This article focuses on information specific to United Kingdom. Please see our Social inclusion page for a topic overview.
Poverty in the United Kingdom refers to the portion of the population of the United Kingdom that 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). The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), reported that in 2021, about 1 in 5 ( 20%) of people in the UK lived in poverty. In their report, the JRF said that over the last 25 years, children have had the highest poverty rates. Despite this, poverty in children has still gone down significantly, going from about a third (34%) of all children living in poverty to what it is today (27%).
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.
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.
Resources[edit | edit source]
Networks[edit | edit source]
- The More in Common Network, greatgettogether.org, added 09:29, 2 December 2021 (UTC)
Events[edit | edit source]
- Jan 16 - 29, 2023 (Mon - Sun) Great Winter Get Together
- Feb 19, 2023 (Sun) Church Action on Poverty Sunday
Apps for sustainability[edit | edit source]
StreetLink, enables the public to alert local authorities in England about people sleeping rough in their area. W
Citizens data initiative[edit | edit source]
- UK Poverty Statistics, jrf.org.uk
- Briefing 17: Who owns all the land? Inequality Briefing
Funding community action[edit | edit source]
- 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 organizations bring people and communities together as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. Dec 9, 2020[1]
Maps[edit | edit source]
Research[edit | edit source]
- Hopeful Towns, a HOPE not hate Charitable Trust Project, added 15:37, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
- Minimum Income Standard for the UK, Loughborough University
- Poverty and Social Exclusion
Video[edit | edit source]
Other resources[edit | edit source]
- Loneliness resource pack, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
News and comment[edit | edit source]
see separate article: Social inclusion UK news
Campaigns[edit | edit source]
- Campaign to End Loneliness, tackling the health threat of loneliness in older age
See also[edit | edit source]
- Social inclusion
- Community and voluntary action UK
- Community involvement UK
- Environment quality UK
- Health and wellbeing UK
- Sustainable livelihood UK
local information can be found, or shared, via our many UK location pages
External links[edit | edit source]
- Lets Talk Loneliness, government site, added 17:11, 10 December 2020 (UTC)
- The Hygiene Bank, charity tackling hygiene poverty
- What does Relational Welfare mean? relationalwelfare.wordpress.com
- The Age of No Retirement
- United for All Ages
- Centre for Welfare Reform
- Community Network, charity and social enterprise combating social isolation and loneliness and their devastating effects on health and well-being
- The Equality Trust, campaigning organisation founded in 2009 by Bill Kerry, Richard G. Wilkinson and Kate Pickett after the publication of Wikinson and Pickett's book The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better. It is dedicated to reducing income inequality in the UK. W
- Groundswell
- Inclusion, promoting social inclusion in the labour market
- Inequality Briefing
- New Policy Institute, think tank