Embargo: 00.01hrs 4 December 2006

Serious problems remain in tackling root causes of poverty, says latest analysis

Although the Government has managed to put both child and pensioner poverty on a firmly downward course, serious problems remain in tackling the root causes of future poverty. This is according to authors of the latest Monitoring poverty and social exclusion report from the New Policy Institute for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The achievements of the Government’s anti-poverty strategies risk being undermined by the continuing large numbers of people who are low paid and the seeming acceptance of gross inequalities in rates of pay, claim the authors.

The report is being published to coincide with the National Poverty Hearing on 6 December, when faith leaders and other opinion formers from a broad range of organisations gather to hear directly from people who are living in poverty in the UK.

Child poverty has been reduced by 700,000, reversing an entrenched trend but falling short of the Government’s target of taking one million children out of poverty by March 2006. Half of all children in poverty are in working households – the same as in the late 1990s. Contrary to the Government’s hopes, work for these families has not turned out to be a route out of poverty.

The big fall in poverty among pensioners, especially single pensioners, has been a major success of the anti-poverty policy. However, poverty among working-age adults has not been reduced and remains a major weakness.

“Great success in reducing pensioner poverty shows how effectively targeted benefits can bring about rapid, short-term falls in poverty. But unless the Government can address the root causes – inequality in the workplace and the number of young adults out of work and with inadequate qualifications – recent limited successes may not be sustained,” said report co-author Peter Kenway.

The unemployment rate among adults aged under 25, which has never fallen below 10% since Labour came to office, is now three times the rate among adults aged 25+ and is rising again in the most recent year.

The report also highlights concerns about the lack of any progress since the late 1990s in the numbers of school leavers failing to achieve basic qualifications.

From bank accounts to central heating, exclusion has fallen substantially where the Government has taken a stand. Yet there remain many other areas, especially in terms of jobs, where people at the bottom are the least likely to benefit from support and services they might arguably need the most.

“The overall picture is not so much a mixture of success and failure of policy as one of success and neglect. Where the Government has acted, change has happened. Where it has not, previous trends have continued,” added co-author Guy Palmer.

For further information, please contact:

Peter Kenway (NPI Director): 020-7721 8421

Guy Palmer (NPI Director): 020 7721 8421

Notes to Editors:

• Ten additional highlights of the report’s findings follow below.
• The full report, Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2006 by Guy Palmer, Tom MacInnes and Peter Kenway is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
• All the indicators and graphs can also be viewed at www.poverty.org.uk where the graphs are updated as new data becomes available.
• The National Poverty Hearing (6 December, Westminster Central Hall, London SW1). Media contact: Rachel Jury, 0141 353 0440
• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is one of the largest social policy research and development charities in the UK. It supports a research and development programme that seeks to understand the causes of social difficulties and explore ways of overcoming them.
• Read the Findings summary

Ten additional MOPSE findings:

1. Although the number of children in workless households has fallen by a quarter over the last decade, the UK still has a higher proportion than any other EU country.
2. At 30%, the poverty rate for disabled adults is twice that for non-disabled adults, a difference markedly higher than a decade ago. The main reason for this high poverty rate is the high levels of worklessness. A graduate with a work-limiting disability is more likely to be lacking but wanting work than an unqualified person with no disability.
3. Relative to earnings, out-of-work benefits for working-age adults are now worth 20% less than in 1997.
4. Except for households in the top and bottom tenths of the income distribution, households with below average incomes have enjoyed bigger proportional increases over the last decade than households with above average incomes. In terms of the extra money, however, three quarters has gone to those with above average incomes, and a third has gone to those in the richest tenth.
5. Health inequalities associated with income or deprivation are pervasive and can be found in all aspects of health, from infant death and the state of children’s teeth to the risk of mental ill-health. The limited information on progress over time (infant death, low birthweight) shows no sign that they are shrinking.
6. Over the last decade, the proportions of 11 year-olds failing to reach level 4 at Key Stage 2 in English and Maths have continued to fall. These proportions are also falling for schools with a high number of children from deprived backgrounds.
7. Despite continued progress in the proportion of 16 year-olds failing to reach the ‘headline’ level of five GCSEs at grade C or above, the proportion failing to get five GCSEs at any level has been stuck at 12% since 1998/99.
8. The proportion of 19 year-olds who fail to reach the level of NVQ2 or equivalent is, at 27%, the same as in 1996/97 and slightly higher than 2001/02.  The proportion of 16 year-olds not in education or training has remained unchanged at 15% since 2000.
9. The proportion of households in poverty paying full Council Tax has gone up steadily, from 45% in 1998/99 to 58% in 2004/05. 1.5 million children in poverty live in households paying full Council Tax.
10. In 2005, 13% of employees earning £6.50 an hour or less belonged to a trade union, compared with 43% for those earnings between £15 and £21 an hour, and 28% for those earning £21 an hour and above.

Issued by Nasreen Memon, JRF Head of Media Relations: 01904 615 958 / 020 7278 9665 / nasreen.memon@jrf.org.uk