Richard Exell's Archive — Page 3
I am the TUC’s Senior Policy Officer covering social security, tax credits and labour market issues, including the debates about the European social model and labour market flexibility. I also represent the TUC on the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council.
Richard Exell
Before it all ended so badly, the Prime Minister used to boast that part of the price he would demand for agreeing to a revision of the Lisbon Treaty was a relaxation of the Working Time Directive. This has become something of a totem for de-regulationists but you have to ask yourself: why?
Thursday’s report on Hours Worked in the Labour Market showed that average hours worked in Britain have been coming down in good times and bad.
Richard Exell
Here’s an interesting idea – at least it helped me to look at European economies in a new light.
We’re used to making economic comparisons between the UK and other European countries but, of course, the UK average obscures the difference between different regions. Today’s publication of Eurostat’s Regional Yearbook got me wondering: how does unemployment in the regions and nations of the UK look in the European context?
Richard Exell
The latest National Statistics on Statutory Homelessness for England show that the number of homeless families and the number in temporary accommodation have stopped falling, and possibly started rising, though it is too early to say whether this is a trend.
Between the third quarter of 2010 and the same period in 2011 there was a 6% rise in the number of homeless households. There was a large increase in the number of families in bed and breakfast accommodation – up from 2,660 to 3,370 compared to the same quarter last year.
Richard Exell
Today’s Report on Jobs from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation and KPMG provides more evidence that insecurity and austerity are most likely to bear down on people who already had the worst prospects. The Report includes the results from answers to a question in the November Markit Household Finance Index: “How do you think the level of income from your employment will have changed 12 months from now?”
Most people did not expect any change, a result the Report describes as ‘subdued’, but overall, more people said they expected their income to be higher than lower. Overall, 27% expected their income to be higher and 15% expected it top be lower. But this pattern did not apply to people in the lowest income group:
Richard Exell
I have a post up at Left Foot Forward, looking at today’s report from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, which confirms the conclusion that the labour market might as well be in recession. In addition, the latest Index of Production data show a continued slump in manufacturing and other production industries. Commenting on their report, KPMG have hinted that we might be headed for 3 million unemployed, which would take us back to levels last seen under Mrs Thatcher.
Richard Exell
Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising, today’s report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, illuminates the debate on benefit levels and re-distribution. Of course, most of the initial comments have focused on the headlines about this country’s relative performance. The OECD has produced a very useful ‘Country Note‘ on the UK, with a stunning take-away quote up at the top:
Income inequality among working-age persons has risen faster in the United Kingdom than in any other OECD country since 1975. From a peak in 2000 and subsequent fall, it has been rising again since 2005 and is now well above the OECD average.
And the data shows that the UK is up there with Mexico, Turkey, the USA and Israel as one of the titans of inequality:
(Inequality here is measured using the Gini coefficient.) But there’s also interesting reading further down and in the detail of the report. In particular, there’s a vital discussion about the causes of the UK’s inequality, which suggests that cuts in benefit rates played a major part. The policy prescriptions in the main report says that it is going to be hard to make progress on inequality without redistribution – higher taxes and benefits. And promoting social mobility is difficult if inequality is left untouched.
Richard Exell
Today’s well-being statistics show that most people are reasonably satisfied with their lives, with an average score for overall life satisfactiohn of 7.4. But there is a big difference in outcomes, depending on whether or not you’re unemployed. Here’s the headline results, based on answers to the question “overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?”:
| Life satisfaction | |
| In employment | 7.5 |
| Economically inactive | 7.4 |
| Unemployed | 6.3 |
The other questions in the survey produced the same gradient.
Richard Exell
Two reports published today by the NHS Information Centre show that social care in England is already starting to feel the effect of the cuts. Personal Social Services Expenditure and Unit Costs reveals that, between 2009/10 and 2010/11, there was a 2% real terms decrease in spending on adult social services by local authorities. Secondly, Community Care Statistics: Social Services Activity reports a fall of 4% in the numbers receiving nursing care, a 2% fall in the number of adults receiving residential care, an 8% fall in the numbers receiving community-based services though there was a substantial increase in the numbers receiving self-directed support or direct payments. There was a 3% fall in the number of carers receiving an assessment, a 2% fall in the numbers receiving a service and a 9% fall in the numbers receiving a carer-specific service.
Now, it has to be said that, when the comparison is with 2005/6, not 2009/10, there are substantial increases. The fall over the last year could be a blip, even if it isn’t there could be positive reasons for it – fewer people needing help, for instance. But there is a chilling section that puts this in another light:
Richard Exell
It’s nice to note the occasional victory, a cut withdrawn. Last year Nicola reported on the plans to abolish the Youth Justice Board and to hive off its job of overseeing the youth justice system in England and Wales to a division of the Ministry of Justice. The government has now announced that it plans to retain the Board (scroll down to column 1070); it seems that the abolition became untenable after this summer’s riots.
HT: Social Policy Digest.
Richard Exell
I have a post at Left Foot Forward, looking at today’s Autumn Statement, asking who is paying for the announcement on train fares and fuel duty?
One group is public sector workers (Alice has more on this) and the other is low-paid workers who rely on tax credits. The government has cancelled its promise to increase the child element of Child Tax Credit – because of this, the number of children in poverty will be 100,000 higher than it would have been otherwise. So much for the Coalition’s claims to be “progressive”.
