A report examined the protections against discrimination in housing under European Union law. It discussed: the concepts and legal instruments underpinning protections at the European and international levels; non-discrimination legislation adopted by member states and some non-member states; and the range of forms of discrimination and ways in which they might be overcome.
Source: Julie Ringelheim and Nicolas Bernard, Discrimination in Housing, European Commission
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
An article examined some of the forces that had driven changes in household income inequality over the previous three decades of the 20th century in six countries (Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America). Although changes in the distribution of earnings had been an important force behind recent trends, they were not the only one. Greater earnings dispersion had in some cases been accompanied by a reduction in the share of earnings, which dampened its impact on overall household income inequality. In some countries the contribution of self-employment income to inequality had been on the rise: whereas in others, increases in inequality in capital income accounted for a substantial fraction of the observed distributional changes.
Source: Cecilia Garcia-Penalos and Elsa Orgiazzi, 'Factor components of inequality: a cross-country study', Review of Income and Wealth, Volume 59 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Dec
An article offered a chronological account and critical appraisal of changes to early childhood education and care services in England over the previous 20 years. It covered four key areas: policies designed to reduce social inequality; the professionalization of the children's workforce and changing status of adults employed in pre-school education and care settings; changes to early years pedagogy and the early years curriculum; and how major research programmes had informed the understanding of the effects of social disadvantage and how high-quality pre-school provision could alleviate this. There was now 'persuasive evidence' that investment in state-maintained early education was highly cost effective, particularly for disadvantaged children. The coalition government, however, was shifting the burden of funding for professional training and high-quality integrated services for children and families from the state to the private and voluntary sectors.
Source: Dorothy Faulkner and Elizabeth Coates, 'Early childhood policy and practice in England: twenty years of change', International Journal of Early Years Education, Volume 21 Issue 2-3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Dec
A study examined the impact of local government spending cuts in three boroughs in London, England, since the Comprehensive Spending Review of 2010. The interim report said that there had been a 33 per cent reduction in service funding from central government between 2009-10 and 2013-14, which councils had tried to absorb while minimizing impact on services for those in most need. It said that most savings were achieved through efficiency measures that now presented limited further savings opportunities. Councils had also reduced their involvement in discretionary service provision, much of which had been delivered through voluntary sector organizations. The report noted that the localism agenda would be undermined by the need to cut local authority provision back to a statutory minimum, and that intense targeting could mean that lower levels of need went unmet. A final report, due in mid-2014, would consider the implications of the responses for the lives of local residents.
Source: Amanda Fitzgerald, Ruth Lupton, Ronan Smyth, and Polly Vizard, Hard Times, New Directions? The impact of the local government spending cuts in London – interim report, Working paper SPCCWP07, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (London School of Economics)
Date: 2013-Dec
A new book presented selected writings on social policy by Jonathan Bradshaw. Chapter topics included: the taxonomy of social need; poverty and social exclusion; family; and the well-being of children.
Source: Richard Cookson, Roy Sainsbury, and Caroline Glendinning (eds.), Jonathan Bradshaw on Social Policy: Selected writings 1972 2011, University of York
Date: 2013-Dec
A new book examined the history of effort to end poverty in the United Kingdom and asked whether it had been worthwhile. It said that poverty was costly, wasteful, and bore risks, and it outlined the need for a shared understanding of poverty to inform future eradication efforts.
Source: Julia Unwin, Why Fight Poverty?, London Publishing Partnership
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Nov
A collection of essays was published, offering a range of opinions on poverty, its causes, and how to address poverty in the United Kingdom.
Source: Jonathan Derbyshire (ed.), Poverty in the UK: Can it be eradicated?, Prospect Publishing
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Nov
A report examined NHS continuing care funding for people with Parkinson's disease in England. NHS continuing care was a funding package to provide free healthcare for people with severe health needs. The report said that 59 per cent of assessments did not involve a professional with specialist expertise or knowledge in the applicant's condition, and it noted inaccurate and incorrect decisions, as well as delays in receipt of funding. The report called for the government to redevelop the system.
Source: Failing to Care: NHS continuing care in England, All Party Parliamentary Group on Parkinson's
Links: Report | Summary | Parkinson's UK press release
Date: 2013-Nov
A report examined the impact of regressive indirect taxation, including 'sin' taxes – on such items as alcohol, tobacco, and gaming – and green energy subsidies. It noted the disproportional impact on low-income households and called for a reduction in levels of taxation.
Source: Christopher Snowdon, Aggressively Regressive: The 'sin taxes' that make the poor poorer, Institute of Economic Affairs
Links: Report | Summary | IEA press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Oct
A commission issued a report on social mobility and on progress against the government's child poverty targets.
Source: State of the Nation 2013: Social mobility and child poverty in Great Britain, Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission
Links: Report | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Independent report | CPAG press release | NAVCA press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report said that a systematic review had found strong evidence of a causal relationship between household financial resources and children's outcomes. The report noted that protecting households from income poverty was important, and questioned the effectiveness of policy that reduced access to welfare support in order to preserve spending in other areas. Further research was recommended.
Source: Kerris Cooper and Kitty Stewart, Does Money Affect Children s Outcomes? A systematic review, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | JRF press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report examined issues around low pay and poor career progression, with a focus on London, and made recommendations.
Source: Tony Wilson, Laura Gardiner, and Kris Krasnowski, Low Pay and Career Progression in London and the UK, Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion/Trust for London
Date: 2013-Oct
An article sought to contribute to the debate on the 'dependent variable problem' in comparative welfare state analysis, by focusing on 'benefit recipiency' as a hitherto largely neglected type of indicator for understanding cross-national and longitudinal variation between welfare states. It used data for the European Union countries to calculate and compare rates of access to a series of benefits among working-age populations, as well as the relative amounts of benefits received. The main conclusion was that benefit recipiency data were a promising source for comparative welfare state analysis. However, like other data sources, they were not without problems, and more work needed to be done to assess their value, relative to more commonly used indicators.
Source: Wim Van Oorschot, 'Comparative welfare state analysis with survey-based benefit recipiency data: the "dependent variable problem" revisited', European Journal of Social Security, 2013 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Sep
An article examined whether rising levels of spatial segregation might in turn erode support for the redistributive policies of the welfare state, further increasing levels of inequality. The findings supported the idea that neighbourhood context shaped attitudes. Increasing spatial segregation would appear to erode support for redistribution, but to increase support for welfare recipients.
