definition of the poverty line?

milkydrink

welshcakes wrote:

According to a Mirror newspaper article in October,

"The government calculates poverty as a family of four surviving on an income of £210 from which living costs need to be paid.

But the ECPC (End Child Poverty Campaign) says that figure misses by a mile and it calculates that any couple with two young children and an income of £295 - after housing costs are paid - falls into the poverty trap."

Is this per week or month?
While I'm not saying that £210 or £295 is loads of money per week to feed & clothe a family, it doesn't sound poverty stricken either.
But per month it really would be.

ManAtHome

$10,000 a year in New York http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/12/26/more_than_1_million_new_yorkers_ask_food_or_rent/ - a bit over £400 a month over here...

Chrysalis

Please if anyone knows any is there statistics for poverty amongst adults? I can only find stats for poverty for children.

Three_Dancing_Dragons

Chrysalis wrote:

Please if anyone knows any is there statistics for poverty amongst adults? I can only find stats for poverty for children.

Try the Joseph Rowntree Trust, they do research in this sort of area. I have an old study of theirs published as Life On A Low Income which was fascinating and went into the effect of working costs on top of low pay as well as surviving on straight benefits. Think it was the first time someone had pointed out that increase in indirect taxation means that those on lower incomes are paying more taxes (as a proportion of income, not absolute amount) than those on high incomes.

isasmurf

kimevans wrote:

Is this per week or month?
While I'm not saying that £210 or £295 is loads of money per week to feed & clothe a family, it doesn't sound poverty stricken either.
But per month it really would be.

It's £210 per week for a couple with no children.

Chrysalis wrote:

Please if anyone knows any is there statistics for poverty amongst adults? I can only find stats for poverty for children.

The official poverty statistics are produced in a publication called Households Below Average Income and can be found on the DWP's website. It contains chapters on working age adults, children and pensioners.

Chrysalis

Three_Dancing_Dragons wrote:

Try the Joseph Rowntree Trust, they do research in this sort of area. I have an old study of theirs published as Life On A Low Income which was fascinating and went into the effect of working costs on top of low pay as well as surviving on straight benefits. Think it was the first time someone had pointed out that increase in indirect taxation means that those on lower incomes are paying more taxes (as a proportion of income, not absolute amount) than those on high incomes.

yep I remember reading that but forgot the name, but it seems government statistics centre around society compliance of been a couple and having children.

Chrysalis

isasmurf wrote:

It's £210 per week for a couple with no children.

The official poverty statistics are produced in a publication called Households Below Average Income and can be found on the DWP's website. It contains chapters on working age adults, children and pensioners.

thanks but still cant seem to find what I want tho.

sandralovescats

The Government dictate is that we are required to have £81.75 per week to live on. That is the figure used by the DSS to work out IB and IS