It finds poverty is especially prevalent in families with at least one disabled person, single-parent families, and households where no one works or that are dependent for income on irregular or zero-hours jobs. SMC’s analysis of official data finds those in hardship are more likely to have poor health and lack qualifications than those above the poverty line. But family relationships are equally strong either side of the poverty line, and the poor are significantly less likely than their wealthier counterparts to drink to excess or take illegal drugs.
The measure was developed by the Social Metrics Commission (SMC), an independent body bringing together poverty specialists from across the political spectrum to devise a successor to the child poverty targets abolished as an official measure in 2015.
The SMC’s most significant innovation is to build core living costs such as rent and childcare into its poverty measure. This recognises that even a relatively comfortable income is no guarantee that people can meet basic material needs if it is eaten up by unavoidable weekly outgoings. The SMC sets the poverty line at 55% of the three-year median of total household resources, as opposed to the previous threshold of 60% of median income. It says poverty is a relative concept best understood as “the extent to which people have the resources to engage adequately in a life regarded as the ‘norm’ in society”.
No comments:
Post a Comment