Source: Nick Bailey, Maria Gannon, Ade Kearns, Mark Livingston, and Alastair Leyland, 'Living apart, losing sympathy? How neighbourhood context affects attitudes to redistribution and to welfare recipients', Environment and Planning A, Volume 45 Number 9
Links: Article | Abstract | Inequalities Blog post
Date: 2013-Sep
An assessment of the 2013 'national reform programmes' submitted to the European Commission by European Union states found that the EU was falling short on its promises on constructing a 'Social Europe'. Poverty had risen by 4 million over the previous year, despite a target to reduce it by 20 million by 2020. The economic crisis was having a worsening social impact, exacerbated by austerity measures, with unemployment, poverty, and inequalities reaching untenably high levels.
Source: Widening the Gap: EAPN assessment of the National Reform Programmes 2013, European Anti-Poverty Network
Links: Report | EAPN press release
Date: 2013-Sep
A paper examined determinants of individual support for the welfare state in European and other developed countries. It was found that people who interpreted their lifecourse as being not at their own disposition reported a substantially more positive attitude toward income equalization and government interventions. A higher quality of public administration and low confidence in major private companies amplified preferences for redistribution and intervention. Social trust was generally associated with higher support for redistribution and government intervention only if the perceived quality of administration was high, and confidence in companies low. People who identified themselves as religious were less favourable toward income equalization.
Source: Hans Pitlik and Ludek Kouba, The Interrelation of Informal Institutions and Governance Quality in Shaping Welfare State Attitudes, Working Paper 38, WWWforEurope Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Aug
A report said that analyzing future demographic trends could help policy-makers to implement Europe's poverty strategy for 2020. The sections of the population most at risk of poverty that were also likely to grow in size included elderly people, migrants, and single heads of households. An increasingly ageing population would require continuing reform of pensions systems, healthcare systems, and labour markets. Predicted future demand for highly skilled individuals and declining demand for low-skilled workers might widen the earnings gap between low- and high-income households. The predicted rise in the immigrant population could present significant challenges for social mobility and labour market integration policies.
Source: Benoit Guerin, Demography and Inequality: How Europe's changing population will impact on income inequality, RAND Corporation
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Aug
An article said that human rights debates had neglected social rights – in particular, the human right against social deprivation, which was both a condition for, and a constitutive part of, a minimally decent human life. Protection of this right was necessary to secure many less controversial human rights. 'Social deprivation' referred not to poverty, but to genuine, interpersonal, social deprivation as a persisting lack of minimally adequate opportunities for decent human contact and social inclusion. Such deprivation was endured not only in arenas of institutional segregation (such as by prisoners and patients held in long-term solitary confinement and quarantine) but also by persons who suffered less organized forms of persistent social deprivation.
Source: Kimberley Brownlee, 'A human right against social deprivation', The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 63 Issue 251
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
A paper said that there was a significant and sizeable correlation between early 'conscientiousness' (at around age 16) and adult outcomes. Personality traits related to reliability, decisiveness, and impulse control were most strongly correlated with outcomes.
Source: Tyas Prevoo and Bas ter Weel, The Importance of Early Conscientiousness for Socio-Economic Outcomes: Evidence from the British Cohort Study, Discussion Paper 7537, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Aug
A new book examined key sociological concepts and theory in relation to European crises, identity, inequality, and social order.
Source: Marinus Ossewaarde, Theorizing European Societies, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Aug
An article examined whether there was an empirical relationship between income inequality and social cohesion in developed countries. The relationship was found to be problematic, with significant associations for some dimensions but not for others. Further, the relationship between social cohesion and inequality was dependent on the measure of inequality used, whether other variables were controlled for, and the number of countries in the sample.
Source: Daniel Sage, 'Are more equal societies the most cohesive?', International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Volume 33 Issue 11-12
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
An article examined the 'social investment' perspective in European social policy-making, focusing on social inclusion through work, individual responsibility, and human capital investment. It said that the social investment perspective had some serious flaws in respect of the social protection of vulnerable groups. This was strongly related to the continuing relevance of social class in explaining and remedying social inequalities. Investment could not be the only rationale for welfare state intervention, and protecting people should remain equally high on the policy agenda.
Source: Bea Cantillon and Wim Van Lancker, 'Three shortcomings of the social investment perspective', Social Policy and Society, Volume 12 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
A new book examined the relationship between social solidarity and welfare state provision in Europe. It offered a new theory on the formation of redistributive preferences, based on an approach combining theories of solidarity and structural incentives. Preferences were shaped by available institutional alternatives, cost-benefit calculations, and identity-oriented interests.
Source: Stefanie Borner, Belonging, Solidarity and Expansion in Social Policy, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Aug
A new book set out a vision for social justice as 'inclusive equality', where barriers to equality and inclusion were removed to the maximum extent possible while preserving and strengthening social cohesion. It explored the relationships between equality, diversity, and inclusion, and highlighted the implications for the design and delivery of social policy.
Source: Sally Witcher, Inclusive Equality: A vision for social justice, Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Aug
An article said that the welfare state was one of the hallmarks of a civilized society. It depended on a fair collection and redistribution of resources, which in turn rested on the maintenance of trust between different sections of society and across generations. Misleading rhetoric concerning those who had to seek support from the welfare state, such as the contrast between 'strivers' and 'shirkers', risked undermining that trust and, with it, one of the key foundations of modern society.
Source: Marion Ellison and Menno Fenger, 'Social investment, protection and inequality within the new economy and politics of welfare in Europe', Social Policy and Society, Volume 12 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
A paper examined whether social cohesion made economic reforms more likely in developed countries. Most dimensions of social cohesion were found not to influence reform capacity. However, views of fairness based on merit (in contrast to equality), and to some extent social divisions, were found to have a positive effect on economic reforms. Social cohesion might thus be a 'double-edged sword' – especially so when it came to economic reforms in an efficiency-enhancing free-market direction.
Source: Hannes Andreasson, Niklas Elert, and Nils Karlson, Does Social Cohesion Really Promote Reforms?, Working Paper 33, WWWforEurope Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jul
An article examined what kind of welfare state Europeans preferred, and the relative role of equity, equality or need. Most European were found to share a preference for applying the equality principle to unemployment benefits, whereas they were divided over applying equity and equality to pension schemes. The 'haves' preferred equity over equality, but the 'have-nots' preferred the need principle more.
