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Abstract This paper presents the results of a research project conducted in Northern Ireland, which focused on women and pensions. The paper suggests that, in the broader rethink of pensions policy in the UK, which is now clearly needed, central consideration should be given to constructing policies which more clearly relate to the needs and circumstances of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to develop a better understanding of the relationship between income and health using a cross-sectional survey of the general British population. It is divided into two parts. First, it examines a number of methodological inconsistencies in the existing literature and assesses their consequences for the inferences that can be drawn about the income-health association. These issues include: the measurement of income and its functional form; health selection; and the role of confounders. Second, it explores the relative strength of the income-health association in contrast to that of other socioeconomic measures. The relationship between income and health is complex. However, having taken into account a range of methodological problems, income is still significantly associated with health. The association appears to be non-linear and is attenuated but not removed by controlling for health selection effects. The inclusion of a wide range of confounders into models of income and health reduces the association between them, but does not make it insignificant. In comparison to other socioeconomic measures, income appears to be a better discriminator of health status than education or occupation. However, tenure and car ownership seem to be at least as good if not better than current income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living wage (LW) is a concept that goes beyond that of national minimum wage (NMW), since it implies income adequacy to the wage earners and to his/her family members. It is coherent with the principle related to wages of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) namely the right of workers to fair wages, and the duty to ensure adequate minimum wages providing the satisfaction of the worker needs and of his/her family, which originated a proposal of the European Commission for a Directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union. This article discusses the possibility of implementation of a LW policy in Portugal, a country with low average and median wages, a generous NMW relative to average and median wage, high earnings inequality and a polarised labour market. To be defensible, this policy should reach household income adequacy, be feasible regarding the labour and fiscal costs, and be socially acceptable regarding the change of earnings distribution. The discussion of this policy is made using EU‐SILC data and data from interviews with social partners involved in the national level social dialogue. We quantify and qualify some of the trade‐offs, simulating different values for core policy variables, centred on the worker as a wage earner, as a household member and as a citizen with social rights and fiscal duties, supported on an adequate normative estimation of a consensual Minimum Income Standard (MIS) for the Portuguese households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THIS paper reports the results of a random sample of 418 registered charities in England and Wales for 1975. The sample provides information on total income and assets and the distribution of charities by age, objects and size. The evidence suggests that the charity sector is considerably larger than had previously been thought, with a total income in 1975 of approximately £3,600 m. It is dominated by a relatively small number of large and active charities serving a limited number of objects. By far the most important of these (in terms of income) is the advancement of education, a broad group which includes independent schools and colleges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on rural household poverty in China, this article takes social capital as an entry point and uses the 2018 CFPS database to study the effects and mechanisms of social capital on absolute income, relative income, absolute poverty, and relative poverty of rural households. The results find that social capital can significantly increase the income of rural households and reduce the probability of poverty; also, the householder's education has a certain substitution effect on social capital, which can significantly weaken the income increasing effect of social capital; social capital has a more significant role in increasing the income of poor families and helps to narrow the income gap; social capital can promote income diversification, however, income diversification shows a negative impact on household income and poverty; poverty acceptance has a significant mediating effect in the process of social capital's influence on household poverty, and social capital can further promote household income increase and poverty reduction by suppressing poverty acceptance. In this regard, the government can strengthen rural infrastructure construction, inclination of educational resources and labour skills training, and promote positive rural culture, to increase the social capital of rural households, help them increase their income, achieve poverty alleviation, and prevent them from returning to poverty again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income and expenditure measures are commonly used to establish poverty lines representing, respectively, the availability of cash resources and the standard of living approaches to measuring the extent and composition of poverty. Using UK data we compare these two measures and show how they might be combined. Although overall poverty rates are similar whichever measure is used, the relativities they imply for different types of household differ considerably. There is little overlap between income and expenditure poverty and very few households are both income- and expenditure-poor. The concept of poverty as constraint on choice or constrained expenditure is then defined as the absence of spending on durable goods and luxury items. Using logistic regression, income thresholds associated with the observed levels of constrained expenditure are derived for different types of household. Assuming all income is spent, these thresholds define a poverty line below which expenditure is severely constrained. The extent to which social assistance rates limit or prevent household expenditure is also estimated. The method and the estimates illustrate the value of exploring the links between income and expenditure in the measurement of poverty, drawing attention to the limitations