UK poverty and inequality

[Balderdasha]

So, food bank usage in the UK.

The Trussell Trust network distributed over 2.1 million food parcels in the year up to April 2022.

https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-a...nd-year-stats/

You can't just turn up and ask for a parcel, you have to be referred because of need. Each of the parcels is a 3 day supply for one person. On average, people were referred to a food bank 2.4 times per year.

There are more than 1,400 food bank centres in the Trussell Trust’s UK wide network. The Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) represents more than 500 independent food banks operating across the UK. IFAN has identified at least 1,172 independent food banks across the UK in addition to food banks in the Trussell Trust network, Salvation Army, and school-based food banks. There are also thousands of other food aid providers including soup kitchens and social supermarkets.

Doing some back of envelope calculations, if the other food banks distribute about the same amount as the Trussell Trust ones (and in fact the other food banks have reported a higher increase in need than the Trussell Trust ones) that would mean a minimum of about 4.6 million three day parcels being distributed, going to about 1.9 million people.

That fits roughly with the destitution figures of 2.4 million people.

[Balderdasha]

This is what's in a typical food bank parcel: https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-he...d/food-parcel/

I reckon the value of what's in that picture / in the list is about £20-30.

In October 2021, the UK government ended its Universal Credit £20 weekly uplift which was introduced in March 2020.

It would have cost about £6bn per year to keep it in place.

For comparison, the UK government wrote off about £8.9bn it spent on PPE during the pandemic. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc...k-60176283.amp

It also lost about £16bn due to fraud and error in Covid-19 loans and at least one treasury minister quit in disgust at the lack of interest in pursuing recovering of any of this: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.the...-loans-schemes

[MsD]

Interesting report here on the effect of poverty on mental health. It's not just about going through a difficult spell, it scars you for life.

https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/mental-health

[steveeeeeeeee]

Looking just at income can sometimes only paint part of the picture. Both my wife and I have paid marginal to no income tax from the birth of our daughter up to when we left the UK and the key reason we survived fairly comfortably was due to nearby family that could provide childcare and family friends who bombarded us with hand-me-down clothes, furniture and toys. When you've got both parents on £12,000 pa tax free, that's a survivable income if you're careful with what you spend. My nan also died just before my daughter was born, so that gave me a small inheritance and I could buy a car. Living near a close community of friends and family is probably worth about £5-6000 tax free per year, in my opinion, and one of the key reasons why families should not be forced apart by local economic pressures, which is endemic where I'm from.

Single mum, cut off from family, living in a place where they know next to no one, I can't imagine the challenges that brings.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/...imes-1.4881075

A related article, touching on the broader nature of distribution of income, and redistribution of income by John Fitzgerald. (Son of former taoiseach Garrett, a fine economic historian and an absolute gentleman)

In most countries it is people on low incomes who suffer most in any economic crisis. In contrast, Ireland saw a reduction in inequality in the face of massive economic dislocation in the past two economic crises – after the 2008 banking and property crash, and in the Covid-19 recession.

In 2009, while there were dramatic cutbacks in services and a big rise in taxes, they were largely targeted at the better off: the result was a significant reduction in income inequality. In 2020-2021, as a result of the Government’s measures to protect those affected by the pandemic lockdown, income inequality again fell.

Ireland’s tax and welfare systems, taken together, form a very effective tool for redistributing income from the rich to the poor. Ireland’s tax and welfare system needs to work particularly hard at this Robin Hood role because the distribution of market income, before taxes and transfers, is among the most unequal across the OECD area.

This probably reflects an economy where aircraft leasing and the multinational tech sector are characterised by exceptionally high incomes.

While Belgium, Finland, France and Greece also have effective systems for achieving redistribution to poorer households, such countries are in a minority within the OECD in this regard.
Levelling up


The Netherlands and Sweden have less strongly-redistributive tax and welfare systems, but much less inequality in market incomes, so their outcome for disposable incomes is broadly similar. In these countries, and the Nordics generally, universal public services play a strong role in levelling-up.

France, Greece, the US and the UK also have high levels of inequality in unadjusted incomes, but the UK and US lack effective measures to counteract this. Anglo-Saxon social models in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia have much less redistributive tax and welfare systems. When combined with high inequality of market incomes, such models result in societies with large gaps in the standard of living between rich and poor.