Source: Tim Reeskens and Wim van Oorschot, 'Equity, equality, or need? A study of popular preferences for welfare redistribution principles across 24 European countries', Journal of European Public Policy, Volume 20 Issue 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
A paper said that there was an increasing tension in European countries between the three main goals of social security systems – poverty alleviation, securing living standards, and prevention. In many countries the relative decline in poverty reduction had primarily affected work-poor households. This suggested that the poverty-alleviation function of social protection had come under pressure as a consequence of a shift of attention towards preventing 'benefit dependency'.
Source: Bea Cantillon, Natascha Van Mechelen, Olivier Pintelon, and Aaron Van den Heede, Why Has Social Security Become Less Pro Poor?, ImPRovE Discussion Paper 13/05, Centre for Social Policy (Antwerp University)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jul
A report examined trends over the previous quarter of a century in social cohesion in 34 developed countries. The three most important socio-economic factors associated with social cohesion were national income, a country's income inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient), and its level of development towards a modern information society (as measured by the 'knowledge index'). Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland had the highest levels of social cohesion; and most of western Europe – Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain – featured above-average to average social cohesion.
Source: Georgi Dragolov, Zsofi a Ignacz, Jan Lorenz, Jan Delhey, and Klaus Boehnke, Social Cohesion Radar: Measuring common ground – An international comparison of social cohesion, Bertelsmann Foundation
Links: Report | Country profiles | Bertelsmann Foundation press release
Date: 2013-Jul
A new book presented an anthology of historical and contemporary research on basic income schemes.
Source: Karl Widerquist, Jose Noguera, Yannick Vanderborght, and Jurgen De Wispelaere (eds), Basic Income: An anthology of contemporary research, Wiley
Links: Summary
Notes: Chapters included:
Anthony Atkinson, 'Participation Income'
David Purdy, 'Political Strategies for Basic Income'
Fritz Scharpf, 'Basic Income and Social Europe'
Philippe Van Parijs, 'Is Basic Income Politically Feasible in a Social Europe?'
Guy Standing, 'How Cash Transfers Promote the Case for Basic Income'
Date: 2013-Jul
An annual report examined social developments in the European Union in 2012. European institutions had intensified their programme of promoting austerity, while the political and institutional debates on the EU's democratic legitimacy and effectiveness had intensified. The European social dimension was 'clearly on the defensive' with little progress towards more sustainable forms of growth. The processes governing social policy in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy were, however, slowly maturing and were being taken more seriously by key actors.
Source: David Natali and Bart Vanhercke (eds), Social Developments in the European Union 2012, European Trade Union Institute
Links: Summary | Foreword | Chapter (Vanhercke) | Chapter (De Grauwe)
Date: 2013-Jul
A new book examined the normative and legal evolution of the 'social dimension' – labour law, social security law, and family law – in both the European Union and its member states.
Source: Ann Numhauser-Henning and Mia Ronnmar (eds), Normative Patterns and Legal Developments in the Social Dimension of the EU, Hart Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Jul
A new book presented comparative, empirical research on economic inequality in affluent countries, focusing on the middle class. It considered how economic inequality affected, and was affected by, gender disparities, labour markets, institutions, and politics.
Source: Janet Gornick and Markus Jantti (eds), Income Inequality: Economic disparities and the middle class in affluent countries, Stanford University Press
Links: Summary
Notes: Chapters included:
Istvan Gyorgy Toth and Tamas Keller, 'Income distribution, inequality perceptions, and redistributive preferences in European countries'
Susan Harkness, 'Women's employment and household income inequality'
Anthony Atkinson and Andrea Brandolini, 'On the identification of the middle class'
Date: 2013-Jul
An article examined disparities in the demand for redistribution across European countries and American states during the 2000s.
Source: Maria Grazia Pittau, Riccardo Massari, and Roberto Zelli, 'Hierarchical modelling of disparities in preferences for redistribution', Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Volume 75 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
A report examined the changing nature of economic inequality in the years immediately following the global economic crash:
• Gaps between the lowest- and highest-paid workers had grown wider. Median hourly wages had fallen by 1.6 per cent in real terms, but by nearly 3 per cent for the lowest-paid full-time men and women, and by over 4 per cent for the worst-paid male part-timers. Weekly earnings of the lowest-paid full-timers had fallen by more than 5 per cent.
• Net incomes after taxes and benefits had fallen by 2 per cent for those on middle incomes, before allowing for housing costs. Benefit increases in line with inflation had insulated some of the poorest households from the recession, and their income had increased before housing costs: but after housing costs their incomes had fallen by 2 per cent.
• The poorest Londoners had become as much as 24 per cent worse off after housing costs, and the incomes of the poorest people living in the most deprived three-tenths of neighbourhoods nationally had declined by more than 10 per cent.
• Children and pensioners had been better protected against the recession than other groups. But young adults had not: among those in their early 20s, hourly wages had fallen by 5.5 per cent for men and 5.3 per cent for women; and their net income had fallen by 16.5 per cent after housing costs.
Source: John Hills, Jack Cunliffe, Ludovica Gambaro, and Polina Obolenskaya, Winners and Losers in the Crisis: The changing anatomy of economic inequality in the UK 2007-2010, Social Policy in a Cold Climate Research Report 2, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (London School of Economics)
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jul
A paper examined the literature on localized socially innovative policies and actions aimed at overcoming poverty and social exclusion in Europe.
Source: Stijn Oosterlynck, Yuri Kazepov, Andreas Novy, Pieter Cools, Eduardo Barberis, Florian Wukovitsch, Tatiana Sarius, and Bernhard Leubolt, The Butterfly and the Elephant: Local social innovation, the welfare state and new poverty dynamics, ImPRovE Discussion Paper 13/03, Centre for Social Policy (Antwerp University)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jul
An article examined the ways in which some poverty activists used human rights concepts to talk about, and mobilize against, poverty – and as a way of articulating concrete demands. Such activists were staking a claim to power and recognition on behalf of those in poverty, as well as redistribution. Human rights performed an important symbolic and mobilizing function: but their effectiveness as a political tool in combating poverty was yet to be proven.
Source: Ruth Lister, '"Power, not pity": poverty and human rights', Ethics and Social Welfare, Volume 7 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jun
A paper said that the claim that greater targeting of benefits on low-income groups in developed countries actually led to a smaller reduction in poverty and inequality was not supported by the evidence. The relationship between targeting and redistributive impact was a very weak one across countries, and if anything targeting tended to be associated with higher levels of redistributive impact, especially when overall effort in terms of spending was high. The best performing countries in terms of redistributive impact employed 'targeting within universalism': but this in itself was no guarantee of strong redistribution, and the reasons for variations between different countries were not well understood.