of the data, and identifying future research needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the question of how individuals with non‐standard work or family histories fare under different national pension systems in terms of their individual and household income in old age. It provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship of life course with later life individual and household income, and thereby goes beyond previous research that either focuses on one or the other. Life history data for 12 European countries of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) are used to examine old age individual and household income of individuals (a) with non‐standard working histories (e.g., non‐standard employment or unemployment), (b) with family instabilities (e.g., divorce or single parenthood). The results show that non‐employment and low‐status employment are old age income risks for both genders. Having children represents a burden for household income and for women's individual income only if associated with employment interruptions. Cross‐national variation is stronger for the relationship of old age income with the employment history than with the fertility history. Especially Beveridge‐plus countries that provide unconditional basic pension schemes mitigate previous life course inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the creation of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) in 1975, pensions policy in the UK was characterized by a consensus between the Labour and Conservative parties. By the mid 1980s, under the influence of New Right ideas, the Conservatives had broken with this consensus. Conservative pensions policy now centred on the ideological objectives of promoting individual property ownership and pension provision "independent" of the State. Such objectives were central to the creation of personal pensions under the 1986 Social Security Act. This article examines the political background to the emergence of this policy and seeks to evaluate how far the stated aims have been achieved. It does this by analysing the current controversy over methods of selling personal pensions and by looking at statistical evidence on the incomes of individuals who have taken out personal pensions. The argument concludes that personal pensions have been, predominantly, taken out by groups with low incomes, and the combination of low contributions and transaction costs threatens to lead to inadequate pension provision; such problems are likely to be particularly marked for women. In turn this conclusion, when set in the context of the tax regime applying to personal pensions, raises further doubts over the extent to which "independent "pension provision is likely to be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the use of published statistics in measuring family income in Great Britain. Because the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) collects information about household characteristics and income as well as their expenditure, it has been used, both inside and outside government for a much wider range of purposes. But it is only a handful of institutions who have the resources to carry out full-scale analyses of the FES and for the majority of users it is still the published volumes and analyses which count.

The article discusses the use of poverty incidence, average deprivation and relative deprivation on the measurement of household poverty in Great Britain. Poverty is measured by enumerating and identifying individuals, families or household with incomes below poverty line. Household poverty in the country is reported through the Family Expenditure Survey in 1975. Opinions on the relevance of the methods used to measure poverty are varied. Poverty indices can be viewed as a welfare function for the poor and can reflect an increase or decrease in poverty level.

This study examines whether the daughters' educational attainment mediates the intergenerational transmission of economic mobility between mothers and their young adult daughters. To create mother–daughter dyads, two data sets were combined: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79 for Children and Young Adults (NLSY79 CY). A total of 2,456 dyads were included for analysis. We used a mediation model to explore the relationship between mothers' income and their young adult daughters' income. Mothers' income was associated with their young adult daughters' educational attainment and income. The mediation model indicated partial mediation of the relationship between mothers' income and their young adult daughters' income via their young adult daughters' educational attainment. Addressing issues of income inequality among mothers may serve as a buffer against the low upward mobility across generations for their young adult daughters raised by low‐income mothers. It is imperative to provide programs and financial assistance for mothers to bolster their income and thereby their daughters' educational attainment and income in young adulthood and therefore improve economic mobility from mothers to daughters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dignity and social security have been closely associated since at least the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, but there is a lack of clarity around what dignity means in this context. This article explores how two key stakeholders—out‐of‐work benefit recipients and policymakers—understand dignity in the context of social security, drawing on qualitative research with each group. The evidence presented notes a relative absence of direct references to dignity among policymakers, although related issues are nonetheless discussed, whereas benefit recipients commonly articulate experiences of undignified treatment and the negative impact this has on their lives. This article's exploration of dignity is of particular relevance to Scotland, where recent framework legislation includes the principle that their security system should be underpinned by "respect for the dignity of individuals." The authors propose that a social security system that protects dignity must take account of distributional, relational, and intrinsic aspects of dignity—providing sufficient income, treating users with respect, and avoiding interventions or discourses that are disrespectful and dehumanizing. Further, the authors question whether it is possible for dignity to enjoy meaningful protection within highly disciplinary conditional welfare regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing interest in the application of Townsend's deprivation approach to provide estimates of poverty that more directly reflect the living standards of those on low income. The consensual approach is applied here using data from