A report reviewed the 'social exclusion' and 'social justice' strategies of the Labour (1997-2010) and coalition governments with a particular focus on outcomes for people facing multiple disadvantage. The weaknesses of previous approaches to tackling social disadvantage had been exposed by the public spending squeeze the social exclusion agenda in particular relied too heavily on large, one-off investments and levels of marginal spending that were unlikely to be so high again. Disadvantaged groups continued to be excluded from the decision-making processes that shaped their lives, including their care, how services were delivered, and public and political forums. A combination of hardening public attitudes towards the poorest in society and the political battle over the centre-ground meant that the most disadvantaged groups were likely to continue to miss out in terms of the quality of support that they received from public services.
Source: Clare McNeil, The Politics of Disadvantage: New Labour, social exclusion and post-crash Britain, LankellyChase Foundation
Links: Report | LCF press release
Date: 2012-Dec
An annual monitoring report highlighted the links between poverty and job insecurity. 6.1 million people were living in households that were in poverty despite having one or more earners. Underemployment the number of people lacking the paid work they wanted stood at 6.5 million. 1.4 million people were working part time but wanted full-time work up by 500,000 since 2009. 3.3 million families with one or more earners received working tax credit up 50 per cent since 2003. 4.4 million jobs paid less than £7 per hour. Almost 5 million people had claimed jobseeker's allowance (JSA) at least once in the previous two years (around 1 in 6 of economically active people). The turnover of people moving on and off JSA was substantial: 42 per cent of claims were made within six months of the previous claim. Although 18 per cent of people were on a low income at any one time, 33 per cent experienced at least one period of low income in a four-year period, and 11 per cent were on a low income for more than half of that time.
Source: Hannah Aldridge, Peter Kenway, Tom MacInnes, and Anushree Parekh, Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2012, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | JRF press release | NPI blog post | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Nov
A paper said that although people in poverty had the greatest need to turn to networks to compensate for the shortage of other forms of capital, they were always disadvantaged in terms of networks mobilization compared with other groups.
Source: Natalia Letki and Inta Mierina, The Power of Networks. Individual and contextual determinants of mobilising social networks for help, Discussion Paper 45, GINI Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined the relationship between income inequality and solidarity (willingness to contribute to the welfare of other people) among Europeans. There was evidence that in more unequal countries people were less willing to take action to improve the living conditions of other people. This was true for respondents living in both low- and high-income households.
Source: Marii Paskov and Caroline Dewilde, 'Income inequality and solidarity in Europe', Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Volume 30 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
A report examined the roles of political, managerial, community, and business leaders in promoting social inclusion and public service innovation (based on research in three cities in England and the Netherlands). Radical public service innovation required political change, not just managerial change. Civic leaders needed to foster a culture of innovation, and collaboration across boundaries. Place-based leaders who could demonstrate emotional commitment to the social inclusion agenda enabled innovation to flourish, and encouraged others to bring their own emotional energy to the task.
Source: Robin Hambleton and Joanna Howard (with Bas Denters, Pieter-Jan Klok, and Mirjan Oude Vrielink), Public Sector Innovation and Local Leadership in the UK and the Netherlands, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined, using EU-SILC data for 24 European countries, how income inequality was related to civic and social participation. The results indicated that the main effects of inequality manifested themselves in resources at the individual and societal level. However, independent of these resources, higher inequality was associated with lower civic participation. Furthermore, inequality magnified the relationship between income and participation. This finding was in line with the view that inter-individual processes explained why inequality diminished participation.
Source: Bram Lancee and Herman van de Werfhorst, 'Income inequality and participation: a comparison of 24 European countries', Social Science Research, Volume 41 Issue 5
Links: Abstract
Notes: EU-SILC = European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined the nature and significance of the recent European Union poverty and social exclusion target (part of the Europe 2020 strategy). The target was the result of a political opportunity seized upon by a number of pro-social policy actors, rather than an agreement to further Europeanize social policy. There were doubts over whether it would succeed in addressing income poverty, severe material deprivation, and/or household joblessness; and the target allowed much leeway in response by the member states, in terms of both which definition they would use and what level of ambition they set for their target. The target therefore risked both incoherence as an approach to social policy and ineffectiveness in terms of precipitating significant action by the member states to address poverty and social exclusion.
Source: Paul Copeland and Mary Daly, 'Varieties of poverty reduction: inserting the poverty and social exclusion target into Europe 2020', Journal of European Social Policy, Volume 22 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
A report highlighted the growing problem of 'digital exclusion'. It provided new evidence that government efforts to move services and transactions online were particularly disadvantaging older people, those with disabilities, and self-employed people. The most common determinant of digital exclusion was age: but other significant factors – often combined with low income – included disability, learning difficulties, ethnic origin, location, culture, and language. People who were digitally excluded were likely to be disproportionately heavy users of government services.
Source: Digital Exclusion, Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (Chartered Institute of Taxation)
Links: Report | LITRG press release
Date: 2012-May
Researchers developed and tested a comprehensive social inclusion index that was suitable for use in both general population and mental health services research, and in routine outcomes measurement.
Source: Peter Huxley, Sherrill Evans, Sally Madge, Martin Webber, Tania Burchardt, David McDaid, and Martin Knapp, 'Development of a social inclusion index to capture subjective and objective life domains (Phase II): psychometric development study', Health Technology Assessment, Volume 16 Number 1
Date: 2012-Feb
In 2010, 23.4 per cent of the population of the European Union were at risk of poverty or social exclusion (either at risk of poverty, severely materially deprived, or living in households with very low work intensity). 27 per cent of children aged below 18 were at risk, compared with 23 per cent of the working-age population (aged 18-64) and 20 per cent of the elderly population (aged 65 and over).
Source: Melina Antuofermo and Emilio Di Meglio, Statistics in Focus 9/2012, Eurostat (European Union)
Links: Bulletin | Eurostat press release | Caritas press release
Date: 2012-Feb
A paper examined the degree of social exclusion at European Union level in 2008, the country clusters related to this, and the level and trend of poverty on a country level. The at-risk-of-poverty rate varied between 9 per cent and 26 per cent across EU member states.
Source: Orsolya Lelkes and Katrin Gasior, Income Poverty and Social Exclusion in the EU: Situation in 2008 and trends (based on EU-SILC 2005-2009), European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (Vienna)
Links: Briefing
Date: 2012-Feb