Source: Ive Marx, Lina Salanauskaite, and Gerlinde Verbist, The Paradox of Redistribution Revisited: And that it may rest in peace?, Discussion Paper 7414, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jun
An article examined the evolution of average incomes, poverty, and inequality over the period of Labour government from 1997 to 2010, comparing these trends with those seen over other periods in recent history. It related these changes to Labour's stated distributional objectives, which it said were clear in relation to the bottom of the income distribution (and absolutely explicit in relation to child poverty), but much less clear in relation to inequality more generally. There had been substantial falls in child and pensioner poverty alongside increases in overall income inequality, with the latter largely driven by growth in top incomes. Direct tax and benefit reforms had been crucial in driving the changes observed over this period.
Source: Robert Joyce and Luke Sibieta, 'An assessment of Labour s record on income inequality and poverty', Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Volume 29 Number 1
Links: Abstract | IFS observation | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Jun
A report said that the existing economic model trapped too many people in Scotland in a cycle of economic hardship. Allocating resources in a more effective and sustainable way could deliver lasting change. The report made a series of recommendations, including:
• Creating a better way of measuring collective prosperity.
• Creating a poverty commissioner to ensure that spending decisions were poverty-proofed, and to support communities in challenging government policies and private sector actions that did not contribute to socio-economic equality.
• Requiring employers in the public and private sectors to pay a living wage.
• Cracking down on tax evasion.
• A 'sustainable livelihoods' approach to social protection.
• Funding to make it easier for deprived communities to own assets for local benefit.
Source: Katherine Trebeck (with Francis Stuart), Our Economy: Towards a new prosperity, Oxfam GB
Links: Report | Oxfam press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Jun
A new book examined proposals for a citizen s income (or basic income), defined as an unconditional, non-withdrawable income for every individual as a right of citizenship. It said that a citizen's income scheme would be simple and cheap to administer, reduce inequality, enhance individual freedom, and be good for the economy, social cohesion, families, and the employment market.
Source: Malcolm Torry, Money for Everyone: Why we need a citizen's income, Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Jun
Campaigners described as 'deeply worrying' proposals by the European Commission (in its social investment plan) to shift funding away from 'passive' social protection and universal services to more targeted services, temporary payments, and conditionality. Although investment in 'enabling' approaches was crucial to empower people at risk of poverty, restrictive approaches could be counter-productive. Comprehensive, integrated strategies that combined social investment with social protection were the most effective in reducing poverty.
Source: EAPN Response to the Social Investment Package: Will It Reduce Poverty?, European Anti-Poverty Network
Links: Report
See also: Commission proposals (February 2013)
Date: 2013-Jun
A paper examined whether the assessment of anti-poverty programmes was influenced by the choice of welfare indicator, using data for six European countries (including the United Kingdom). It was found that income transfers were assessed as far more successful when information from indicators on both income and material deprivation was combined.
Source: Geranda Notten, Measuring Performance: Does the Assessment Depend on the Poverty Proxy?, Working Paper 2013-031, Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jun
A paper examined the changing European framework for combating poverty and social exclusion since the late 1970s. It considered the extent to which the Europe 2020 strategy was characterized by effective multi-level and multi-stakeholder interaction, as well as integration of different policy fields, in order to reach the ultimate goal of poverty reduction. Fiscal and economic austerity policies had significantly reduced the effectiveness of European Union anti-poverty strategies: but, on the other hand, the rise could be detected of a multi-level and highly visible anti-poverty arena around Europe 2020, characterized by open stakeholder mobilization and political pressure as well as innovative policy proposals.
Source: Chiara Agostini, Sebastiano Sabato, and Matteo Jessoula, The European Arenas of Active Inclusion Policies, Combating Poverty in Europe project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jun
A report summarized a set of five papers that examined the policies of the former Labour government (1997-2010), charting their impact on the distribution of outcomes, and on poverty and inequality. Labour had set out an ambitious agenda to improve outcomes overall, narrow socio-economic gaps, and modernize public services:
• Public spending went up from 39.5 to 47.4 per cent of national income. This was a large rise: but until the 2008 global crisis, spending levels were unexceptional by historic standards.
• The extra spending went mainly on services. Health and education both increased as a proportion of all public spending.
• Nearly all the extra cash spent on benefits went on children and pensioners. Benefits for working-age people unrelated to having children fell as a proportion of national income.
• Access and quality in public services improved, including waiting times for health services and pupil-teacher ratios.
• Outcomes improved and gaps closed on virtually all the socio-economic indicators targeted, such as poverty for children and pensioners, and school attainment.
• But there was no progress in some areas that were not subject to explicit targets: poverty for working-age people without children rose; there was no real change in levels of income inequality; and disparities in regional economic performance persisted.
Source: Ruth Lupton (with John Hills, Kitty Stewart, and Polly Vizard), Labour s Social Policy Record: Policy, spending and outcomes 1997-2010, Social Policy in a Cold Climate Research Report 1, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (London School of Economics)
Links: Report | Supplementary paper | Nuffield Foundation press release | Guardian report
Notes: Details of individual papers:
Polly Vizard and Polina Obolenskaya, Labour s Record on Health (1997-2010), Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 2
Ruth Lupton and Polina Obolenskaya, Labour s Record on Education: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010, Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 3
Kitty Stewart, Labour s Record on the Under Fives: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010, Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 4
John Hills, Labour s Record on Cash Transfers, Poverty, Inequality and the Lifecycle 1997-2010, Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 5
Ruth Lupton, Alex Fenton, and Amanda Fitzgerald, Labour s Record on Neighbourhood Renewal in England: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010, Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 6
Date: 2013-Jun
The coalition government announced its public spending plans for 2015-16, involving cuts of £11.5 billion:
• A new cap on benefits spending (with some exceptions such as state pensions) was confirmed, to be set in cash terms every 4 years from April 2015. Most newly unemployed people would have to wait 7 days, instead of 3, before being able to claim benefits; and those who refused an order to attend English language classes would face having their benefits cut.
• Spending on local government services would be cut by 10 per cent; but council tax bills would be frozen in both 2014-15 and 2015-16.
• There would be a cut of 7 per cent in spending on culture and sports; 10 per cent in the Ministry of Justice; 6 per cent in the Home Office; 9 per cent on transport; and 10 per cent on the environment and rural affairs.