Although economic crises in Ireland have hit disposable incomes of the rich more than of the poor, nevertheless high unemployment in the 2008-2013 recession saw big increases in the numbers below the poverty line. However, the recent 2021 data suggest that the numbers in poverty in the Covid slump was at an all-time low.

t is important to reflect on which groups are still experiencing real hardship – those out of work due to ill-health or disability, and lone parents with children under 18. More needs to be done to lift these individuals and families out of poverty.

Affordable childcare and access to work are key measures to lift lone parents out of poverty. Access to suitable work is also important for people with disabilities, but decent welfare payments are essential for those unable to work through ill health or other reasons.
Ukraine crisis


While government interventions have been very successful in insulating those on low incomes from the full effects of the pandemic-induced recession, the latest shock to the economy from a rapid rise in inflation, greatly aggravated by the Ukraine war, requires different remedies.

Because energy is essential for all households, the massive rise in fuel prices is wreaking havoc on the budgets of those on low incomes. Already the Government has taken action to provide some protection for the most vulnerable. The forthcoming budget will need to do much more.

Cutting taxes to reduce energy prices would be poorly-targeted and the wrong approach. Reducing the price of energy would also do little to wean us off high energy use and dependence on fossil fuels. It would be better to focus support on the most vulnerable via the welfare system, including broadening the fuel allowance to a wider group of beneficiaries, like low-paid workers.

Putting cash in people’s pockets allows them to make smarter choices around energy consumption.

We shouldn’t look to Whitehall for answers to copy. Despite estimates from the National institute of Economic and Social Research in London that the number of households in the UK defined as destitute would rise by a third this year to one million, the recent UK budget in fact widened the gap between rich and poor.

Due to UK policies, in Northern Ireland an estimated 6 per cent of households are likely to meet the definition of destitute. This should be an immediate challenge for newly-elected MLAs to address, as Westminster isn’t going to help.

If Stormont had a functioning Executive, it would have the power to implement its own supplementary welfare measures, if they are prepared to raise revenues to fund them through locally-levied charges on property or water.

[ursus arctos]

Have to say that I didn't expect Ireland to be so effective at redistribution

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Clientelism my dear boy.

It's worth noting that before taxation and redistribution, the Irish income distribution is similar to South Africa's post T&R.(Gini 0.61) After taxation and redistribution our gini coefficient puts us about eighth in europe. (0.283) The irish govt, for its small size, spends a massive amount of its time redistributing money on a massive scale. Like way more than anyone else in europe. This is good in one way, but it means that nothing is spent on providing housing, or services, which mean that that money doesn't go far, and we have completely avoidable society swallowing crises in a variety of areas.

[ursus arctos]

I always think of clientelism being at the core of Irish politics but appear to have internalized the US model where it works against redistribution ( and collection from the donor class).

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

We are as ever, the kerbals of political and economic science.

[My Name Is Ian]

I have to say I'm darkly amused by the idea that you can rent anywhere with two bedrooms for £403 per month.

We pay £1200 for a three bedroom house my wife and I are separated my live together - I slept on a sofa in the living room for three years in a one bedroom flat, so I don't feel any guilt over wanting a bedroom of my own. I remember from when I saw it advertised (about August 2020) that it was the cheapest three bedroom house advertised to let in West Sussex at the time.

I just had a quick look on Zoopla and there are currently five properties in the county cheaper than that right now, but none of them are particularly near here. The average in this town is more like £1500 a month, though some are a little bit cheaper.

I make £2000 a month and my ex-wife makes about £800. Things aren't as bad as they were - when my younger kid was born we got back from the hospital with a new born to a house in which the gas and electricity meters had run out. I had to borrow twenty quid off my boss to go and top the meter up. It was one of the most frightening experiences of my life.

And we're some way off being the worst off. I earn more than I did in 2017 and my ex wife has just started a new full time job which should see us okay in a month of two. But it's been looking like things might be okay in a month or two for most of the last six or seven years, so I'm hardly putting too much faith in that they definitely will.

[Patrick Thistle]

(Also, in case anybody who knows about my bipolar wonders, yes, this type of fevered research is a sign of me heading more into hypomania rather than the depression that blighted the winter. I am aware of it and that's why I'm mitigating at least slightly by e.g. stopping last night to go to sleep and stopping now to go and eat and spend time with my family).

Not sure how to phrase this, but I hope you're able to manage this. Sure I'm not alone in saying that.