the second wave (conducted in 2015–2016) of the Trends and Implications of Social Disadvantages in Hong Kong survey. The article draws on a related study that identifies separate lists of items deemed "necessary for all" by a majority of adults (aged 18 years or older) and children (aged 10–17 years). Those unable to obtain at least three of these items are identified as deprived, and the profile of household deprivation is examined in terms of the family types most affected, age groups, and numbers of children. Further analysis focuses on the disparity between children identified as living in households identified as deprived according to information provided by adults and children whose deprivation status reflects their own views. Finally, the overlaps between deprivation and four measures of poverty—two objective and income based and two subjective and perception based—are examined and discussed. The results indicate that deprivation and poverty are different but that, however it is measured, more needs to be done to address poverty in Hong Kong, including further improvements in the coverage and adequacy of health service provision and social security benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this article we examine the role of child support in the economic well‐being of children in single‐parent families in Latin America. We use the Luxembourg Income Study wave IX and the 2012 Colombian Quality of Life Survey to answer three questions: (1) Are children in single‐parent families more likely to be poor than children in two‐parent families? (2) What is the relative importance of different income sources in the income packages of these families? and (3) Are child support transfers improving the economic well‐being of children in single‐parent families? Our results show that children in single‐parent families are disproportionally poor relative to two‐parent families in Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay. For other countries, poverty rates are similar (Guatemala and Peru), or higher in two‐parent families than single‐parent families (Mexico). Labor income is the most important income source for both types of families in all of these countries. However, child support represents between 20% and 39% of total income among families receiving this transfer. The largest antipoverty effectiveness of child support is also observed among these families. Child support brings between 30% and 55% of children receiving this transfer out of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article aims to contribute to theorizing and research about the processes and relationships connecting families and poverty. The aim is to undertake a thought exercise to identify possible relationships and interactions between family and poverty. In existing poverty research practice, a simplified view of both individuals and families is presupposed by, first, the reduction of family to household; and, second, treating the household as nothing more than a unit size and composition. Drawing from existing research on both poverty and families in everyday life, the article offers two core insights. First, it suggests that poverty scholarship needs to take specific account of the processes of resource and income transformation that are associated with family living. Second, these processes are not necessarily functional or confined to the material, but encompass normative and moral agency associated with family membership. Both act to mediate poverty‐related and other outcomes. The article also suggests some conceptual and methodological refinements to take these issues forward in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ontario Works is a provincial income assistance programme of last resort, operating under a workfare policy structure. Based on interviews with clients and staff (case managers, supervisors, managers and administrators), as well as an examination of policy directives, this article explores the work of workfare including claims making, training and resocialization, and employment internships. This article asks particularly how the work of workfare and the complex and costly workfare infrastructure is justified in the face of its failure to lead to employment. Findings include a contrast between the official story of an employment-focused programme and workers' reports of spending far more time on eligibility than employment readiness. In addition, applying Gramsci's notion of 'common sense', an argument is developed that the normative justification for workfare is based not on the effectiveness of workfare programmes, but on the belief that clients need to exchange their work for welfare and self-improvement so that they appear 'employment ready' even if not employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income maintenance during sickness absence is an under-researched field within social policy analysis, and yet it is conducive to exploring the interplay between statutory, corporate and private forms of income protection. Drawing on original qualitative interview data, the article shows that British middle-class couples largely ignore or dismiss public provision, which is due to a relatively low level of sickness benefits, but also based on misconceptions about social rights and the role of employers as mandatory (and voluntary) sick pay providers. Despite a considerable degree of mistrust, mortgage-related private sickness insurance mattered to some extent, although this does not necessarily reflect policyholders' strategic choices vis à vis current household needs for income security. Other potential sources of income replacement, such as savings, are relied on much less. In general, the analysis shows a heavy middle-class reliance on, and strong confidence in, employer-based sickness pay. This finding may be contrasted with questions about the sustainability of voluntary corporate provision, as well as its capacity to provide income security for the workforce as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been written that details the decline in living standards following the 'credit crunch' in the UK. It remains that we understand to a lesser degree the lived reality of poverty through the Great Recession and into the era of austerity. This article draws on testimonies of 62 participants from low income households conducted in three different areas of the UK during 2012-13 to document the pressures that this period brought to bear on these households. According to these testimonies, the experience of poverty intensified in key respects: first, participants reported feeling, more than ever before, that they were 'existing, rather than living' due to the meagre budgets they were forced to live on; second, the precarious nature of work and