Absolute poverty: UK sees biggest rise for 30 years

[Social Media]

 

The energy price crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to the most significant surge in absolute poverty in the UK in three decades, according to newly released data. The sharp rise in prices resulted in hundreds of thousands more individuals falling into absolute poverty, pushing the figure to 12 million in 2022-2023—an increase of 600,000.

 

Absolute poverty, a metric frequently cited by the prime minister to gauge the government's performance, now affects 18% of the UK population—a rise of 0.78 percentage points. This increase would have been even more pronounced without government interventions such as Cost of Living payments, which helped mitigate the impact on vulnerable households.

 

 

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride emphasized the government's response, highlighting the "biggest cost of living package in Europe," averaging £3,800 per household. He noted that this support prevented 1.3 million people from falling into poverty during the period under review.

 

However, despite efforts to alleviate the situation, the number of children and working-age adults in poverty each rose by approximately 300,000 individuals. Alarmingly, a quarter of children are now living in absolute poverty, marking the highest increase in child poverty rates since at least the mid-1990s.

 

The true extent of poverty goes beyond income statistics, with indicators such as food insecurity and inadequate heating providing a more nuanced picture. The Institute for Fiscal Studies highlights a rise in food insecurity from 8% to 11% and a doubling in the proportion of individuals unable to heat their homes adequately.

 

Opposition parties have condemned the government's handling of the crisis, with Labour describing the statistics as "horrifying" and underscoring their commitment to reducing child poverty. The Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party also criticized the government's response, emphasizing the human impact behind the alarming figures.

 

As the UK grapples with the repercussions of the energy price crisis, the challenge of addressing poverty remains a pressing concern. The government faces mounting pressure to implement effective measures to support vulnerable households and mitigate the impact of economic instability on the most marginalized communities.

 

22.03.24

Source

 

[Skipalongcassidy]

Brits cannot solve their own problems but all of them on this forum have all the answers for the USA

[TorquayFan]

A sweeping statement Skip with little relevance to the thread.

 

As to the definition of 'absolute poverty' - just listened to a Lady with a 17 month old child bemoaning that with child benefit and a p/t job, her rent and council tax squeeze her budget for food etc. She bemoans not being able to repair her dishwasher, buy alcohol and have a social life.

 

Without knowing the background, it anyway seems to me beyond reasonable expectations to hope to support a child on a p/t job and she is fortunate in being able to move in with her Parents if she has to.

 

I am not unsympathetic, but is this really 'absolute poverty' ?

 

 

Edited March 22 by TorquayFan

[Chomper Higgot]

25 minutes ago, TorquayFan said:

A sweeping statement Skip with little relevance to the thread.

 

As to the definition of 'absolute poverty' - just listened to a Lady with a 17 month old child bemoaning that with child benefit and a p/t job, her rent and council tax squeeze her budget for food etc. She bemoans not being able to repair her dishwasher, buy alcohol and have a social life.

 

Without knowing the background, it anyway seems to me beyond reasonable expectations to hope to support a child on a p/t job and she is fortunate in being able to move in with her Parents if she has to.

 

I am not unsympathetic, but is this really 'absolute poverty' ?

 

 

From the OP:

 

”Absolute poverty, a metric frequently cited by the prime minister to gauge the government's performance”

 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b3386c3e5274a55cbd2b8b8/DefraRuralPovertyStats_April_2018.pdf

 

 

[Nick Carter icp]

32 minutes ago, TorquayFan said:

She bemoans not being able to repair her dishwasher, buy alcohol and have a social life.

 

 

   She faces severe hardships and difficulties .

How can she clean her cutlery without a dishwasher ?

I do hope that the council provide her with a care assistant to help wash her dishes or her friends start a gofundme page to get her a new dishwasher and help her out of poverty .

   

 

[roo860]

Just now, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   She faces severe hardships and difficulties .

How can she clean her cutlery without a dishwasher ?

I do hope that the council provide her with a care assistant to help wash her dishes or her friends start a gofundme page to get her a new dishwasher and help her out of poverty .

   

 

Well said!!! She'll be complaining about not having her nails done and another tattoo. 

[sirineou]

The chickens are coming home to roost.

First the self inflicted wound of brexit. Then the support of the american proxy war in Ukraine .  

Edited March 22 by sirineou

[JonnyF]

How can this be?

 

So much mass immigration and still a huge rise in poverty. Could it be that bringing in lots of unskilled, unmotivated, undocumented people doesn't boost the economy like they told us?

[TorquayFan]

Thank you Chomper. So the measure of 'absolute poverty' is broadly, having less than 60% of average income.

 

The UK Government has made a rod for it's own back - the word 'absolute' should be 'relative'. I would have thought 'absolute' poverty needs to be absolute - say nowhere to live, no food to eat, no healthcare etc.

 

It's good to try and measure relative poverty but in the whinge prone, grievance and compensation culture that has developed in the UK, 'this one will run and run'.