• Budgeted spending on education and the National Health Service would be broadly maintained. But £2 billion would be transferred from health to social care. There would be a new national funding formula for schools in England.
The government published a distributional analysis of all fiscal measures since it came to office, indicating that on average each household had incurred a cumulative loss equivalent to £880 per year from the measures (at 2010-11 prices): the two quintiles that had lost more than the average were those on the highest incomes (losing £2,160 per year, or 4 per cent of income) and those on the lowest incomes (£930 per year, or 3.9 per cent).
Source: Spending Round 2013, Cm 8639, HM Treasury, TSO
Links: Report | Distributional analysis | Policy costings | Equality impact | Hansard | HMT press release | DCLG press release | DCMS press release | DH press release | Home Office press release | Action for Children press release | ADASS press release | Barnardos press release | Childrens Society press release | Citizens Advice press release | CPAG press release | Disability Rights UK press release | EDCM press release | Fawcett Society press release | FTN press release | Gingerbread press release | Homeless Link press release | ILC press release | JRF blog post | Kings Fund press release | LGA press release | NCB press release | NHF press release | NPC press release | Oxfam press release | Resolution Foundation press release | Scope press release (1) | Scope press release (2) | SIGOMA press release | SMF press release | TUC press release | WBG press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | BBC report (3) | Community Care report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Guardian report (4) | New Statesman report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Jun
In 2011-12, the percentage of people living in households with a low income in absolute terms was 17 per cent (before housing costs): this was 1 percentage point, or 900,000 people, higher than in 2010-11 when the coalition government took office. Absolute poverty among children rose by 300,000.
Source: Households Below Average Income: An analysis of the income distribution 1994/95–2011/12, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Statistical press release | DWP press release | Action for Children press release | Barnardos press release | Child Poverty Commission press release | Childrens Society press release | CPAG press release | DRUK press release | Family Action press release | FCT press release | IFS press release | JRF press release | Labour Party press release | NPI press release | Oxfam press release | Scottish Government press release | TUC press release | Unicef press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Notes: Someone is considered to be living on an absolute low income if they live in a household that receives less than 60 per cent of the median disposable household income in 2010-11 adjusted by inflation.
See also: Jonathan Cribb, Andrew Hood, Robert Joyce, and David Phillips, Living Standards, Poverty and Inequality in the UK: 2013, Report R81, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Date: 2013-Jun
A new book examined the ways in which social cohesion – measured as trust in unknown fellow citizens – could be established and undermined. In the United Kingdom and the United States of America, social cohesion had declined in the latter part of the twentieth century: people had come to believe that most other citizens belonged to an untrustworthy, undeserving, and even dangerous 'bottom' of society rather than to the trustworthy middle classes. By contrast in Sweden and Denmark, where social cohesion had increased, people believed that most citizens belonged to the 'middle' of society rather than to the 'bottom'; and that the (perceived) narrow 'bottom' of their society was trustworthy, deserving, and peaceful. The author said that social cohesion was primarily a cognitive phenomenon, in contrast to previous research that had emphasized factors such as the presence of shared moral norms, fair institutions, networks, and engagement in civil society.
Source: Christian Albrekt Larsen, The Rise and Fall of Social Cohesion: The construction and de-construction of social trust in the US, UK, Sweden and Denmark, Oxford University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Jun
A report said that the cost of a minimum acceptable standard of living had risen by a quarter since the start of the economic downturn. Families were facing an unprecedented erosion of household living standards, due to rapid inflation and stagnant wages. For example, a single person earning £13,000 per year in 2008 would have reached the minimum standard: but if their wages had risen since then in line with the average, in 2013 they would be earning £14,000 – well short of the £17,000 needed to cover higher living costs.
Source: Donald Hirsch, A Minimum Income Standard for the UK in 2013, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | JRF press release | Oxfam press release | TUC press release | BBC report | New Statesman report
Date: 2013-Jun
A paper examined the effects of benefit and tax reforms on the distribution of incomes of non-elderly individuals in Europe and in the United States of America both before and after the global economic crisis. Redistribution reduced income inequalities by much less in the USA than in much of Europe, but more recent policy changes had led to some degree of convergence.
Source: Herwig Immervoll and Linda Richardson, Redistribution Policy in Europe and the United States: Is the great recession a 'game changer' for working-age families?, Employment and Migration Working Paper 150, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jun
A report examined public attitudes to poverty and benefits over the previous three decades. Perceptions of, and expectations for, poverty levels had become more pessimistic during the recessions of the 1990s and late 2000s, with a societal explanation for poverty gaining favour at the expense of an individual explanation. During both recessions, there had been an increase in the view that people lived in need because they had been unlucky, and people were less likely to say that poverty was caused by laziness or a lack of willpower. However, the relationship between economic circumstances and attitudes to benefits (with attitudes traditionally becoming more supportive in times of recession) had weakened. Much of this change had occurred in the period immediately before and during Labour's term in office (1997–2010) and was concentrated among, though not confined to, Labour Party supporters.
Source: Elizabeth Clery, Lucy Lee, and Sarah Kunz, Public Attitudes to Poverty and Welfare, 1983–2011: Analysis using British Social Attitudes data, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | JRF press release | Daily Mail report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-May
An article examined the effect of macroeconomic and social conditions on the demand for redistribution, using data from the European Social Survey. It was found that differences across countries in macroeconomic and social conditions had an effect on the demand for redistribution. Economic growth generated a lower demand for redistribution, whereas higher income inequality generated a higher demand. By contrast, differences across countries in unemployment levels and social expenditure were unrelated to the demand for redistribution. The empirical results also depended to a considerable extent on the assumptions underlying different methodological approaches.
Source: Mads Meier J ger, 'The effect of macroeconomic and social conditions on the demand for redistribution: a pseudo panel approach', Journal of European Social Policy, Volume 23 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-May
The European Commission published a series of country-specific recommendations aimed at promoting socially inclusive economic growth. It said that fairness was essential for the sustainability and effectiveness of reform. The crisis had already had a lasting impact on the most disadvantaged groups, with the share of people at risk of poverty increasing in many countries. Several member states needed to pay more attention to combating different forms of poverty – child poverty, homelessness, in-work poverty, and over-indebtedness of households – and to ensure the effectiveness of the welfare systems that dealt with those affected. The Commission said that the United Kingdom government should enhance efforts to support low-income households and reduce child poverty by ensuring that the universal credit and other welfare reforms delivered a fair tax-benefit system with clearer work incentives and support services; and it should accelerate the implementation of planned measures to reduce the costs of childcare and improve its quality and availability.
