Information Bulletin

Summary of Reports and Statistics from the Week ending 13 March 2015

JRF Activity
Publication - The costs of the cuts: the impact on local government and poorer communities.

Work and Worth

Universal Credit will make it more attractive for some people to work shorter hours, even if
the policy does improve overall financial incentives to work, concludes a review by the
Resolution Foundation. It calculates that several groups, including workers without children
and single parents, may be incentivised to work fewer rather than more hours. Credit Where
its Due? Assessing the benefits and Risks of Universal Credit
A new report from Gingerbread, based on a survey of over 1,700 single parents, finds almost
half of those surveyed have had to borrow money for childcare in the last two years. Even
with the extra help under universal credit, the report concludes that working extra hours
wont make sense for many single parents, due to a decade-old cap on the childcare costs
parents can claim back. A single parent in London moving from part-time to full-time work on
the minimum wage, with children aged one and four, would lose around 53 a week. Paying
the price: The childcare challenge report from Gingerbread.
ONS analysis of the effects of employment on income poverty found that in the UK, 8% of
people in employment (3 million people) were also in relative income poverty in 2013. An
increase in hourly pay in an existing or new job was the reason for 70% of those leaving inwork poverty, while an increase in average hours was associated with 38% of exits from inwork poverty.
Despite the relative resilience of the capital after the economic crash, income inequality has
increased and the poorest Londoners were worse off than their equivalents in the rest of the
UK in 2013, with weekly income below the national average, according to a new report from
CASE (LSE). Over the five year period, the poorest 10% of Londoners experienced a fall of
around 20% on average in net income after housing costs, while richest 10% saw a 10%
drop in income. The Changing Anatomy of Economic Inequality in London (2007-13). (part
funded by JRF)
The recent recession was deepened by a lack of consumer spending, as a result of high
levels of household debt, according to the latest Social Market Foundation assessment of
wealth in the economic downturn. The top 20% of people by income have seen their
financial wealth (including savings and investments) increase by 64% between 2005 and
2012-13, while the bottom 20% saw a 57% fall. Wealth in the Downturn: Winners and
Losers.
An Institute for Fiscal Studies report which evaluates the Social Mobility Foundation
programmes on education found little evidence that SMF participants are more likely to go to
university that other similar pupils, but found strong evidence that they are more likely to
attend high status universities. An Evaluation of the Impact of the Social Mobility Foundation
Programmes on Education Outcomes.
Following the squeeze on living standards, the pace of recovery to pre-crash levels varies by
age and geographical location, finds a new Resolution Foundation report. Incomes in
Northern Ireland, the West Midlands and the South East are still more than 3% below predownturn levels. Pensioner households saw their incomes rise by around 5% between 2007
and 2011, while working age households saw a fall of 6%. Time to Catch Up? Living
Standards in the Downturn and Recovery and animation.

The Northern Housing Consortium has published its latest report from the Real Life Reform
project which follows 100 households in social housing. Although 64.2% of households are
in debt, which is down from 74.3% in the last report, debt per household is 1,266 higher
than at the very start of the study in 2013 and half of these households are unable to
regularly meet their weekly debt repayments. Only 23.5% of households are employed, the
lowest level in the study so far, and fewer than one in five are in full-time work. 69% of parttime employed households are seeking extra hours.
A new report from the Governments business champion for older workers Dr Ros Altmann
A New Vision for Older Workers: Retain, Retrain, Recruit, estimates that extending working
lives would add 55bn a year to the UK economy. It recommends developing a crossgovernment strategy to address skills gaps, and providing more apprenticeships for older
workers. It also calls for action by the media to promote positive language and updated
images of older workers and a research and communication programme to help change the
attitudes of both employers and individuals.
Although the number of high quality apprenticeships for young people lasting at least 12
months has doubled during the current parliament, participation by 16 to 19 year-olds still
remains too low, according to the latest report form the House of Commons Education
Committee. It recommends stronger efforts to engage more employers in offering
apprenticeships and to challenge current attitudes that favour academic routes and block
access to information about apprenticeships.
The number of young people from ethnic minority backgrounds out of work for more than a
year has risen by 49% since 2010, according to new analysis from Labour.
The charity Crisis has published a map and accompanying report of hotspots around the
UK for benefit sanctions, and warns that homeless people may be disproportionately
affected. Benefit sanctions and homelessness: a scoping report.

Individuals and Relationships

The Financial Inclusion Commission has called for a senior government minister to be
named as the government lead on financial inclusion and financial health in its review of
evidence on financial inclusion. It also calls for the use of public sector and non-traditional
data for credit scoring to help financially excluded groups, the creation of an industry-funded
think tank on financial inclusion and a statutory duty on the Financial Conduct Authority to
promote financial inclusion. Financial Inclusion: Improving the financial health of the nation.
New analysis from Age UK concludes that the 34% fall in social care services spending for
older people in the last 10 years and the 27% drop in district nurses in the last 5 years
means the systems for keeping older people fit and well and living in their own homes have
significantly weakened.
The first set of demonstrator areas have been named which, from April, will pilot new ways
of delivering social care alongside the NHS as part of the Integrated Personal
Commissioning (IPC) programme. The programme will provide 10,000 people with complex
needs with greater power to decide how their combined health and social care budget is
spent.
A new report from the International Longevity Centre and Case Business School uses a new
method for forecasting life expectancy, which demonstrates how the life expectancy of men
and women will eventually converge. 'A jam-jar model of life expectancy and limits to life'.
A briefing from Citizens Advice Scotland estimates that 55% of Disability Living Allowance in
Scotland will lose some or all of their disability benefits by 2018 under the new PIP system.
The bureaux is witnessing many people who are still experiencing problems in claiming PIP,
including significant delays in receiving payments which is causing considerable distress and
hardship. Halt the Rollout of PIP in Scotland

The Place Where People Live

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committees latest report on adapting to
climate change identifies flooding as the single biggest adaptation risk in the UK, but says
the Governments National Adaptation Programme has not put enough proactive adaptation
policies in place. The Environment Agencys advice against building on floodplains, for
example, should include small developments which together can have a significant effect on
flood risk.
The intensification of UK cities into higher-density settlements is necessary to tackle the
housing crisis, argues a new report from the Future Spaces Foundation. This report applies
a high density model to two places facing housing shortages, Birmingham and Guildford.
Vital Cities not Garden Cities: the answer to the nations housing shortage?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has published a manifesto A Housing Market to be Proud
of. It calls on the government to develop a coherent housing strategy to link together the
disparate strands, to help young people into housing by increasing the supply of housing in
all tenures and for older people, and to promote better pathways between the mainstream
mortgage market, lifetime mortgages, and downsizing.
This Information Bulletin is produced on a weekly basis as an update for staff at the Joseph Rowntree
Foundation (JRF) and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT) for the purposes of their work it is
not intended to be comprehensive but represents a selection of news and reports appearing in the
last week. The items contained in this Bulletin are for information only and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the JRF and JRHT.