Robert Joyce

Today, the government published new household income statistics and announced a consultation on the measurement of child poverty. IFS researchers take the opportunity to reflect upon what child poverty is and how it should be measured, and to discuss current government thinking in this policy area.

Politicians often say they want to see income inequality or poverty fall. The current fiscal climate, and the government's aim to eliminate the budget deficit mostly through spending cuts, constrain the scope for additional large-scale fiscal redistribution in the near future. It is therefore natural to ask what role labour market changes might play in the years ahead. With this in mind, work co-authored by IFS researchers and published today considers the likely impact of changes in the mix of jobs over the rest of this decade on typical measures of income poverty and income inequality.

The presentation was given to the Child Poverty Unit on 3 April 2012.

This presentation was given at a conference on 29 March organised by Income Data Services about pay in the public sector.

This presentation was given at the IFS post-Budget briefing 2012.

This week, debate over the Government's Welfare Reform Bill has returned to the House of Commons. An element that has grabbed a lot of attention is the proposed benefit cap for working-age households (excluding those claiming Disability Living Allowance or Working Tax Credit), which will be set at £350 per week for childless single people and £500 per week for other households. This is now expected to affect about 67,000 households in Great Britain when implemented in 2013-14, reducing their benefit entitlement by an average of £83 per week and cutting the benefits bill by about £290 million in that year.

This presentation was given at the launch of the Green Budget 2012.

This presentation was given at the Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion on 25 January 2012.

This presentation was given at a briefing following the autumn statement 2011.