Source: Moving Europe Beyond the Crisis, European Commission
Links: Report | Country-specific recommendations (links) | UK recommendations | UK working document | UK in-depth review | European Commission press release | FEANTSA press release
Date: 2013-May
A paper examined the impact of including the value of public healthcare, long-term care, education, and childcare on estimates of income inequality and financial poverty in 23 European countries. To account for the fact that the receipt of public services was associated with particular needs, a theory-based common equivalence scale was introduced, termed the needs-adjusted European Union scale. Even though the ranking of countries by estimates of overall inequality and poverty proved to be only slightly affected by the choice between the conventional scale (accounting only for the size of the household) and the adjusted scale, poverty estimates by household types were shown to be significantly affected by the choice of equivalence scale.
Source: Rolf Aaberge, Audun Langorgen, and Petter Lindgren, The Distributional Impact of Public Services in European Countries: 2013 edition, Eurostat (European Union)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-May
A think-tank paper presented projections of relative and absolute income poverty in Northern Ireland among children and working-age adults for each year between 2011-12 and 2016-17 and for 2020-21, and put these in the United Kingdom context. In the short run, a sharp increase in child poverty (both relative and absolute) was expected in Northern Ireland. A smaller rise was expected in working-age non-parent poverty, with absolute poverty rising faster than relative poverty. Projections for the period between 2013-14 and 2016-17 showed increases in relative and absolute poverty to either slow down or stop altogether as universal credit was phased in, but with no significant falls. Beyond 2016-17, continuing increases were expected in relative and absolute poverty among both children and working-age non-parents. The cumulative projection was that relative child poverty in Northern Ireland would be 8.3 percentage points higher in 2020-21 than 2010-11. Relative child poverty in the UK was projected to be 6.0 points higher, reversing all of the fall in relative child poverty seen between 2000-01 and 2010-11. Relative working-age non-parent poverty in Northern Ireland was projected to increase by 6.0 points across the decade (compared with 2.6 points in the UK). Changes to the benefits system introduced by the coalition government since April 2010 accounted for almost all of the increase in absolute child poverty projected over the next few years; and relative child poverty would actually have fallen in the absence of the changes. The increase in working-age non-parent poverty as a result of the changes was projected to be significantly smaller. In both cases, the impact of the reforms on poverty rates was larger in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the UK. Legally binding targets to reduce relative child poverty by 2020-21 were almost certain to be missed by a substantial margin: the government should either produce a credible plan for meeting the targets or set different ones.
Source: James Browne, Andrew Hood, and Robert Joyce, Child and Working-Age Poverty in Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2020, Commentary 78, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Commentary | CPAG press release | Labour Party press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-May
A report said that income inequality in developed (OECD) countries had increased by more in the first 3 years of the global economic crisis (to the end of 2010) than it had in the previous 12 years, before factoring in the effect of taxes and transfers on income. Welfare states had cushioned the blow for many people: but further social spending cuts risked causing greater inequality and poverty in the years ahead. After taxes and transfers, the richest 10 per cent of the population in OECD countries earned 9.5 times the income of the poorest 10 per cent in 2010, up from 9 times in 2007.
Source: Crisis Squeezes Income and Puts Pressure on Inequality and Poverty: New results from the OECD income distribution database, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Report | Spreadsheet | OECD press release | Guardian report
Date: 2013-May
An article examined the idea of an unconditional basic income paid to every member of society on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement. It summarized the main arguments that supported this proposal, described a number of contexts in which it was being taken seriously, and considered the relevance of sociological insights and research to discussion of its economic and political sustainability.
Source: Philippe Van Parijs, 'The universal basic income: why utopian thinking matters, and how sociologists can contribute to it', Politics and Society, Volume 41 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-May
A report compared people's exposure to poverty in Europe using three different measures: income, expenditure, and material deprivation. No single data source provided joint information on all these variables. The authors described methodological work conducted to statistically match expenditure from the Household Budget Survey with income and material deprivation contained within the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). The three matching approaches used were parametric, non-parametric, and mixed. Overall, the mixed methods approach tended to perform slightly better. The implications of this work for the on-going review of the EU-SILC legal basis were discussed.
Source: Dominic Webber and Richard Tonkin, Statistical Matching of EU-SILC and the Household Budget Survey to Compare Poverty Estimates Using Income, Expenditures and Material Deprivation: 2013 edition, Eurostat (European Union)
Links: Report
Date: 2013-May
An article examined the role of resentment in the 'anti-welfare populism' advanced by the coalition government after 2010. Political parties had appropriated the discourse of fairness to promote fundamentally divisive policies that had been popular with large sections of the electorate including, paradoxically, many poorer voters. Resentments related to perceived unfairness and loss on the part of white working-class communities underpinned increasingly conditional and punitive forms of welfare in countries experiencing austerity – creating rivalries rather than building solidarities among those who 'had little' and drawing attention away from greater inequalities.
Source: Paul Hoggett, Hen Wilkinson, and Phoebe Beedell, 'Fairness and the politics of resentment', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 42 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-May
The coalition government published a progress report on its social justice strategy. It said that the United Kingdom had become the 'world leader' in social investment, through social impact bonds and Big Society Capital. Over 12 million parents in England had made use of free advice services, helping family stability, and the lives of 1,675 'troubled' families had been turned around. The Work Programme was providing specialized support to 837,000 people, with providers paid for lasting job outcomes, and inactivity rates had fallen to their lowest level for two decades. Pioneering pilot programmes were helping drug and alcohol addicts to turn their lives around. The government also published an analysis showing the percentage of children at each age between 0 and 16 who lived with both their birth parents – one of the seven key indicators to be used to measure progress on social justice.
Source: Social Justice: Transforming Lives – One Year On, Cm 8606, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO | Percentage of Children Living with Both Birth Parents, by Age of Child and Household Income; and Estimated Happiness of Parental Relationships, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Analysis | Hansard | DWP press release | Marriage Foundation press release | Daily Mail report | Telegraph report (1) | Telegraph report (2)
Date: 2013-Apr
A report made a series of recommendations designed to promote the pursuit of social objectives by European Union member states. It said that there was a need to ensure that states balanced social and economic objectives; and that austerity measures did not drive an increase in poverty and exclusion. Each member state should develop a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy, and set ambitious poverty and social targets. The United Kingdom government should halt its programme of welfare reform, abandon plans to cap benefit increases, delay the introduction of universal credit, and retain the existing target for reducing child poverty.