 

Coming back to it, single Parents should be aware that the State will not be able to keep them out of even relative poverty and as far as it is possible in real life, to stay out of situations where such relative 'penury' is likely, if not inevitable.

 

I am very happy for the young Lady that she has Family to help her through.

[Nick Carter icp]

2 hours ago, Social Media said:

with indicators such as food insecurity and inadequate heating providing a more nuanced picture.

 

  To solve that problem, I used to wear warm clothes in my UK house and no need for heating at all 

[Nick Carter icp]

23 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

How can this be?

 

So much mass immigration and still a huge rise in poverty. Could it be that bringing in lots of unskilled, unmotivated, undocumented people doesn't boost the economy like they told us?

 

   Having recently been in the UK , its the immigrants who do much of the work and its often the White British people who are too lazy to work .

   The immigrants don't go to the UK to doss around

[JonnyF]

5 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Having recently been in the UK , its the immigrants who do much of the work and its often the White British people who are too lazy to work .

   The immigrants don't go to the UK to doss around

 

Huge generalization. Some do, some don't. In my opinion legal immigrants tend to do well, illegal immigrants are a scourge. 

 

What it does do is put huge strain on housing, schooling, the NHS, the police etc. 

[Chomper Higgot]

19 minutes ago, TorquayFan said:

I would have thought 'absolute' poverty needs to be absolute - say nowhere to live, no food to eat, no healthcare etc.

A bit like this?:

 

https://www.ft.com/content/15ec1e12-6e63-4545-a4b7-f2b8ed41748c

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-68220521.amp

 

https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/long-reads/relationship-poverty-nhs-services#:~:text=This lack of access means,and emergency admissions 68% higher.

[herfiehandbag]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

The chickens are coming home to roost.

First the self inflicted wound of brexit. Then the support of the american proxy war in Ukraine .  

Brexit has not destroyed the UK economy as was so gleefully predicted by it's opponents. The economy is robust and sound. It could be better, but it is not wounded 

 

The UK, like the rest of Europe (the geographical entity rather than the political construct) are somewhat geographically closer to Putin's Russia and it's attempt to conquer Ukraine than the USA, and perhaps, as Europeans, have a rather more "hands on" experience of what allowing a dictator to swallow up neighbouring countries means! Hence the material and political support they offer, at considerable cost, and which has proved rather less fickle than that of the USA.

 

The definition of "absolute poverty" is frankly fairly generous. Whilst many people's circumstances are unfortunate, uncomfortable and unsatisfactory, the UK does not have anything like the abandoned class of hopeless homeless people who live in wretched conditions in tents on the pavements (sidewalks) of major American cities, without any medical care, social assistance and, it appears, hope of either!

 

The UK could, in my opinion, do much more for the disadvantaged in its society, perhaps starting with a more realistic assessment of what poverty actually is. I don't think being unable to afford booze, a social life or a dishwasher are indicators of absolute poverty.

Edited March 22 by herfiehandbag

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, sirineou said:

The chickens are coming home to roost.

First the self inflicted wound of brexit. Then the support of the american proxy war in Ukraine .  

I'm calling BS on the Brexit part, but agree 100% about supporting America's proxy war. If Sunak hadn't spent all the money on things to kill people with, there might have been enough to invest in Britain to make it a better place. I guess photos of Sunak sucking up to netanyahu are sexier than him with some poor peasants in Britain.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

I don't think being unable to afford booze, a social life or a dishwasher are indicators of absolute poverty.

IMO anyone that claims to be poor, but uses a dishwasher, smokes tobacco, uses illegal drugs or drinks alcohol is not poor. They are IMO stupid.

Edited March 22 by thaibeachlovers

[Celsius]

like most brits in Thailand 

[sirineou]

2 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

Brexit has not destroyed the UK economy as was so gleefully predicted by it's opponents. The economy is robust and sound. It could be better, but it is not wounded 

That's not what I hear in the news

[Doctor Tom]

This is all nonsense and is at best self inflicted.  The benefits safety net in the UK is generous and readily available.  Poverty, when it exists, is inevitably family or individual self inflicted.  Lack of opportunity often translates to 'don't care', 'can't be bothered'', never tries.  I was raised in a Northern industrial town within what would be classed as a poor society.  I, like very many others, worked my way out of that background. For me it was into the Military for 24 years and onward from there. The UK workforce is clearly feckless, lazy, WFH obsessed (teachers now wish to be compensated because they are denied WFH) and want more pay to do less, that is just pathetic. Lesson here, if you are poor, don't have a baby at 16 years old, get off your lazy ass,  get motivated, make some effort and dig yourself out of poverty. 

[thaibeachlovers]

30 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

Lesson here, if you are poor, don't have a baby at 16 years old, get off your lazy ass,  get motivated, make some effort and dig yourself out of poverty. 

Ooh, you are going to woke hell for that. Truth is not allowed by the wokesters.

