (by the Shadow Secretary of State for Universities and Skills) said that the 'baby boomer' generation of 1945-1965 had thrived at the expense of their children. Social, cultural, and economic provision had been made for the 'reigning section' of society, and the needs of the next generation had been subordinated. If political, economic, and cultural leaders did not begin to discharge their obligations to the future, the next generation would be taxed more, work longer hours for less money, have lower social mobility, and live in a degraded environment in order to pay for their parents' quality of life.
Source: David Willetts MP, The Pinch: How the baby boomers stole their children's future – and how they can give it back, Atlantic Books
Links: Summary | Cambridge University press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Feb
Three think-tank pamphlets examined the question of equality from the point of view of each of the three main political parties – Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat.
Source: Graeme Cooke, Society of Equals, Demos | Max Wind-Cowie, Everyday Equality, Demos | Julia Margo and William Bradley, Wealth of Opportunity, Demos
Links: Cooke Report (Labour) | Wind-Cowie Report (Tory) | Margo/Bradley Report (Lib Dem)
Date: 2010-Feb
The opposition Conservative Party criticized the record of Labour governments since 1997 on inequality. It said that there had been a 'measure of success' in lifting those just below the poverty line to just above it. But Labour's 'big government approach' had undermined personal and social responsibility, and ended up perpetuating poverty instead of solving it.
Source: Labour's Two Nations, Conservative Party
Links: Report | Conservative Party press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Feb
A report analyzed developments in the labour markets and education and training systems of Germany and the United Kingdom, and discussed patterns of earnings inequality and differentials in Germany, the UK, and the United States of America. There was no single optimal set of policy interventions to achieve efficiency as well as social justice, and policies implemented in different countries depended on the specific preferences of a society. But policy interventions could be used effectively to improve both the productivity of the economy and social justice.
Source: Christian Dustmann, Stephen Machin and David Soskice, Inequality, Education and Comparative Political Economy, Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jan
The government published details of the proposed socio-economic duty – contained in the Equality Bill – requiring public bodies, including central government and local authorities, to ensure that they considered the impact of their strategic decisions on narrowing socio-economic inequalities.
Source: The Equality Bill: Duty to Reduce Socio-Economic Inequalities – A Guide, Government Equalities Office
Links: Guide | GEO press release
Date: 2010-Jan
The British Social Attitudes survey found that only 2 in 5 people (39 per cent) supported increased taxes and spending on health and education – the lowest level since 1984, and down from 62 per cent in 1997. 50 per cent said that taxes and spending should remain as they were – the highest level since 1984. But the proportion willing to say that taxes and spending on health and education should be cut was still less than 1 in 10 (8 per cent).
Source: John Curtice, 'Thermostat or weathervane? Public reactions to spending and redistribution under New Labour', in British Social Attitudes: The 26th Report, SAGE Publications
Links: Summary | NatCen press release
Date: 2010-Jan
Five linked studies examined the impact of devolution on the most disadvantaged people and places. Despite falling poverty and improving employment levels in the devolved countries, the most significant progress could be ascribed to the use of reserved (United Kingdom) powers.
Source: Dave Adamson, The Impact of Devolution: Area-Based Regeneration Policies in the UK, Joseph Rowntree Foundation | David Bell, The Impact of Devolution: Long-Term Care Provision in the UK, Joseph Rowntree Foundation | Paul Bivand, Laurie Bell, Lovedeep Vaid, Danielle Whitehurst and Ken Wan, The Impact of Devolution: Employment and Employability, Joseph Rowntree Foundation | Guy Palmer, The Impact of Devolution: Indicators of Poverty and Social Exclusion, Joseph Rowntree Foundation | Steve Wilcox and Suzanne Fitzpatrick with others, The Impact of Devolution: Housing and Homelessness, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Summary | Report (1) | Report (2) | Report (3) | Report (4) | Report (5) | JRF press release | Community Care report | New Start report
Date: 2010-Jan
The report of an independent panel examined the relationship between the distributions of various kinds of economic outcome, on the one hand, and people's characteristics and circumstances, on the other. 'Deep-seated and systematic differences' remained between social groups across all the dimensions examined, although some of the widest gaps had narrowed in the previous decade – such as between the earnings of women and men, or in the educational qualifications of different ethnic groups. People's origins shaped their life-chances from cradle to grave: differences in wealth were associated, for example, with opportunities such as the ability to buy houses in the catchment areas of the best schools, to afford private education, or to help children on to the housing ladder. At the other end of life, wealth levels were associated with stark differences in life expectancy after 50. Inequality in earnings and in income was high in the United Kingdom, compared with both other industrialized countries and 30 years previously. Over the most recent decade, earnings inequality had narrowed a little and income inequality had stabilized on some measures: but it had increased on measures affected by the share going to the very top. The large growth in inequality of the 1980s had not been reversed. The panel identified sixteen areas – from early years to pensions – where policy interventions were needed to tackle inequalities.
Source: National Equality Panel, An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK, Government Equalities Office
Links: Report | Summary | NEP research reports | Hansard | Government response | GEO press release | Gordon Brown article | EHRC press release | CPAG press release | CAP press release | TUC press release | Compass press release | Fawcett Society press release | ISER press release | Bristol University press release | ILC press release | Centre for Cities press release | ResPublica press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | BBC report | Personnel Today report | Ekklesia report | People Management report | Children & Young People Now report | Inside Housing report | Local Government Chronicle report
Date: 2010-Jan