Source: EAPN Assessment of 2013 Country-Specific Recommendations (CSRs) and Proposals for Alternative CSRs, European Anti-Poverty Network
Links: Report | Annex | EAPN press release
Date: 2013-Mar
An article said that, despite increasing inequality and poverty, most people were markedly less likely than in the past to want government action to tackle them, and were less sympathetic towards those without jobs. It considered how a more generous welfare state might be pursued in the face of these trends.
Source: Peter Taylor-Gooby, 'Why do people stigmatise the poor at a time of rapidly increasing inequality, and what can be done about it?', Political Quarterly, Volume 84 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
A large-scale research study of poverty and deprivation in the United Kingdom published the first report on its findings. It said that:
• 33 per cent of the population suffered from multiple deprivation according to standards determined by the public, compared with 14 per cent in 1983.
• Over 30 million people (almost half the population) were suffering some degree of financial insecurity.
• Almost 18 million people could not afford adequate housing conditions.
• Roughly 14 million people could not afford one or more essential household goods.
• Almost 12 million people were too poor to engage in common social activities considered necessary by the majority of the population.
• About 5.5 million adults went without essential clothing.
• Around 4 million children and adults were not properly fed by contemporary standards.
• Almost 4 million children went without at least two of the things that they needed.
• Around 2.5 million children lived in homes that were damp.
• Around 1.5 million children lived in households that could not afford to heat their home.
Source: David Gordon, Joanna Mack, Stewart Lansley, Gill Main, Shailen Nandy, Demi Patsios, and Marco Pomati, The Impoverishment of the UK: PSE UK first results – Living standards, Poverty and Social Exclusion
Links: Report | PSE press release (UK) | PSE press release (NI) | PSE press release (Scotland) | Action for Children press release | Bristol University press release | CPAG press release | Glasgow University press release | QUB press release | York University press release | Scotsman report
Date: 2013-Mar
A think-tank paper examined why, 70 years after the Beveridge report, poverty continued to be so prevalent, and what a renewed attack on want might look like. Looking at the history of both the United Kingdom and other countries, it was clear that attempts to reduce poverty that were backed up by increased spending could be effective. But a strategy to tackle poverty could not focus solely on redistribution: its effectiveness depended to a large extent on levels of employment across a population. The largest groups of people living in poverty were people in work and couples with children: tackling poverty for these groups meant universal policies that reduced the costs of children, and policies that sought to tackle in-work poverty by both increasing employment and reducing housing costs.
Source: Kate Bell, Abolishing Want in a Social State, Centre for Labour and Social Studies/Child Poverty Action Group
Links: Paper | Class press release | LSE blog post | Family Lives press release
Date: 2013-Mar
A think-tank paper set out a framework for responding to the threat posed by coalition government policies to the future of the welfare state. It said that the fundamental choice was between (on the one hand) a return to a pre-1945, or even pre-1906, system based on a division between the 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor and (on the other) a revitalized welfare state that built on the 1945 consensus to offer social security to all.
Source: Social Security for All: The renewal of the welfare state, Compass
Links: Briefing | Compass press release
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined whether multicultural policies undermined redistribution policies in European countries, by eroding the social cohesion on which redistribution measures were built. Policies that focused on recognizing minority groups might lead to a greater social acceptance of those minorities, and in turn might lead to their feeling more appreciated as participants in society. Multicultural policies could easily be combined with policies that invested in national unity and social cohesion.
Source: Francois Levrau and Patrick Loobuyck, 'Is multiculturalism bad for social cohesion and redistribution?', Political Quarterly, Volume 84 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined the link between basic human values and attitudes towards redistribution, and how that link differed among classes and across countries in Europe. The links between values and attitudes were generally stronger in more materially secure and privileged classes. However, the relative strength of the associations varied substantially across countries. Where inequality was smaller and poverty less prevalent, the link between values and attitudes became less class-specific.
Source: Joakim Kulin and Stefan Svallfors, 'Class, values, and attitudes towards redistribution: a European comparison', European Sociological Review, Volume 29 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
A report said that the coalition government needed to do more to combat inequality by raising the number and quality of jobs, investing in people s skills, and increasing incentives to move off benefits and into work.
Source: OECD Economic Surveys: United Kingdom 2013, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Report | OECD press release | Resolution Foundation press release
Date: 2013-Feb
An article examined whether voters in developed countries would punish their governments for cutting welfare state entitlements. Most parties with a positive welfare image lost support after they implemented cutbacks, whereas most parties with a negative welfare image did not.
Source: Gijs Schumacher, Barbara Vis, and Kees van Kersbergen, 'Political parties welfare image, electoral punishment and welfare state retrenchment', Comparative European Politics, Volume 11 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jan
A paper reviewed evidence on the relationship between inequality and self-reported happiness. Inequality was found to reduce happiness in western societies, whereas the evidence for non-western societies was more mixed and less reliable. Trust in institutions seemed to play an important role in shaping the relationship between income inequality and subjective well-being.
Source: Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell and Xavier Ramos, Inequality and Happiness: A Survey, Discussion Paper 38, GINI Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jan
The report was published of a meeting (in September 2012) held to consider the impact on poverty of the Europe 2020 strategy. It said that some small steps had been taken in terms of agenda setting (for example in relation to child poverty and homelessness); more social priorities in the Annual Growth Survey; and a few more social elements incorporated into some of the country-specific recommendations. But this was not enough to balance the overwhelming side-lining of social concerns, and the predominance of a negative macroeconomic agenda that was undermining delivery of the poverty target. The Europe 2020 strategy was not preventing the dismantling of social protection, and in some cases was contributing to it and to the very rapid increase of poverty, inequality, and social tensions.
Source: Is Europe 2020 Delivering on Poverty?, European Anti-Poverty Network
Links: Report | EAPN press release
Date: 2013-Jan
A think-tank paper examined public attitudes in the United Kingdom, Denmark, and France towards 'reforms' of the welfare benefits system. The public prioritized benefits for older people at the expense of families and children; and growing inequalities in electoral participation risked further entrenching the status quo, heightening distributional conflict between generations. Centre-left parties needed to develop new arguments and find new ways of talking about fairness that justified additional spending on children and families.