[Sporting]

What a well-researched and instructive series of posts, Balders and the rest. Boris Johnson and his chronies should be force fed them.

[Balderdasha]

What a well-researched and instructive series of posts, Balders and the rest. Boris Johnson and his chronies should be force fed them.

They know this stuff. A lot of the information comes from the government itself. The difference is that they don't care or think the poor deserve their misfortune.

I often think back to when I was in my twenties and one of my gig jobs that supplemented my income was doing mock Oxbridge interviews. We'd get bussed around the country to various schools and give mock interviews to about 10-20 sixth form students per day who were aspiring to go to Oxbridge or one of the traditional universities. I used to interview for politics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics, philosophy, history, geography, Oriental studies, environmental courses, even maths at a push. One day, we were interviewing at a private school and I ended up chatting to a very posh student about solutions to inequality. His proposed solution was to build walls around areas where poor people lived so that they couldn't see how the rich people lived and thus wouldn't get jealous. He saw no flaws or moral conundrums whatsoever in his plan. This is what the political elite in our country have been taught and what they genuinely believe, they just learn to express pretend empathy sometimes.

[Balderdasha]

On the expense of being poor.

People who have never been poor can't really understand how expensive it is.

Everything is more expensive if you are poor. A few examples.

Food. Poor people often live in areas that don't have big supermarkets. They also often don't have cars. So their options are limited to either walking to more expensive local shops, like Tesco express, or paying for transport to get to and from a bigger supermarket. There is often an unaffordable minimum spend required to get any online supermarket to deliver. Poor people pay more per kg for the same items as they can't afford to buy in bulk and don't usually have the space to store bulk items anyway. Poor people might not have functioning kitchens which means they have to buy more expensive (and less healthy) instant food rather than cooking from scratch.

Toilet paper. Again, poor people can't afford to buy in bulk. One study found that they spend about 6% more on toilet paper as a result: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/poor-...d3fe22fc65/amp
Laundry. If you can't afford a washing machine, you have to haul your clothes to the launderette, which costs much more over time.

Electricity and gas. People on lower incomes are more likely to be on prepayment meters which can cost hundreds of pounds more per year than the same amount of energy in a direct debit: https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...itizens-advice

Accessing financial services. Poor people are less likely to have a bank account. This means if they have a cash to cheque, from work for example, they lose about 8% of its value just converting it. They are reliant on pay day lenders for additional credit which have much higher interest rates than pre-arranged overdrafts or credit cards.

Sam Vimes boots theory. If you can't afford to buy good quality boots, or pretty much anything, microwaves, cars, saucepans, whatever, they break and need to be replaced more quickly and cost more over time.

Etc.

[Balderdasha]

There is so much poverty in the UK currently that it's started to be split out in the UK media as different types.

Food poverty.

Fuel poverty (A household is considered to be in fuel poverty if it has to spend 10% or more of its disposable income on energy.)

Period / hygiene poverty. There are now 874 locations around the UK collecting and distributing hygiene products to those who can't afford them. https://thehygienebank.com/

Furniture poverty.
https://endfurniturepoverty.org/rese...iture-poverty/ One of my mum's friends, an ex-teacher, now runs a charity providing beds and bedding for children as she found so many children were falling asleep at school because they didn't have anywhere to sleep at home. Many would just sleep on a coat on the floor.

Really though, these are all just facets of overall poverty. If you're struggling to afford one of these things you're probably struggling to afford the others too.

[Balderdasha]

Child poverty.

We are shamefully allowing 27% of UK children to live in poverty, with the number projected to increase over the coming years: https://cpag.org.uk/child-poverty/ch...ts-and-figures
In 2015, the Tories scrapped the previous target of ending child poverty by 2020: https://www.theguardian.com/society/...-child-poverty

Then they scrapped the child poverty unit: https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...it-theresa-may

They tried to avoid reporting on child poverty at all and instead wanted to just report on the number of children in workless households and GCSE results but this has been resisted: https://cpag.org.uk/recent-history-uk-child-poverty

75% of children living in poverty live in a household where at least one adult is in work.

[Fussbudget]

I have to say I'm darkly amused by the idea that you can rent anywhere with two bedrooms for £403 per month.

