Monitoring poverty and social exclusion
What are the annual trends in poverty and social exclusion in the UK?
Contacts
Providing independent assessment of indicators on poverty and social exclusion in the UK.
Introduction
This programme tracks progress on a range of indicators of poverty and social exclusion, providing an independent assessment of the impact of policy across all the nations of the UK over time. The assessments are contained in the reports by the New Policy Institute (NPI).
For a fuller introduction please refer to our Investigations summary (PDF).
Key issues
The New Policy Institute has produced its fourteenth annual report of poverty and social exclusion indicators. It presents the legacy that was left to the Coalition Government by its predecessor, and examines the current Government's priorities for action. While many of the indicators show the ongoing effects of the recession and subsequent low economic growth, the report also looks much further back, analysing longer-term trends.
A range of infographics illustrates some of the key messages.
Some of the headlines from the report are:
- In the year to 2009/10, the child poverty rate fell to 29%, the second fall in two years. Child poverty fell by around one-seventh under the previous Labour Government.
- The poverty rate for working-age adults without dependent children rose both in 2009/10 and over the last decade. It now stands at 20%.
- The pensioner poverty rate, at 16%, is now around half the rate it was in 1997.
- By mid-2011, six million people were unemployed, lacking but wanting work or working part-time because no full time job was available. Though no higher than the previous year, this was 2 million higher than in 2004.
- On a range of education indicators at ages 11, 16 and 19, more pupils are reaching expected standards than in previous years, continuing long-term positive trends. Although closing slowly, the gaps between attainment levels of those on free school meals and other children are smaller than in previous years.
- The proportion of households in fuel poverty has risen significantly in the last few years. Almost all households in the bottom tenth by income are in fuel poverty, as are half of households in the second bottom tenth.
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