Poverty rate among working households in UK is highest ever

Don
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This is a consequence of furlough and the middle classes doing well out of working from home.

A statistical quirk. Certainly other research suggests working people have been able able to save tons of cash across all demographics the past year.
 
Associate
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.... probably because my parents actually gave a damn.

This I think is a huge factor. Some parents these days are not suited/should not have been parents in the first place. Some put their own needs above their children's which is also a factor in a lot of other current issues we have in society.
 
Soldato
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I work in a school, my Mrs is a Teacher. We have seen genuine poverty where children do not have the clothes, or literally come to school starving and the meals they get at school is their only/main proper meal. However I wouldn't say its in high numbers in the schools we have been in, however even 1 is too many in this country given "our" wealth.

I work in an alternative provision school which takes young people from the less well off areas within Bristol and I would guess that 60% of the families are reliant on the parcels the staff put together thanks to FareShare
 
Soldato
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The issue is the housing costs and general expenses are going up at an alarming rate, yet incomes are not.

The average single person on minimum wage working part time, has zero incentive to work longer hours, the income they receive from part time work ~£750 a month, and the benefits they receive through universal credit ~£350 a month is just too good. Instead of working 20 hours a week, they would need to work 40-50+ hours just to offset the money they get through benefits, in reality they are worse off as they lose their family time. Would someone rather work 2-3 days a week and spend time with the kids, or work 5-6 days a week and rarely get time to see their kids. Financially they will still be in the same position.

Whats the solution to that though as there is no easy fix. Remove benefits then you plunge millions of people into severe poverty? Lower housing/living costs won't solve the problem either, just move the goal posts, higher wages? That will just force the living costs higher.
 
Caporegime
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Successive governments have created a welfare state in which people choose to live in despair as they're not much worse off than working full-time whilst trying to raise children.

It's one of the main arguments against a universal basic income as all it really does, in the end, is create a bigger wealth gap.

Relative poverty has always been a poor measure though when you really dive into the stats.
 
Caporegime
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Keyword here is "relative", there was this thing called the pandemic which we're just starting to emerge from - lots of people furloughed or temporarily unemployed etc.. vs richer people relatively less affected, stock markets have done very well ergo the relative gap changes.

Likewise, if you look back at the financial crisis "relative" poverty in fact decreased, not because anyone became substantially poorer but rather because stock markets fell and so richer people were relatively less well off (or at least the $ value of their portfolio had gone down a bit even if there was no real substantial change to their lifestyle.).
 
Associate
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Food bank usage increases as we have more food banks now and it's free food driving demand

Go to McDonalds when they have 30% off and you can see that the majority of people love a bargain
 
Soldato
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According to those figures I've been living in poverty for the past few years yet I earn too much for any benefits. I don't feel my standard of living is in such a state I need to be included in those statistics.
 
Associate
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There's some truth in this as well. Many food banks don't require people to provide evidence of income so you have people using them who shouldn't.

Agree with this. Similar thing happened with the free school meals during the lockdown and free laptops & internet dongle
 
Caporegime
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Some people fall badly through the cracks in the enept benefits system (non scrounging genuine types) and do require food banks.
Having said that, every time I see a food bank on TV there's a 23 stone woman big enough to have her own postcode cramming biscuits in her matalan bag

The problem with your example is bad nutrition and diet effects your development especially as a child and baby.

Let's say that woman came from a poor background and mother didn't know any better so she ate crap and then subsequently fed her baby crap. You have heard the stories gave the baby coke in their milk bottle, pizza and McDonald's and chips and crisps galore.

Subsequently that child through no actions of their own now hasn't developed mentally to their full potential they don't know any better and subsequently eat crap and pass the same thing down the line.

To fix that issue you would need to tax all refined and processed food to the point it forces people to learn how to cook from scratch from raw ingredients.

How many folk do you think can cook scrambled eggs properly? How many bother when frosties is an alternative?

Tax frosties so it's £5 a pack for the small one and £10 for the big one and I'm sure overnight you would see a massive change in obesity and nutrition levels.

The whole sugar tax on drinks was made by an idiot Jamie Oliver. It should have been a tax on refined drinks not sugary drinks. I don't want sugar being replaced by aspartame we already have diet lemonade with no sugar and sweeteners so I don't want the normal version to be the exact same just with a spoonful of sugar in it.

The government is to blame for not tackling the real problem. It also let a failed celebrity chef have too much power through social media and TV appearances. Put someone who knows what they are doing in charge and you can end the vicious cycle a lot of folk are in.

I went to morrisons the other week and I saw 2 parents come out their car in front that must have been 50 stone combined. I then saw they had a young toddler who looked overweight and I felt extremely sorry for him. He has no chance. He will end up exactly like them through no fault of his own.

There should be a tax on all refined products with the more refining done the bigger the tax. If chemicals are used to refine then an even bigger tax. If heat is used to refine then a bigger tax too.

That way normal coke and diet coke cost the same and both are taxed to the point it's expensive to buy as a luxury product. The alternative would be fruit juices which are less refined would still be more expensive but less so and a better alternative overall however the best option would be water which wouldn't be taxed at all. Remove all taxes from natural products which are unrefined and unprocessed.
 
Soldato
OP
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This is a consequence of furlough and the middle classes doing well out of working from home.

A statistical quirk. Certainly other research suggests working people have been able able to save tons of cash across all demographics the past year.

Keyword here is "relative", there was this thing called the pandemic which we're just starting to emerge from - lots of people furloughed or temporarily unemployed etc.. vs richer people relatively less affected, stock markets have done very well ergo the relative gap changes.

Likewise, if you look back at the financial crisis "relative" poverty in fact decreased, not because anyone became substantially poorer but rather because stock markets fell and so richer people were relatively less well off (or at least the $ value of their portfolio had gone down a bit even if there was no real substantial change to their lifestyle.).

Looks like neither of you actually bothered to read it before rushing to justify it. These stats are released now, but are measured up to March 2020. Before the furlough scheme.

This year's numbers will look much much worse.
 
Caporegime
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A single mum with 2 kids gets rent and council tax paid, and just under a grand in cash every month.

How can those children be living in poverty with that level of cash coming into the house!

"relative" poverty

Also when people look at assets, income etc.. they don't seem to take into account stuff like council housing.

Like if you're the occupier of a council house in Westminster worth close to £1 million you're actually rather well off - you have optionality over a big asset, you can pass down your valuable tenancy to an heir, you have the right to purchase it at a significant discount.

A private landlord might own the flat next door to you and your next-door neighbour might be paying say £2500 a month to live in their property...

If you're living rent-free then that alone is a benefit equivalent to £40,000 a year pre-tax... easy enough too to calculate the benefit of the discounted rent vs market rates and that isn't taking into account the value of the discount on the property increasing over time should you wish to purchase it in future and the value of having the option to pass it onto a family member - that right/tenancy is in itself a significant asset.
 
Soldato
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A single mum with 2 kids gets rent and council tax paid, and just under a grand in cash every month.

How can those children be living in poverty with that level of cash coming into the house!
I do wonder how much "poverty" can be assigned to peoples lifestyles and bad choices in such a situation as you have mentioned.
 
Caporegime
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Looks like neither of you actually bothered to read it before rushing to justify it. These stats are released now, but are measured up to March 2020. Before the furlough scheme.

This year's numbers will look much much worse.

Do you have a link to the report?

The context here is still relevant if/when a similar report is made re: this past year - this is relative poverty and post-pandemic.
 
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