Joseph Rowntree Foundation report: UK Poverty 2017

Poverty rates for children and pensioners are on the increase – a reversal of 20 years of reduced poverty in the UK.

This is according to UK Poverty 2017 (pdf), a December 2017 report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).

It identifies that 14 million people live in poverty in the UK – over one in five of the population.

The analysis highlights that the three factors which have led to a fall in poverty and are now under question; state support for people with low incomes is falling in real terms, rents are increasing, and rising employment is no longer reducing poverty. As a result, JRF is calling for a national mission to transform the prospects of millions of people living in poverty in the UK.

JRF chief executive, Campbell Robb, said:

‘These worrying figures suggest that we are at a turning point in our fight against poverty. Political choices, wage stagnation and economic uncertainty mean that hundreds of thousands more people are now struggling to make ends meet.’

Read a summary or the full report (pdf).

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