The Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE) research project's first report - ‘The Impoverishment of the UK’ - found that:
Almost 12 million people are too poor to engage in common social activities considered necessary by the majority of the population
Around 4 million children and adults are not properly fed by today’s standards
Around 2.5 million children live in homes that are damp
Around 1.5 million children live in households that cannot afford to heat their home
The PSE approach, now adopted by the UK government and by a growing number of rich and developing countries, identifies people falling below a publicly-determined minimum standard of living.
This method of measuring poverty was pioneered in 1983 and repeated in studies in 1990, 1999, 2002/03 and 2012 allowing trends over 30 years to be tracked.
Today 33 percent of the population suffers from multiple deprivation by the standards set by the public, up from 14 percent in 1983.
Housing and heating conditions, in particular, have deteriorated rapidly.
The number of households unable to heat the living areas of their homes is at a record high - now at nine percent compared to three percent in the 1990s and five percent in 1983.
The number of households unable to afford damp-free homes has also risen since 1983, from six percent to 10 percent.
"The results present a remarkably bleak portrait of life in the UK today and the shrinking opportunities faced by the bottom third of UK society. About one third of people in the UK suffer significant difficulties and about a quarter have an unacceptably low standard of living", said Professor David Gordon of the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research in Bristol, and head of the project.
He added: "Moreover this bleak situation will get worse as benefit levels fall in real term, real wages continue to decline and living standards are further squeezed."
Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: “This is a landmark study; the largest and most authoritative study on poverty and deprivation conducted in the UK. At nearly every turn it paints a grim picture of an enormous rise in child poverty and deprivation that is sending the living standards of huge numbers of children spiralling downwards.
“This is not only shocking and dangerous in public policy terms, but also a catastrophe for the childhoods and life chances of so many of our children.
“Those at the top had the boom, but it’s those at the bottom being made to suffer the bust. This bang-up-to-date survey shows the on-the-ground reality of austerity policies which are hitting the poorest hardest.
“The Beveridge vision was to build our way to a new and prosperous society after the war, and it succeeded. We need the same sense of purpose today, to build and invest in the jobs, housing and childcare that will stimulate the economy and meet the needs of all families.”
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