Source: Patrick Diamond and Guy Lodge, European Welfare States after the Crisis: Changing public attitudes, Policy Network
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jan
A paper examined the equity implications of 'fiscal consolidation' measures in developed (OECD) countries. There was scope to skew consolidation efforts in favour of more equity with only limited adverse impact on potential growth, including: increases in the effective retirement age; raising efficiency in the education and healthcare systems; cutting certain tax expenditures; raising taxes on immovable property; and broadly based consumption taxes. Increasing household direct taxes would reduce income inequality, while cutting transfers by the same amount would have a larger and opposite effect. However, raising progressive labour income taxes could have adverse effects on long-run growth. Cuts in government wages and employment could yield fast consolidation gains, but needed to be accompanied by increases in efficiency of service delivery to avoid hitting people in poverty. Cuts in unemployment-related and disability benefits were likely to hit poorer people in the first place: but they might have less adverse effects on inequality in the long run once employment increased in response to a better incentive structure.
Source: Lukasz Rawdanowicz, Eckhard Wurzel, and Ane Kathrine Christensen, The Equity Implications of Fiscal Consolidation, Economics Working Paper 1013, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Date: 2013-Jan
A new book examined what it meant to be disadvantaged, whether it was possible to compare different disadvantages, and what governments should do to move their societies in the direction of equality – where equality was to be understood in both distributional and social terms. It presented a pluralist analysis of disadvantage that emphasized risk and insecurity as a central component. Disadvantage 'clustered', in the sense that some people were disadvantaged in several different respects: identifying the least advantaged was therefore not as problematic as it appeared to be. The authors considered how to decluster disadvantage, by paying special attention to 'corrosive disadvantages' (those that caused further disadvantages) and 'fertile functionings' (those functionings that were likely to secure others).
Source: Jonathan Wolff and Avner de-Shalit, Disadvantage, Oxford University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Jan
Researchers compared the distributional effects of 'fiscal consolidation' measures in nine European Union countries (including the United Kingdom) that had experienced large budget deficits following the financial crisis of the late 2000s and subsequent economic downturn. The countries had chosen different policy mixes to achieve varying degrees of fiscal consolidation, with the burden shared differently across the income distribution. The UK was among six countries where those on the highest incomes had lost a higher proportion of their incomes than those in poverty. Including increases in VAT altered the comparative picture by making the policy packages appeared more regressive, to varying extents.
Source: Silvia Avram, Francesco Figari, Chrysa Leventi, Horacio Levy, Jekaterina Navicke, Manos Matsaganis, Eva Militaru, Alari Paulus, Olga Rastrigina, and Holly Sutherland, The Distributional Effects of Fiscal Consolidation in Nine EU Countries, Social Situation Observatory (European Commission)
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jan
The European Commission published an annual review of social and employment developments, highlighting a 'deepening economic and social crisis'. A new divide was emerging between (on the one hand) countries that seemed trapped in a downward spiral of falling output, massively rising unemployment, and eroding disposable incomes and (on the other) those that had at least so far shown some resilience – partly thanks to better functioning labour markets and more robust welfare systems. The crisis had affected groups already at heightened risk, notably young adults, children, and to some extent migrants, thus contributing to social polarization. Europe had been struggling to find appropriate policy responses. There was a need to modernize social protection systems and create better and fairer taxation systems. An effective social protection system that helped those in need was not an obstacle to prosperity, but was in fact an indispensable element of it.
Source: Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2012, European Commission
Links: Report | European Commission press release
Date: 2013-Jan
A report examined the extent to which people in the United Kingdom were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2011, and how this compared with other European Union countries and over time.
• In 2011, 22.7 per cent of the UK population were considered to be at risk of poverty or social exclusion, equivalent to 14.0 million people: this was lower than the EU average of 24.1 per cent.
• 16.2 per cent of people in the UK were at risk of poverty in 2011, down from 18.7 per cent in 2008. However, this fall was at least partly explained by a real-terms fall in median income, leading to a reduction in the poverty threshold.
• 5.1 per cent of people in the UK were considered to be experiencing severe material deprivation, compared with an EU average of 8.8 per cent. The UK's severe material deprivation rate was broadly unchanged since 2005 when comparable figures were first produced.
• The percentage of people who said that they were unable to meet unexpected financial expenses had increased considerably since the start of the economic downturn, up from 26.6 per cent in 2007 to 36.6 per cent in 2011. The proportion of people unable to afford an annual holiday had also increased from 21.4 per cent to 29.7 per cent over this period.
• The proportion of people in the UK living in households with low work intensity fell to 11.5 per cent from 13.1 per cent the previous year. Despite this fall, the level of low work intensity in the UK remained higher than in most other EU countries.
Source: Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK and EU, 2005–2011, Office for National Statistics
Links: Report | NPI blog post | TUC press release | TUC blog post | Daily Mail report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2013-Jan
An article examined why family income was more closely related to sons' earnings for a cohort born in 1970 compared with a cohort born in 1958 – in stark contrast with the fact that, on the basis of social class, intergenerational mobility was unchanged. There was evidence of an increase in the intergenerational persistence of the permanent component of income that was unrelated to social class. The authors rejected the hypothesis that the observed decline in income mobility was a consequence of the poor measurement of permanent family income in the 1958 cohort.
Source: Jo Blanden, Paul Gregg, and Lindsey Macmillan, 'Intergenerational persistence in income and social class: the effect of within-group inequality', Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, Volume 176 Issue 2
Links: Article
Date: 2013-Jan
A paper examined differences between the United Kingdom and Sweden in the association between parental income and certain education and health/developmental outcomes.
Source: Anders Bjorklund Markus and Jantti Martin Nybom, The Role of Parental Income over the Life Cycle: A comparison of Sweden and the UK, Discussion Paper 7066, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jan
A briefing paper summarized some of the key facts about the distribution of wealth. The distribution of wealth was highly unequal, with the top 10 per cent of the population owning 100 times more than the bottom 10 per cent. The distribution of wealth was much more unequal than the distribution of income. There was some suggestion that, since 1995, relative wealth inequality might have decreased due to those in the middle benefiting from house price inflation: but those at the very top had seen huge absolute increases in wealth, and there were still significant numbers of people with no or indeed negative net wealth.
Source: Karen Rowlingson, Wealth Inequality: Key Facts, Policy Commission on the Distribution of Wealth (University of Birmingham)
Links: Briefing
Date: 2013-Jan