How many hours should parents be expected to work in order not to be poor? New research published last week by Child Poverty Action Group explores this tricky question. Round the clock: In work poverty and the ‘hours question’ recognises from the outset that there are multiple factors which shape parents’ decisions about how many…
Measures, measures everywhere and not a drop of sense. This morning George Osborne and Iain Duncan Smith put their new child poverty strategy out to consultation with the claim that they have reduced child poverty by 300,000 to date, while at the same time denigrating the yardstick they appear to be performing so well against.…
The benefit cap is totemic of welfare reform and a policy from which the government is unlikely to retreat, even though the DWP’s own figures (discussed yesterday in Richard’s post) show that the biggest losers are children in poor families. But is the basis of the benefit cap as secure as the government thinks? Last…
By September 2013, when the roll-out of the benefit cap is complete, more than 50,000 low-income families will see their total weekly income reduced to £500 regardless of their assessed needs. According to the government, the benefit cap has a clear rationale: it will ensure that families claiming out of work benefits and the average…