The current cost of living is pushing more people into poverty, with almost 68% of low income...
Housing
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23/09/2012
Low/middle-income households poorer by 2020
Living standards for low- and middle-income (LMI) households are predicted to be lower in 2020 than a decade earlier even if the economy recovers, according to a new analysis.
The study, prepared for the Resolution Foundation think-tank, looks at the changing structure of the jobs market in tandem with the effects of the tax and benefit system, and models the prospects for different households. It assumes the economy recovers steadily from the recession, and then grows at 2.5 per cent each year from 2015.
Category: Reports -
20/09/2012
Almost half ‘dissatisfied’ with personal finances
Almost half of all adults say they are dissatisfied with their current financial situation, according to a report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure compares with fewer than one in five people who say they are highly satisfied.
The ONS report focuses on the relationship between people's personal finances and their sense of well-being, as part of a wider project looking at how to measure national well-being. It looks at different aspects of household income, expenditure and wealth – including financial poverty and people's own views about their own financial situation.
Category: Reports -
04/09/2012
Childhood income volatility harms adult outcomes
Being exposed to family income instability as a child leads to lower educational attainment in later life, according to research in America. The study looks at the relationship between income instability and adult outcomes over a period of nearly 40 years, prompted by a rise of one-third in income volatility in the United States since the 1970s.
Category: Reports -
24/08/2012
Fear of poverty ‘unchanged’ from century ago
People’s concerns over the affordability of basic essentials are much the same as they were 100 years ago, a survey has found.
The Salvation Army commissioned a survey looking at whether social issues for families have changed from those identified a century ago around the time social reformer William Booth died.
Category: News stories -
17/08/2012
Benefit cuts to hit housing association tenants in Scotland
Housing association tenants in Scotland stand to lose up to £228 million by 2017 as a result of the government’s reforms to social security benefits, according to a report.
The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations commissioned a study of the direct and indirect impacts of welfare reform on working-age tenants of housing associations and cooperatives in Scotland. By 2017 many existing benefit payments, including housing benefit, will have been fully replaced with a single universal credit.
Category: Reports -
14/08/2012
More households ‘struggling’ to pay bills
Household finances across the country are weaker than at the same point last year, according to a new survey. More households are ‘struggling’, with income not sufficient to pay bills, and fewer households have income that exceeds bills and debts.
The Legal & General ‘MoneyMood Survey’ interviewed a nationally representative sample of around 1,000 adults.
Category: News stories -
31/07/2012
Household incomes lowest since 2005
Household incomes fell in real terms in the first quarter of 2012, according to official statistics, leaving them at their lowest level since 2005. The figures confirm gloomy data on economic growth published a few days earlier.
Category: Reports -
11/07/2012
Inadequacy of local housing allowance
Local housing allowance (LHA) is inadequate to cover even the lowest private sector rents in many areas of England, according to a new study. This contradicts government claims that at least 30 per cent of local rents will be affordable with the new rates.
The study, for campaign group Shelter, compares bottom-quartile rents with maximum LHA rates in local authorities in England as at April 2011, when recent changes to LHA were first introduced.
Category: Reports -
27/06/2012
‘£8 billion’ bill for older people’s housing benefit
The government will have to spend an extra £8.13 billion on housing benefit for pensioners each year by 2060, according to a think-tank report. The rising number of older people, and changes in the housing market, are the main factors.
The report looks at how trends in longevity and tenure will affect the future cost of housing benefit for older people in the very long term.
Category: Reports -
26/06/2012
Low-income households hit by indirect tax rises
The poorest households now pay nearly one-third of their income in indirect taxes, according to the latest official figures. The poorest fifth pay 31 per cent on taxes such as VAT and alcohol and fuel duties – much higher than the 13 per cent paid by the richest households.
The annual report from the Office for National Statistics looks at how taxes and benefits redistributed income between various household groups in 2010/11.
Category: Reports
