Forum Brief: Tackling Poverty

Britain's political parties are moving closer to a consensus on tackling poverty, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation claimed on Tuesday.

The three authors of the reports said the following:

Nicholas Hillman research fellow of Policy Excange: "The challenge of tackling unacceptable levels of poverty and inequality is immense. Unless we map out a strategy now, millions of people will continue to be held back.

 

"In recent years, unemployment has been falling, but the number of people who are economically inactive – who are neither in work nor officially unemployed – has been rising. They should be a particular focus in the drive against poverty.

 

"We should recognise that benefits for out-of-work adults have been fixed in real terms for many years and that the current welfare-to-work initiatives are generally failing this group. Radical reform of the Social Fund so that it helps to bridge the gap between the last benefit payment and the first wage packet and an extension of the actively seeking work rules are long overdue.

 

"Benefits for families and for pensioners are also in need of reform. We need a simpler system with less means testing. Any reform should take particular account of the needs of two-parent families, as nearly two-thirds of children in poverty are in households headed by a couple, as well as older pensioners, who tend to be poorer than their younger counterparts. One option for the latter group would be to raise the basic state pension for pensioners aged over 80 to the level of the means-tested guarantee element of the Pension Credit, and then to extend the policy downwards as resources allow.

 

"While genuine refugees should be welcomed to Britain, tackling poverty also means taking account of migration. This is one of a number of factors putting pressure on housing. Politicians should tackle this issue by confronting, rather than leading, local ‘nimbyism’; they should make the case for necessary new housing and socially diverse communities.

 

"There is every reason to hope that new proposals of this type would reduce poverty, but any long-term strategy also needs to be flexible enough to respond to new opposing pressures and unexpected events."

 

Peter Robnison senior economist of the ippr said: "The ippr believes that a more consistent long-term political strategy is needed if poverty, inequality and social exclusion are to be effectively tackled.  Senior figures in government worry that there is not enough public support for its approach - if so this is partly their fault. Instead of ‘doing good by stealth’, the government should seek to build public support for tackling disadvantage, and this needs to include an open debate about tax and income redistribution.

 

"An important starting point is to better understand the problem. We urgently need an updated analysis of trends in income inequality to understand why market inequality stopped rising in the mid-1990s and why the effectiveness of the tax and benefit system in offsetting inequality appears to have declined.

 

"Successive governments have created an overwhelmingly complex welfare system. The ‘welfare contract’ between state and citizen needs to be comprehensively redesigned to give a clear description of people’s rights and responsibilities in relation to benefits and other support.

 

"There remain some key priorities for public policy. Despite the success of some of the 'new deal' programmes, one of the biggest outstanding challenges is to respond to the continuing rise in the numbers claiming benefits relating to sickness and disability.  This issue is strongly related to the theme of regional disparities in employment and prosperity. Stronger regional polices are needed to increase the number of jobs in disadvantaged areas.

 

"There is a gathering consensus that efforts to prevent disadvantaged children from growing into socially-excluded adults require greater early-years provision. Children and young people should be offered integrated support modeled on the Sure Start pre-school programme. Asset-building programmes, like the Government’s Child Trust Fund should be extended to provide young people with security in times of crisis or change."

 

Roger Wicks, research fellow, Social Market Foundation said: “In many respects Labour has thought and done the unthinkable on welfare, with tackling poverty and disadvantage a central theme. Social policy has broken new ground and nowhere more so than tax credits - creating a new bond between social security and employment.

 

“The abolition of child poverty remains Labour’s most ambitious social policy objective, although extra spending will still be required. On work, the New Deal is justifiably heralded by ministers for tackling long-term youth unemployment. Similarly, there is important new thinking on the empowering potential of assets, though this is no simple panacea even in the long term.

 

“But despite fresh analysis and novel policy-making, there remains what a Labour government must regard both as unfinished business, coupled  with a failure to respond to social change.

 

“The Social Fund is a prime example; a crucial area of policy which requires extra funding and reorientation so that those in work can be helped. Indebtedness presents a new social ill to which the welfare state is yet to respond.

 

“Fresh thinking is also required to deal with poverty in larger families with  particular implications for the benefits and tax credit system. Children in families with three or more children represent half of all poor children.

 

“A similar demographic blind-spot lies in the levels of poverty among homeowners and a Housing Benefit (HB) system which misses the mark. Current Government strategy –moving towards a system of cash in hand benefits (HB goes straight to landlords)– is, nevertheless, welcome.

 

“If these issues are not currently seen as policy priorities (and they certainly never headline the political debate) the Labour Government is fighting poverty and disadvantage with one hand tied behind its back.”

 

Forum Response: The Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Lord Best, Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Last year we published our own working paper arguing that a 20-year mission to reduce poverty was affordable provided the political will existed to see it through.

“As the Foundation begins its centenary celebrations we are pleased to be moving the debate about tackling poverty forward with this challenging report from five influential think tanks. We believe it paves the way for a political consensus about the value of tackling poverty that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.”

Forum Response: Help the Aged

David Sinclair, policy manager (social inclusion) at Help the Aged, told ePolitix.com:"There has been a dramatic shift of attitudes in relation to poverty since the 1980s and there is now increasing consensus on the simple fact that poverty exists and action must be taken to deal with it.

"There is, however, a discrepancy in the treatment and perception of poverty and its impact on different groups in society. Rightly, the government has given itself tough targets to meet in tackling poverty among children. However, there is a distinct lack of such initiatives being put in place to deal with the persistent and serious issue of poverty among older people.

"There has been a rise since 1991 in the proportion of pensioner households experiencing persistent low income. Among all pensioner households, the percentage that persistently survives on less than 60% of median income has increased from 21% in 1991 to 30 pe cent in 2001. 

 

"We are still, however, a long way from agreement on what policy tools should be used to tackle poverty. Regarding older people, for instance, there is still a lack of cross-party consensus on approaches to dealing with the pensions crisis.

 

"The JRF report is very welcome and highlights that we may have a real opportunity to pull together a strong agreement on this issue. Moves towards political consensus would mark a first and important step towards attacking the problem of persistent poverty, once and for all. This consensus must, however, extend equal recognition to all those members of society whose lives are blighted by inadequate income."

 

Forum Repsonse: Counsel and Care

 

Martin Green, chief executive of Counsel and Care told ePolitix.com: "I sincerely hope that the findings in the Rowntree Report are true and that there is a growing political consensus on tackling poverty.

 

"The problems of poverty and Social Exclusion are some of the biggest challenges we face and if these issues are going to be addressed it will require consistency and long term planning and this can only be achieved by us all working towards a common goal.

 

"Counsel and Care is particularly concerned about this issue because of the numbers of older people who suffer poverty and Social Exclusion."