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Previous assessments of poverty and social exclusion in the UK show variations in the social position of people with different ethnic backgrounds. While many minority groups experience significant disadvantage compared with the white majority, this is found to be particularly persistent among Pakistani and Bangladeshi people. However, this previous work is less than comprehensive in its coverage of the ethnic minority population. There are also concerns that standard measures of socioeconomic status fail to account for some of the specific experiences of ethnic minority groups and as a consequence underestimate the prevalence of socioeconomic disadvantage among them. The Poverty and Social Exclusion UK 2012 survey enables us to look at groups often ignored in analyses of ethnic inequalities, such as white minority groups and more recent migrants. Our findings therefore make a valuable contribution to this existing evidence, drawing attention to the particular disadvantage experienced by Black African and Polish people. The more detailed markers employed here reveal additional dimensions of disadvantage than have generally been explored previously and through this the significant disadvantage experienced by other groups – such as Black Caribbean people – as well as the heterogeneity within particular ethnic groups, which have been unappreciated in previous work.
Based on the largest UK study of its kind ever commissioned in the UK, this book provides the most detailed national picture of poverty and social exclusion. Chapters consider a wide range of dimensions of disadvantage, covering aspects of household resources, participation and quality of life. On resources, the book charts changing views about the social minimum over the last fifty years as well as changes in living standards and poverty in particular. Analyses also look at the importance of non-financial resources including access to local services and the kinds of support provided by social networks. Participation in society is examined in relation to economic activities, specifically employment, and civic or political engagement as well as social activities. For quality of life, chapters explore quality of health, housing and the wider living environment and subjective perceptions of well-being, as well as exposure to a range of social harms. Finally, the book draws the various strands together through a multi-dimensional analysis of social exclusion.
The largest UK research study on poverty and social exclusion ever conducted reveals startling levels of deprivation. 18m people are unable to afford adequate housing; 14m can’t afford essential household goods; and nearly half the population have some form of financial insecurity. Defining poverty as those whose lack of resources forces them to live below a publicly agreed minimum standard, this text provides unique and detailed insights into the nature and extent of poverty and social exclusion in the UK today. Written by a team of leading academics, the book reports on the extent and nature of poverty for different social groups: older and younger people; parents and children; ethnic groups; men and women; disabled people; and across regions through the recent period of austerity. It reflects on where government policies have made an impact and considers potential future developments. A companion volume Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK Volume 2 focuses on different aspects of poverty and social exclusion identified in the study.
Poverty as measured by material deprivation through lack of economic resources remains absolutely central to understanding the causation and patterning of most aspects of social exclusion and a wide range of social outcomes. Concerns are expressed about the implications of trends to greater inequality, marketization and loss of social cohesion, as well as stagnating living standards and increased precarity in the workplace and housing market. While the multi-dimensional perspective combining poverty and social exclusion is shown to be of value the emerging behavioural agenda around poverty requires critical challenge.
This chapter provides an overview of the relationship between parenting and poverty in the UK. We focus on the economising practices couple and particularly lone parents resort to in order to reduce living costs and the extent to which poorer parents are likely to engage in widely promoted parent-child activities. We find that despite engagement in the labour market as well as support from state, family and friends, parenting remains expensive and for those on low income associated with self-sacrifice and prioritisation of children’s material, social and educational needs. We also find that most parents, regardless of their income, have similar levels of engagement in parenting activities, casting doubts over political claims of widespread ‘poor parenting’.
The chapter presents a spatial analysis of poverty and social exclusion using data from the Poverty and Social Exclusion survey 2012 based on the countries of the UK and the North and South of England. The PSE-UK survey results are discussed in the context of the geography of income inequalities within EU countries and recent shifts in inequalities within the UK. The PSE-UK survey data reveal that the North of England is the most socially excluded part of the UK. The capacity of regional economic development policies, UK and EU, to address the UK’s territorial inequalities is discussed. The chapter argues that current forms of devolution are very limited in what they can do to compensate for the lack of economic development and powers to address poverty and social exclusion through income redistribution and service provision remain marginal.
One in three people in employment is not enjoying the inclusionary benefits usually associated with paid work: they are in poverty, in poor quality jobs or in insecure employment. People in this group can be described as being in ‘exclusionary employment’. The people most at risk of exclusionary employment are those who are younger, are lone parents, have a health problem or disability which limits daily activity, have few qualifications, are in semi-routine or routine occupations or are working part-time. Some industries have much higher concentrations of exclusionary employment than others, notably the Wholesale & Retail and Accommodation & Food sectors where more than half of all workers are in exclusionary employment. For those in semi-routine or routine occupations, the risks of exclusionary employment are high in all industries. People in exclusionary employment are much more likely to be excluded in relation to the other domains examined here: health and well-being, social relations and participation, and housing and neighbourhood environment.
This chapter examines fifty years of poverty measurement, in particular the development of deprivation-based measures from Townsend’s definition of being ‘excluded from ordinary patterns’ of behaviour through Mack and Lansley’s idea of ‘socially-perceived necessities’ to wider frameworks based around Sen’s concept of ‘capabilities’. It argues that these developments have contributed to a widespread acceptance that poverty is relative, with what is seen as inadequate living standards changing as society changes. The chapter charts trends in deprivation and income poverty, and their growing divergence. While both measures reflected the sharp rise income inequality in the 1980s, in this millennium deprivation-based measures have continued to rise while relative income poverty has stabilised. This indicates that deprivation measures better reflect the adverse impact of stagnating wages, rising insecurity and declining public provision. The chapter concludes that poverty research needs to be firmly positioned within wider debates about growing economic and social inequalities.
Exclusion from financial services in the form of bank accounts has fallen and appears less significant than informal borrowing and problem debt, which have increased dramatically and are strongly associated with poverty. The most common arrears problems are with housing, local taxes and utility bills, not consumer credit. About a fifth of households are not poor but exhibit similar signs of financial stress. Family remains more important than ‘payday lenders’ as a source of informal lendng,underlining the importance of social capital
Housing affordability problems are exacerbating poverty, particularly for working age households increasingly reliant on private renting, and housing needs have increased, reversing long-standing trends. UK housing still partially insulates the poor from bad housing experience but this tendency is weakening. Fuel poverty has significantly worsened and the poor are 6-10 times more likely to experience its adverse impacts. The poor are also more likely to experience neighbourhood social and other problems.