social security contributed to a sense of insecurity that was all pervasive in our participants' lives; third, due to the pejorative political rhetoric and media coverage of poverty, our participants felt that their lives were placed under increased scrutiny which deleteriously impacted their wider relationships and sense of belonging. Our analysis demonstrates the profound consequences for those living on low incomes of the continued shift to residual forms of state welfare and the increased reliance on the 'Big Society' as a means to deal with the pressures identified in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare states in many countries have, at least since the financial crisis, been under strong pressure from high levels of unemployment. We are expecting dramatic changes to labour markets. This article first presents the various arguments as to why there have or have not been substantial changes to labour markets, and whether there might be in the future, including arguments pro and con the possible impact thereof. The article thus provides a review of knowledge within the field, with a focus especially on how this can or might have an impact on welfare states, given the often strong connection between being on the labour market, access to a variety of welfare benefits and the ability to finance welfare states. It uses concepts such as under-employment and new forms of jobs as indicators of change. These changes implying, more than ever, that having a job does not necessarily entail that a person has a stable and solid income above the poverty level. Lastly, the article discusses whether some welfare states regime types are more prepared than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an assessment of the impact of changes to social security in Ireland during both the Celtic Tiger and crisis periods, comparing change in social security rates relative to prices and to median equivalized net income. It is argued that, contrary to some commentary, there was progress in terms of social welfare generosity during the Celtic Tiger years, despite Ireland adopting a low-tax economic model. However, in the latter years of the Celtic Tiger period, this progress was increasingly leveraged against precarious property-related taxes. Following the collapse of the housing bubble, the bank guarantee and the bailout, there has been substantial retrenchment of social security, both in terms of cuts to some of the primary social welfare payments, tightening of scheme rules as well as more direct cuts to less visible schemes. The article provides an assessment of these changes, ending on a cautionary note in arguing that the prospects for the future do not augur well given Ireland's continued commitment to a low-tax economic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare state studies are usually motivated by one or both of two concerns: programme effects on the incidence of poverty, and the possibility of perverse incentive effects. Most research has been comparative, using cross-national indicators from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and other international organizations. That research often contrasts the generosity of programmes in a number of European countries and the lack of it in the USA. Focusing on income transfers after job-loss, in this article we critically examine the comparative evidence on US welfare state generosity and then use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to estimate what happens to job-losers' incomes. The comparative analysis suggests conclusions more nuanced than found in much of the literature. The PSID analysis shows how the income effects of job-loss vary across job-losers and suggests that the role of unemployment compensation programmes in supporting incomes may be overstated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commissioning of social care for older people has seen major changes since the early 1990s. Considerable responsibility now rests with local authority staff, whose views of care home providers’ motivations, their perceived strengths and weaknesses as service providers, will have a bearing on commissioning decisions. We examine commissioners’ views of provider motivations in eight English local authorities and compare their perceived motivations with providers’ expressed motives. Data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews with commissioners and care home providers. Providers are generally perceived by commissioners as highly altruistic, but also relatively financially motivated individuals. Further analysis revealed significantly different views towards profit-maximizing, which commissioners perceive as very important, while providers consider it to be of little motivational value. Private sector providers are described by commissioners as significantly more motivated by personal income. Associations are found between commissioners’ perceptions of motivations and the nature of their relationships with providers. Perceptions of providers’ motivations appear important within the commissioning framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's record in reducing poverty over the last three decades has been impressive, yet few studies have examined the incidence of poverty among older people despite the rapid ageing of the population. This article uses a unique national data set to examine patterns of poverty, deprivation and exclusion among the urban aged population (60 years and over) in 2000. The results point to the importance of poverty as an issue for older people, particularly for women and those who live alone. A number of indicators of hardship are developed in four areas – economic insecurity, housing, health, and social isolation – and the incidence of these is examined, separately and in combination, by living arrangement and gender. Women are shown to experience greater levels of hardship and isolation than men, and to be more likely to experience multiple deprivation across two or more areas. Finally, the overlap between poverty and hardship is examined as a way of validating the poverty estimates and giving them greater credibility. The results indicate that there are strong overlaps, although these differ across the different dimensions of hardship. Access to pension income and concern over the cost of necessary visits to see a doctor emerge as strong predictors of poverty and point to areas where policy change is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decade of the 1990s witnessed an unprecedented erosion of the postwar welfare state, with massive restructuring of the labour market away from full-time, sustaining employment. This article examines the experiences of restructured Canadian full-time workers who lost a job because of a company