You can rent a 3-bed house in Middlesbrough or Hartlepool for that much if you're not fussy about the neighbourhood. Travel 20 minutes down the road towards Northallerton/Thirsk and you'll be lucky to find anything to rent for double the amount. The variations in the housing market across the country are really quite something.

Though bizarrely I know quite a few people who work in central Middlesbrough and complain about how unaffordable buying a house is because they're only looking at North Yorkshire or the posher parts of Teesside (Yarm, Saltburn etc.) and would never consider living in Middlesbrough proper.

It blows my mind, because their quality of life would be much better living in a nice part of Boro (which are still miles cheaper than anywhere else) and going to Saltburn or wherever for the day with the fortune and time they save on housing and commuting. Nowt so queer as folk

[Balderdasha]

You can rent a 3-bed house in Middlesbrough or Hartlepool for that much if you're not fussy about the neighbourhood. Travel 20 minutes down the road towards Northallerton/Thirsk and you'll be lucky to find anything to rent for double the amount. The variations in the housing market across the country are really quite something.

Though bizarrely I know quite a few people who work in central Middlesbrough and complain about how unaffordable buying a house is because they're only looking at North Yorkshire or the posher parts of Teesside (Yarm, Saltburn etc.) and would never consider living in Middlesbrough proper.

It blows my mind, because their quality of life would be much better living in a nice part of Boro (which are still miles cheaper than anywhere else) and going to Saltburn or wherever for the day with the fortune and time they save on housing and commuting. Nowt so queer as folk

Do they have children and if so what are the schools like in Middlesbrough? This is one of our number one considerations in terms of where to live. We chose to buy a more expensive, smaller house because it was in walking distance of our children's very nice primary school and it's guaranteed to be in the catchment area for a few decent secondary schools. We could have moved two or three miles down the road and got a bigger, cheaper house, but it would have meant driving to and from school every day now and potentially being out of catchment for the secondary schools.

[Fussbudget]

No they don't, which makes it particulary puzzling to me. I appreciate it's not the same if you have that to consider, or if you have ties like caring responsibilities or a support network in place somewhere else already.

[Balderdasha]

I went shopping today, a rare occurrence. A few things I noticed.

1) budget items are increasing in price much faster than the official rate of inflation. 24 black hairbands from Wilco used to cost £1. They now cost £1.20. All bus fares increased by a blanket 10p across the board in April, whereas taxis still seem to have the same rate on the meters.

2) I will never go in a Starbucks again. I was in a hurry and it was the closest place to grab a cheese toastie and a small mocha and the bastards charged me £8.10!

[Sporting]

Starbucks is ridiculous.

24 hairbands: how long does each one last?

[Balderdasha]

Starbucks is ridiculous.

24 hairbands: how long does each one last?

My daughter usually has four in her hair at any one time (knee length hair, two plaits). She probably loses two or three a week when they fall off the ends of her hair while she's out and about. As the hairbands get older, more of them start to break. So they last a couple of months if we're lucky.

These are what I mean in case there's a terminology confusion: https://www.wilko.com/wilko-thin-pon...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Balderdasha]

One unexpected side effect of doing all this research. The Minimum Income Standard budget for a mother of two children assumes that you should be spending £681.72 on clothes and footwear for yourself each year. I spend way less than this. I actually went and totted it up and in the last year I'd spent about £3-400 on clothes and footwear for myself. Over the previous two years during the pandemic it was significantly less. I was regularly wearing tops with holes, permanent stains, that didn't fit me properly any more, etc. So, I went and treated myself to five new tops yesterday.

[Balderdasha]

Interesting little facet of the £400 energy rebate to every household in the UK.

"Because the money is being paid directly to every household, people who own second or third homes will get multiple £400 payments."

[Balderdasha]

Also for the poorest people, this year.

£1,040 per week was removed when the £20 weekly uplift was stopped.

The energy price cap went up by £700 in April and is predicted to go up by a further £800 in October, so £1,500 in total.

Sunak has promised £400 off energy bills for each household and £650 for Universal Credit recipients.

By my calculation, that still leaves a single parent on Universal Credit £1,490 worse off this year than last year at a time when we have inflation at 9%.

But this is being presented as a huge handout to the poor.

Of the UK's 27.4 million households, about 22% are in poverty. If the money had been targeted at only them, each household could have had about £2,000.

Instead Sunak has brushed this off by saying he's sure that rich households that don't need the extra cash will donate it to charity. Because that's what rich people are renowned for...