[herfiehandbag]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

That's not what I hear in the news

At the risk of sounding trite, you should not believe everything that you hear on the news regarding Brexit! It was a hard contested political decision. "The establishment", including both major parties, and a large swage of the middle classes, (particularly those in occupations which let us say, were closely bound to the EU) were in favour of remaining. The majority of the  population, as the vote showed, wanted to leave.

 

It divided the country, and the country frankly remains divided. This division is reflected in media portrayal of the matter.

Edited March 22 by herfiehandbag

[Chomper Higgot]

54 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

This is all nonsense and is at best self inflicted.  The benefits safety net in the UK is generous and readily available.  Poverty, when it exists, is inevitably family or individual self inflicted.  Lack of opportunity often translates to 'don't care', 'can't be bothered'', never tries.  I was raised in a Northern industrial town within what would be classed as a poor society.  I, like very many others, worked my way out of that background. For me it was into the Military for 24 years and onward from there. The UK workforce is clearly feckless, lazy, WFH obsessed (teachers now wish to be compensated because they are denied WFH) and want more pay to do less, that is just pathetic. Lesson here, if you are poor, don't have a baby at 16 years old, get off your lazy ass,  get motivated, make some effort and dig yourself out of poverty. 

Be careful with that Brit bashing of yours, there’s folk here who get awfully upset about it.

[Doctor Tom]

9 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Be careful with that Brit bashing of yours, there’s folk here who get awfully upset about it.

I'm a Brit, and I'm sure that a lot of people agree with that assessment.  Been there and got out. 

[Rotweiler]

Easy answer.  Starts with a B and ends with an exit.

[RayC]

3 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

Brexit has not destroyed the UK economy as was so gleefully predicted by it's opponents. The economy is robust and sound. It could be better, but it is not wounded 

 

The UK, like the rest of Europe (the geographical entity rather than the political construct) are somewhat geographically closer to Putin's Russia and it's attempt to conquer Ukraine than the USA, and perhaps, as Europeans, have a rather more "hands on" experience of what allowing a dictator to swallow up neighbouring countries means! Hence the material and political support they offer, at considerable cost, and which has proved rather less fickle than that of the USA.

 

The definition of "absolute poverty" is frankly fairly generous. Whilst many people's circumstances are unfortunate, uncomfortable and unsatisfactory, the UK does not have anything like the abandoned class of hopeless homeless people who live in wretched conditions in tents on the pavements (sidewalks) of major American cities, without any medical care, social assistance and, it appears, hope of either!

 

The UK could, in my opinion, do much more for the disadvantaged in its society, perhaps starting with a more realistic assessment of what poverty actually is. I don't think being unable to afford booze, a social life or a dishwasher are indicators of absolute poverty.

 

6 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

At the risk of sounding trite, you should not believe everything that you hear on the news regarding Brexit! It was a hard contested political decision. "The establishment", including both major parties, and a large swage of the middle classes, (particularly those in occupations which let us say, were closely bound to the EU) were in favour of remaining. The majority of the  population, as the vote showed, wanted to leave.

 

It divided the country, and the country frankly remains divided. This division is reflected in media portrayal of the matter.

 

Brexit may not have destroyed the UK's economy but it has severely damaged it, as almost all reports into its' effects have demonstrated.

 

Was Brexit the catalyst for the fracturing of the country? Debatable, but I'd suggest it has certainly deepened the divide. Add in the fact that Brexit has soured relations with the EU (member states) and been a major contributor to the political chaos in N. Ireland, then I'd suggest that the benefits need to be substantial to compensate. 

 

Unfortunately, there are few benefits to be seen. No positives to speak of economically; no trade deals of any significance. The much touted 'taking back control' has had little, if any, positive effect. Indeed, when it comes to immigration, it can be argued that 'taking back control' has been negative, as it is now much more bureaucratic complicated and financially costly for UK employers to fill vacancies from overseas than it was when we were part of the single market. 

 

All in all, Brexit has been a(n almost) total failure to date.

[RayC]

5 hours ago, JonnyF said:

How can this be?

 

So much mass immigration and still a huge rise in poverty. Could it be that bringing in lots of unskilled, unmotivated, undocumented people doesn't boost the economy like they told us?

 

Any evidence to support this contention that lots of migrants to the UK are unmotivated and undocumented?

[RayC]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'm calling BS on the Brexit part

 

Why? Evidence to the contrary?

[sirineou]

1 hour ago, herfiehandbag said:

At the risk of sounding trite, you should not believe everything that you hear on the news

neither should you. 

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, Doctor Tom said:

The benefits safety net in the UK is generous and readily available.  Poverty, when it exists, is inevitably family or individual self inflicted. 

My personal poverty (and the poverty of my former wife and 4 kids) was inflicted entirely by the UK family court and divorce.

Would point out UK benefits is usually only available to women with kids and immigrants (of any flavour).

[BritManToo]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO anyone that claims to be poor, but uses a dishwasher, smokes tobacco, uses illegal drugs or drinks alcohol is not poor. They are IMO stupid.

Would point out, recreational  drugs and alcohol are all that make poverty bearable.