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1. Section B: Social issues in the uk. Study Theme 2: Wealth and Health in the UK. Assessment. Periodically homework tasks will require you to complete research, write reports or complete essays.
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1. Section B: Social issues in the uk Study Theme 2: Wealth and Health in the UK
Assessment • Periodically homework tasks will require you to complete research, write reports or complete essays. • At the end of each unit you must complete a NAB, there are 4 NABs to complete. These are all essays except the first one which is a report. You have 35 minutes to complete an essay NAB and an hour to complete the report. • In the final exam Paper 1 requires you to write 4 essays and you have 22.5 minutes per essay. You have 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete the paper. • Paper 2 is the Decision Making Exercise. You need to complete 4 short answer questions (SAQs) then complete the report. You have 1 hr 15 to complete the paper, and should be aiming to complete the SAQs in 15 minutes.
Types of Poverty Absolute Not getting basic human needs met, like food and shelter. Relative Is a comparison between individuals in society and what is considered ‘normal’. Eg. Having a TV
Measurement of Poverty Absolute poverty fell in the 90s, but up recently, relative poverty fell near continuously but by fewer points Couple households and those without children remain the least likely to be in poverty
Child Poverty • 3.5 million children living in poverty in UK • 66% of these children live in a family where at least one parent works • By 16, children receiving free school meals achieve 1.7 grades lower at GCSE than their wealthier peers. • Professionals live, on average, eight years longer than unskilled workers • Child poverty reduced dramatically between 1998-2012 when 1.1 million children were lifted out of poverty. Partly because of measures that increased the levels of lone parents working, as well as real and often significant increases in the level of benefits paid to families with children. • Under current government policies, child poverty is projected to rise from 2012 with an expected 600,000 more children living in poverty by 2016.
"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" • UK income drop The government's Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics define child poverty as children living in homes taking in less than 60% of the median UK income. • The median - the middle figure in a set of numbers - for 2010-2011 was £419 a week, down from £432 the year before. • As a result, the level of household income which defines "in poverty" fell from £259, in 2009-2010, to £251 a week, the following year. • The BBC's Mark Easton said that explained why 300,000 fewer children were classed as living in poverty.
At least one out of every six children in the UK lives in relative poverty, according to data released by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Annual Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2013 • For the first time, there are more people in working families living below the poverty line (6.7 million)* • Almost 13 million people are living in poverty in the UK. • The report found that job insecurity is common for millions of people, with one in six of the workforce claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) at some point in the last two years. • There have also been big shifts in terms of which groups are experiencing poverty. The largest group in poverty are working age adults without dependent children - 4.7 million people are in this situation, the highest on record. Pensioner poverty is at its lowest level for 30 years.
“Hard work is not working” Julia Unwin, Chief Executive of JRF, said: “This research shows millions of people are moving in and out of work but rarely out of poverty. Hard work is not working. We have a labour market that lacks pay and protection, with jobs offering precious little security and paltry wages that are insufficient to make ends meet.
Poorer members of society are under more pressure than at any time since the birth of the welfare state Peter Kenway, Director at NPI and an author of the report, said: “Poorer members of society are under more pressure than at any time since the birth of the welfare state. The value of the safety net for working age adults is now sinking steadily. The support on offer to people who fall on hard times is increasingly threadbare, with benefit levels on a downward spiral. A strong safety net to catch those who fall is vital for social mobility – millions are saved by it every year even now – yet no leading politician will defend it.”
Hills Report • The richest 10% of the population are more than 100 times as wealthy as the poorest 10% of society. • The paper indicates that considerable responsibility lies with the Tories, who presided over the dramatic divisions of the 1980s and early 1990s. • When the highest-paid workers, such as bankers and chief executives, are put into the equation, the division in wealth is even more stark, with individuals in the top 1% of the population each possessing total household wealth of £2.6m or more. • It concludes that the government has failed to plug the gulf that existed between the poorest and richest in society in the 1980s. "Over the most recent decade, earnings inequality has narrowed a little and income inequality has stabilised on some measures, but the large inequality growth of the 1980s has not been reversed," it states.
Life long impact of being born poor A central theme of the report is the profound, lifelong negative impact that being born poor, and into a disadvantaged social class, has on a child. These inequalities accumulate over the life cycle, the report concludes. Social class has a big impact on children's school readiness at the age of three, but continues to drag children back through school and beyond.
Field Review 2010: How can we stop poor children becoming poor adults? • It is family background, parental education, good parenting and the opportunities for learning and development in those crucial years that together matter more to children than money, in determining whether their potential is realised in adult life. • By the age of three, a baby’s brain is 80% formed and his or her experiences before then shape the way the brain has grown and developed. • That is not to say, of course, it is all over by then, but ability profiles at that age are highly predictive of profiles at school entry. By school age, there are very wide variations in children’s abilities and the evidence is clear that children from poorer backgrounds do than those from more affluent homes. • Schools do not effectively close that gap; children who arrive in the bottom range of ability tend to stay there. Link to Field Review
Wealth inequalities Today, the five richest families in the UK are wealthier than the bottom 20 per cent of the entire population. That’s just five households with more money than 12.6 million people – almost the same as the number of people living below the poverty line in the UK.
Give a piece of evidence that proves there is wealth inequality in the UK.
Poverty in Scotland • 870,000 people in Scotland still live in poverty (17% of the population). • 200,000 children in Scotland still live in poverty (20% of all children). • Despite an improving position relative to other European countries poverty in Scotland, and across the UK, is significantly higher that in many countries. • The scale and intensity of poverty also varies with place. Glasgow still has a disproportionate share of Scotland’s poverty. However, large numbers of people in poverty live in areas with lower overall concentrations of poverty. More people are income deprived in Edinburgh than in any other local authority area except Glasgow and North Lanarkshire. • A local child poverty map published by End Child Poverty found almost every Scottish local authority contains wards where more than 1 in 5 children live in poverty.
Reflect Make summary notes: • Key child poverty figures • Key UK poverty figures • Key Scotland poverty figures
