Childless adults face increased poverty

Wednesday, 1 December 2004 12:01 AM

The Government's drive to reduce poverty among children and pensioners may be working, but childless adults are facing increased poverty.

The finding comes in a new report by the New Policy Institute for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

It finds that poverty in Britain is continuing to decline, but on a number of indicators some trends have got worse.

It estimates that 12.4 million people are living in households below the poverty line (defined as households with net income below 60 per cent of median household income after deducting housing costs). This compares to 12 million in 1996/07.

The number of children living in poor households fell over the same period from 4.3 million to 3.6 million and the number of pensioners in poor households fell by 500,000.

The thinktank suggests that "the Government may well reach its short-term target of reducing child poverty by a quarter at the end of this year."

But, the number of working-age adults without children living below the poverty line rose by 300,000 from 3.6 million in 1996/07 to 3.9 million in 2002/03.

Co-author of the report Guy Palmer, said: "There has been substantial success over the last decade in reducing child and pensioner poverty, and unemployment. There has been much less success in reducing the numbers of people who are economically inactive but want paid work, as well as long-term worklessness due to sickness and disability, and poverty among childless, working-age households. There is a large overlap between these groups and, clearly, they present a major challenge for future policy."

Commenting on the study, the Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman, Steve Webb, said: "Whilst it is right that the Government has prioritised vulnerable groups like the elderly and children, there is a big hole in the Government's anti-poverty strategy.

"The Government has no answer to the problem of poverty of working age adults and has made matters worse with derisory annual benefit increases."

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