Social inclusion UK

This article focuses on information specific to the United Kingdom. Please see our Social inclusion page for a topic overview.


The United Kingdom is a developed country with comparatively large income differences. As such, those at the lower end of the income distribution have a relatively low standard of living. New data released by Department for Work and Pensions show that the number of people living in the UK in relative poverty has risen over the past two years. W


Resources

Apps for sustainability

StreetLink, enables the public to alert local authorities in England about people sleeping rough in their area. W

Citizens data initiative

A significant portion of the population of the United Kingdom are considered to be in poverty under some measures of poverty.

Data based on incomes published in 2016 by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that, after housing costs have been taken into consideration, the number of people living in the UK in relative poverty to be 13.44m (21% of the population). In 2015, a report by Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that 21.6% of Britons were in relative poverty. The report showed that there had been a fall in poverty in the first few years of the 21st century, but the rate of poverty remained broadly flat in the decade after 2004/5.

Full Fact found that the British poverty rate is "almost exactly the same level as the EU average (17%)", much lower than the DWP figures due to differences in calculation methods between countries.

The Poverty and Social Exclusion project at Bristol University, in 2014, said that the proportion of households lacking three items or activities deemed necessary for life in the UK at that time (as defined by a survey of the wider population) has increased from 14% in 1983 to 33% in 2012.

In 2018, Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights said that British Government policies and cuts to social support "are entrenching high levels of poverty and inflicting unnecessary misery", "driven by a political desire to undertake social re-engineering rather than economic necessity". His report was rejected by the British Government, pointing to rising household incomes, declining income inequality and one million people fewer in absolute poverty since 2010.

— From Wikipedia:Poverty in the United Kingdom

Funding community action

  • Community groups tackling loneliness to benefit from £4m fund. Local Connections Fund will be open to charities and interest groups that reduce social isolation. Book clubs, walking groups and other community projects will be able to apply for a £4 million fund designed to help reduce loneliness in the coming months.

The Local Connections Fund – made up of £2 million from the Government and £2 million from The National Lottery Community Fund – will be used for hundreds of small grants worth between £300 and £2,500.

These investments are designed to help local organisations bring people and communities together as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. Dec 9, 2020 [1]

Maps

Map - Living Wage Foundation

Other resources

Research

Video

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News and comment

2021

  • What British politicians won't admit – we need to transform the welfare state, John Harris, Feb 21 [2]

2019

Welfare changes drive rising poverty and food bank use, study finds, Nov 5 [3]

The New Art of Making Friends and Finding Community, Feb 25 [4]

Need to sign on? You'll have to walk 24 miles to the jobcentre, Jan 7 [5] ...Cambridgeshire

Resolve to make 2019 a year of action, Jan 2 [6]

2018

The government needs to do more to keep homes warm by @BroadPeter, Dec 6 [7]

The Common Room — designing a future for all ages, Oct 2 [8]

A friendly approach to tackling the loneliness crisis, Sep 14 [9]

Vinay Gupta: We can create a better society by making a floor that people can't fall beneath, Jun 11 [10]

2017

11 Million People In The UK Are Not "Just About Managing" At All, New Research Shows, Nov 16 [11]

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♥ UK's first report on Universal Basic Services published, Oct 11 [12]

Utopian thinking: Free housing should be a universal right, Poppy Noor, Apr 10 [13]

I was vulnerable and wanted a home. What I got was a workhouse, Daniel Lavelle, Mar 28 [14]

2016

My faith in humanity has been renewed, George Monbiot, Dec 12 [15]

Study finds 7m Britons in poverty despite being from working families, Dec 7 [16]

Fat Macy's: How one man escaped the Catch-22 of the benefits system, Dec 1 [17]

Benefits sanctions don't work and plunge claimants into 'hunger and depression', National Audit Office finds, Nov 30 [18]

UK should follow Finland, the only European country where homelessness has decreased, Sep 15 [19]

Impact of poverty costs the UK £78bn a year, Aug 1 [20]

Number of UK children living in poverty jumps by 200,000 in a year, Jun 28 [21]

Why we need to build social capital in cities, Julia Unwin at the Human Cities Institute, Apr 13 [22]

2015

The cause of the Runnymede eco-villagers is a righteous one, September 22 [23]

Campaigns

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See also

References

  1. ↑ gov.uk, press release
  2. ↑ theguardian.com
  3. ↑ The Guardian
  4. ↑ YES! Magazine
  5. ↑ The Guardian
  6. ↑ jrf.org.uk
  7. ↑ We are Citizens Advice
  8. ↑ @agenoretirement
  9. ↑ Good News Shared
  10. ↑ @nesta_uk
  11. ↑ buzzfeed.com
  12. ↑ ucl.ac.uk
  13. ↑ The Guardian
  14. ↑ The Guardian
  15. ↑ thephone.coop
  16. ↑ The Guardian
  17. ↑ newstatesman.com
  18. ↑ independent.co.uk
  19. ↑ independent.co.uk
  20. ↑ The Guardian
  21. ↑ The Guardian
  22. ↑ jrf.org.uk
  23. ↑ openDemocracy
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