JRF launches debate on a long-term mission to tackle poverty and disadvantage
Britain faces a central challenge over the next 20 years to turn back the tide of social disadvantage that has accompanied a widening gap between rich and poor during most of the previous two decades. A mission to progressively reduce relative poverty to a minimum in the UK will not be easy to fulfil, but it is affordable and can be achieved provided the political will exists.
These are key messages from a wide-ranging discussion document on the long-term prospects for Tackling disadvantage published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Designed to stimulate debate as the Foundation approaches its centenary in 2004, the report considers what steps will be needed in the next few years to ensure the poorest groups in society achieve a fairer share of the nation’s growing prosperity.
“…a scar on the UK’s economic success”
The report, based on a review of the Foundation’s own priorities for research, investigates crucial areas of policy where low-income groups are unable to take advantage of choices and opportunities that most of the population takes for granted.
Exclusion in education, employment, family life, housing and social care for older people are all examined. But the authors argue that a central task for government must be to reduce the relative poverty that is inextricably woven into wider disadvantage. This can be done partly by improving opportunities, but will also involve some direct redistribution by government.
David Darton, an adviser to the Foundation and co-author of the report, said: “In the last 20 years, households on middle incomes have enjoyed an income increase of almost 50 per cent in real terms. The incomes of the poorest households rose more slowly or stagnated, resulting in a far steeper rise in relative poverty than elsewhere in Europe. Recent policy changes have begun to reverse this trend, but sustained action will be required for years to come before this scar on our economic and social landscape is removed. If we want a more inclusive society contributing to our prosperity in 20 years time, then discussions need to start now on the strategy to achieve it.”
“…a tough but affordable mission”
The consultation document proposes that, although other poverty measures have an important part to play in guiding policy, the proportion of households whose disposable incomes are below 60 per cent of the national median (middle household) should be used as a benchmark of progress. It argues that policies should not only aim to minimise the length of time that families and individuals fall short of this threshold, but should also ensure that each economic cycle brings a further, significant reduction in the number of poor households.
Work commissioned for the report shows that if the UK economy continued to expand in the next 20 years at the same rate as over the last two decades, total growth would be more than £500 billion. Only a small proportion of this – less than £25 billion – would be needed to close the poverty gap completely. This would require the poorest groups to experience a similar rate of increase in their living standards as the most affluent enjoyed in the 1980s. Incomes for the rest of the population would grow only marginally more slowly than in the last five years.
If more people moved into paid work and people in low-paid jobs became more productive and better paid, there would be less need for redistribution. But if employment and pay patterns stayed the same while Income Support levels were raised for people without work, government might need to spend more on maintaining work incentives by increasing tax credits for those in low-paid jobs. However, even if the costs of redistribution proved to be 50 per cent higher than estimated, they would still only claim £1 for every extra £15 generated by economic growth.
Donald Hirsch, special adviser to the Foundation and co-author of the report, said: “Making sure the poorest groups share in the nation’s growing prosperity ought to be at the heart of a 21st century strategy for tackling the damaging and avoidable consequences of poverty and disadvantage. We can seize the opportunity to reverse the negative trends of the past 20 years by aiming to divert a disproportionate share of future growth to the least advantaged. It would be unrealistic to expect progress every year – in good times and bad – but with cycle on cycle reductions, severe relative poverty could be largely conquered over time.”
“…a broader assault on disadvantage”
The report argues that a sustained commitment to redistribution would need to be part of a coherent, overall strategy for tackling wider disadvantage. Drawing on the Foundation’s research programme, it notes that economically impoverished groups are also disproportionately likely to experience other social problems, ranging from poor health to crime.
It also reviews the evidence that a wide range of difficulties among young people, from low school attainment to mental health disorders, are more common among children from low-income families.
Looking at the key issues in six different policy areas, the report seeks views on how best to achieve a range of long-term policy goals, including:
A foreword to the report by Lord Best, Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, looks ahead to a two-day centenary conference in December 2004 in York that will consider options and solutions for many of the policy issues raised by the report.
Lord Best said: “The damage caused by widespread poverty and disadvantage is not only experienced by those directly affected, but by society as a whole: not least, the economic costs of having a large minority of the population who are unable to achieve their full potential and require expensive support. With this discussion document and the longer report from which it is drawn – which we will publish shortly on our website – we hope to stimulate a national debate and promote a concerted, long-term effort to enable everyone to play as full a part in society as they can.”
He added: “One hundred years ago Joseph Rowntree set us the task of seeking out the underlying causes of poverty and other social evils so that they could be tackled at their roots. We continue our search in a new century and we hope that this latest JRF discussion document will make a significant contribution to thinking as we prepare for our centenary conference next year.”
