The current cost of living is pushing more people into poverty, with almost 68% of low income...
Child benefit
-
06/08/2021
The Poverty Alliance - New Webinar Series: Tackling Child Poverty in Scotland
Our upcoming webinar series will bring together a range of experts to explore the context of tackling poverty in Scotland. The results of the discussion and debates will be fed back to the Scottish Government, as part of Get Heard Scotland's process of contributing to the next Child Poverty Delivery Plan.
Category: News stories -
08/12/2017
The centrality of poverty
Poverty as measured by material deprivation through lack of economic resources remains absolutely central to understanding the causation of most aspects of social exclusion and a range of social outcomes, concludes the 2nd of the two-volume PSE-UK study.
Category: Articles -
13/01/2014
Duncan Smith backs child benefit cut
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has offered support for the idea that families should only be able to claim child benefit for their first two offspring. He told the Sunday Times: 'It’s a brilliant idea'.
According to the Daily Mail, a 'source close to Mr Duncan Smith' said he backs the idea (proposed by a member of David Cameron's policy board) in part because it would force parents on benefits to consider whether they could afford children, rather than expecting taxpayers to pick up the tab. The source reportedly said: 'Iain has sympathised with this idea for some time. He thinks it's a serious money saver. And he believes that people on benefits should have to make the same choices as other people normally do. It is slightly infantilising unless you make people make those choices themselves'.
Category: News stories -
10/06/2013
Absolute poverty in America higher than in 1969
Despite using a 40-year old absolute standard, child poverty in the US has increased dramatically from 14% to 22% as Salvatore Babones reports here.
Category: Articles -
25/10/2012
IDS signals cap on child-related benefits
Some aspects of the benefits system promote 'destructive' behaviours, according to a 'controversial' speech by Iain Duncan Smith, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He described families on benefits as expecting 'never ending amounts of money' for every extra child they choose to have, whereas by contrast working households have to make 'tough choices' about what they can afford.
Duncan Smith did not propose any specific policy changes in his speech. But in a separate BBC radio interview given beforehand, he raised the question of whether as a matter of 'fairness' there should be some 'limit' on state money to support the children of out-of-work families.
Category: News stories -
20/09/2012
Link between in-work poverty and low pay is complex
There is no simple link between in-work poverty and low pay in European countries, finds a study funded by the European Commission. Tackling in-work poverty is therefore not as straightforward as simply raising minimum wages, it concludes.
The study looked at the variation in in-work poverty across European countries and over time, using data from EU-SILC.
Category: Reports -
18/09/2012
Child benefits ‘help tackle in-work poverty’
Child benefits have made an important contribution to tackling child poverty among working families in Europe, according to a new study funded by the European Commission. The study looks at the role of child benefit 'packages' – cash and tax benefits – in lifting working families out of poverty over the period 1992–2009.
Category: Reports -
21/08/2012
Tax-based child benefits ‘less generous’ than universal systems
Child benefit systems based on the tax system tend to be less generous than those structured around a universal benefit, according to a new study.
The study looked at the changing social and fiscal policy mix of child benefit systems in developed (OECD) countries from 1960 to 2005.
Category: Reports -
18/04/2012
MPs raise doubts over tax measures in the budget
A report by a committee of MPs has said that the costs and benefits of cutting the highest income tax rate from 50p to 45p are ‘highly uncertain’. They argue that the figures quoted by the Coalition government could be significantly out.
The warning is contained in the MPs’ analysis of the 2012 Budget measures. It calls on the government to publish a comprehensive assessment of the exchequer effect of the new 45p rate.
Category: Reports -
03/03/2012
Child benefits help reduce single parent poverty in Europe
A well-designed child benefits system can play a crucial role in tackling poverty among lone mothers – and in strengthening women’s autonomy – according to researchers in Antwerp studying the impact of child benefits on the poverty risk of lone mothers in 15 European countries.
Category: Reports
