Both child and pensioner poverty fell in 2008/09 compared to the previous year.
Our guest writer is Kayte Lawton, research fellow at the ippr
The Households Below Average Income statistics published today by the Department for Work and Pensions provide further evidence of the previous government’s mixed record on poverty. The good news is that both child and pensioner poverty fell in 2008/09 compared to the previous year.
Child poverty fell by 100,000, bringing the number of poor children down to 2.8 million (when income is measured before housing costs). This is very welcome news after increases in child poverty in the two previous years. However, this small fall only brings us back to where we were in 2005/06 and it is clear that the target of halving child poverty by 2010 will have been missed.
The figures also show a continuing rise in the proportion of poor children whose parents are in work, despite rising unemployment. Just under 60 per cent of child poverty is now found among working households, compared to 49 per cent in 1998/99.
The number of pensioners living in poverty fell by 200,000, bringing the total number of poor pensioners down to 2.3 million. Pensioner poverty has followed a similar pattern to child poverty in the last few years, with an increase in 2006/07, no change in 2007/08 and now a small fall in 2008/09. Taken together, these figures mean that are now 600,000 fewer poor children and 500,000 fewer poor pensions than in 1998.
Progress on pensioner and child poverty also means that poverty in the UK fell overall by 100,000 between 2007/08 and 2008/09, despite the recession. This is probably because the employment effects of the recession only had a limited effect on the incomes of pensioner households.
Increases in benefits for families with children announced in 2007 and 2008 will also have fed through into higher incomes for these families in 2008/09, demonstrating that where government develops specific measures and puts in the necessary investment, poverty can be tackled.
However, today’s statistics also reveal a worrying increase in poverty among working-age adults. Poverty for this group is up 200,000 on the previous year and there are now 5.8 million poor working-age adults. Not only does this represent an increase from the previous year’s figures, but it also means that poverty among working-age adults increased by 800,000 over the course of the Labour government.
Adults without children were not a focus of the previous government’s anti-poverty strategy so it is not surprising that no progress has been made among this group. However, it is worth noting that the risk of poverty among working-age adults remains below that of children and pensioners, at 16 per cent compared to 22 per cent for children and 20 per cent for pensioners.
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10 Responses to “Child and pensioner poverty fall, but 2010 target will be missed”
JRF
Left foot forward: 'Child and pensioner poverty fall, but 2010 target will be missed' – http://bit.ly/9BHtaA
ChurchActionPoverty
RT @jrf_uk: 'Child and pensioner poverty fall, but 2010 target will be missed' – http://bit.ly/9BHtaA
IFS: Brown "mitigated" income inequality | Left Foot Forward
[…] As outlined by Kayte Lawton on Left Foot Forward yesterday, relative poverty fell 100,000 to 2.8 million on the Government’s preferred before […]
Joshua Fenton-Glynn
I worry about the effect that means testing on child benefit will have on child poverty. While any reduction in child poverty is to be welcomed one worries about leaving the Tories to steer us toward the 2020 target.
There has to be a focus on increasing incomes of those in low waged work, I know last year the figure was around 60% of families in poverty had at least one parent in work and clearly finding a solution to this is key. In my view increases child benefits, looking at the per child element of tax credit (as it is larger families who suffer from greater poverty) would be the most effective ways of helping those families.
It’s easy to through up our hands and talk about not hitting the target as if it never were possible, I think however, we need to outline the simple steps we need to take to try to get as close as possible to that target and build to 2020, we must challenge the coalition to prove themselves as progressive as they claim by asking them to take those steps. The demotion of Andrew Selous and sidelining of Steve Webb seriously undermines their claims to be progressive on welfare issues.
Look Left – The Week in Fast Forward | Left Foot Forward
[…] bodies of evidence on poverty and inequality in the UK, which show that poverty has fallen recently, and that, were it not for the Labour government’s policies during their […]