shutdown, relocation, or non-seasonal business slowdown. Using data from Statistics Canada's Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics for the period 1993–2001, we present longitudinal data examining labour market outcomes at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months following the initial job loss. Outcome data allow us to examine the extent to which job displacement in the 1990s resulted in transitional dislocation followed by stable full-time employment, or whether new pathways to social exclusion and marginalization were created. Given that only half of workers who lost their full-time jobs during this period were in stable and full-time employment two years later, we find support for the latter. The article further identifies policy alternatives that could lessen the social costs of neo-liberal labour market restructuring in Canada and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Labour government has made it clear that it will not countenance major changes in the financing of long–term care for older people in England and Wales. One consequence is that people on modest retirement incomes will continue to have to pay for elements of their care in their own homes. The government also implicitly assumes that people of working age, on average and below–average earnings, are expected to save in order to pay for long–term care. However, evidence about individuals’ willingness and ability to save and to pay for long–term care is scanty. Accordingly, an interview survey of 100 people—today’s and tomorrow’s pensioners—was undertaken in June and July 2000. They were asked detailed questions about their financial circumstances, and about their ability to pay more towards their own health and social care costs, now and in the future. The results suggest that today’s pensioners on average and lower incomes are experiencing difficulties in paying for care services in their own homes. Tomorrow’s pensioners who are currently on average and lower incomes will struggle to pay for care services in their own homes. The results also support the view that people tend to overestimate their retirement incomes and do not understand how long–term care is financed. They think that the government can and should pay for long–term care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes some of the data collected via the 1999/2000 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey. The absence of any counterpart in Northern Ireland to the British Family Resources Survey has resulted in a dearth of basic information on the financial and allied circumstances of pensioners in this part of the United Kingdom. The authors review the data obtained on levels and sources of income, health and receipt of core disability benefits and the extent of non-take-up of the Minimum Income Guarantee. The authors locate the data within the broader debate about the new directions of pension policy in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a comprehensive study on the perceptions and views of older Irish people on the range of issues. It attempts to set out a context for discussing the views of older people as well as sketching out the essential demographic and social data. An effort is made to characterize the changing meanings of old age in Irish society. Economic and social circumstances are outlined and commented upon. Evidence from a variety of sources is presented on the views and perceptions of older people on the topics of income, housing, social contact, and care services.

The article discusses the poverty alleviation undertaking of the French government called "Revenue Minimum d'Insertion". The program proposes to provide victims of poverty a minimum monthly income. The program seeks to provide an allowance of 2,000 francs per month for a single individual, 3,000 francs for a couple, and 600 francs for each dependent child. The government emphasizes that the program is not a welfare benefit but a reciprocal contract by the claimant and the government which will consider not only the claimant's basic necessities but also his potential worth.

Charles Booth's studies of poverty are widely misrepresented in the literature of social policy. His work is commonly bracketed with Rowntree's, but his methods were quite different. His definition of poverty was explicitly relative; he based the description of poverty on class, rather than income. He did not attempt to define need, or to identify subsistence levels of income on the basis of minimum needs; his "poverty line" was used as an indicator of poverty, not a definition. His approach was to identify the sorts of conditions in which people were poor, and lo describe these conditions in a variety of ways. To this end, he used a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods in an attempt to add depth and weight to his descriptions of poverty. He is described by Beatrice Webb, with some justice, as "the boldest pioneer … in the methodology of the social sciences of the nineteenth century". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The housing benefit scheme has been the subject of considerable change and reform. This article looks at the system of income-related assistance with housing costs that existed prior to the introduction of housing benefit, and examines the reasons for the introduction of the scheme in 1982/83. It then goes on to examine why the Housing Benefit Review was set up less than one year after the "full start" to the scheme. Finally, the new housing benefit scheme provided by the Social Security Act 1986 is assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on retired workers, both from blue-collar and white-collar careers who have been receiving social welfare pensions and other benefits from a Soviet-type socialist government. It attempts to determine the degree of income differences between the average retired worker and the average economically active worker. The average old-pension in payment will be used to compare the average old-age pension of retired workers with the average wage of economically active workers because it represents the average of all old-age pensions paid in a particular year.

The article discusses the dual system of family income support in operation in the Republic of Ireland, particularly the tax allowances for dependent children and monthly cash payments called Children's Allowances. The system of Children's Allowances provides a weekly allowance for third and subsequent children, to all parents irrespective of income. Trends in the value of the tax allowances for dependent children and Children's Allowance payments are mentioned. A chart is presented that summarizes the features of the schemes and the consequent changes in the income support low income families.