getting worse and worse to come

Undermining the oft-repeated claim that people simply have to work their way out of poverty a new report shows a record number of children in the UK are living in poverty despite the fact that one or both of their parents work.

The figure of 2.1 million is the highest on record – up 400,000 in the past five years- accounts for more than half of the 3.7 million children living in poverty in Britain today.
Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, said:
"We cannot hope to end child poverty when more and more children whose parents are in work find their lives damaged by poverty regardless."

More than 13 million Britons, 22 per cent of the population, are now living on less than 60 per cent of the median (average) income despite at least one parent bringing a wage home. (That translates to a couple with two children under 14 who exist on less than £288 per week after income tax, council tax and housing costs have been paid.) Of these, 5.8 million are in "deep poverty" – surviving on less than 40 per cent of the median income (under £192 a week for a couple with two children under 14). This is the highest proportion on record.

Unemployment among young people is at 20 per cent – the highest level for nearly 20 years. Six million Britons are "underemployed" (this includes those out of work or trapped in poorly paid part-time jobs).

Tom MacInnes, New Policy Institute's research director and co-author of the report, said: "Many politicians are still under the illusion that poverty is largely confined to people who don't work. It is simply not possible to base anti-poverty policies on the idea that work alone is a route out of poverty."

In the past five years, 30 out of 47 poverty indicators examined in the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion report – including child poverty, inequality and well-being – have stalled or worsened. With rising unemployment, worse is to come, predicted one of the report's authors, Anushree Parekh, last night: "It is impossible to see how anything other than another large rise in poverty can be expected next year."