Welfare reform on the Web (January 2007): Welfare state - UK

After Cathy

D. Donnison

Community Care, Dec. 14th 2006 - Jan. 3rd 2007, p. 26-28

Forty years after the BBC drama Cathy Come Home alerted the country to the plight of the homeless, the article looks at progress in eradicating poverty and social exclusion. It concludes that UK society is more unequal in many ways in 2006 than it was 40 years ago, and leaders of the Left are less inclined to challenge injustices than they used to be.

Busy government sees its initiatives undercut by funding shortfalls

Anon.

Community Care, Dec. 14th 2006 - Jan. 3rd 2007, p.16-17

While the UK’s governments have been keen to reform public services, budget restrictions have caused progressive schemes to flounder.

Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in Scotland 2006

G. Palmer, T. MacInnes and P. Kenway

New Policy Institute, 2006

As well as low income, this report covers issues ranging from work and education to health and housing. As such, it includes both devolved and non-devolved responsibilities. The analysis is built around a set of 46 indicators organised into four chapters. It finds that over the past decade:

• Poverty has fallen among children and pensioners but not working-age adults
• Two-fifths of all children in poverty are in families already doing paid work
• Scotland continues to endure a substantial burden of ill-health
• Poverty among working-age adults without children is higher than a decade ago despite fewer people being in workless households.