Transcript Presentation

The Risk Factors of Severe Child
Poverty in the UK
Monica Magadi
Department of Sociology
School of Social Sciences
City University, London
Why ‘severe’ child poverty?
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Despite recent decline in child poverty in
the UK, children from the poorest families
remain a legitimate concern
Vast array of research on child poverty in
the UK, but little is known about the
circumstances of children in severe
poverty
Aims
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Establish the extent of severe child
poverty in the UK
Examine characteristics of children
experiencing severe childhood poverty
and identify factors that place children at
most risk of being severely poor
Data and Methods
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Based on the 2004-05 Family Resources
Survey
A multi-dimensional measure
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Child deprivation
Parent deprivation
Household income
Adult Material Deprivation
Items
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A holiday away from home for at least one week a year
Friends or family around for a drink or meal at least once a month
Two pairs of all weather shoes for all adults in the benefit unit
Enough money to keep your home in a decent state of decoration
Household content insurance
Make regular savings of £10 a month or more for rainy days or
retirement
Replace any worn out furniture
Replace or repair electrical goods such as refrigerator or washing
machine when broken
Have a small amount of money to spend each week on yourself
(not on your family)
Have a hobby or leisure activity
Child Material Deprivation
Items
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A family holiday away from home for at least one week a year
Enough bedrooms for each child of 10 or over of a different sex to
have their own bedroom
Leisure equipment such as sports equipment or a bicycle
Celebrations on special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas or
other religious festivals
Go swimming at least once a month
Do a hobby or leisure activity
Have friends around for tea or snacks at least once a fortnight
Go to toddler group/nursery/playgroup at least once a week (for
children under six not attending primary or private school
Go on school trips (for those over six, or under six and attending
primary or private school)
Material Deprivation
Threshold
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Deprivation items in FRS represent a set of
questions which best discriminates between poor
and non-poor families
‘Enforced lack’ approach
Weighted approach based on principal components
analysis
Bottom quintile considered deprived
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Severe deprivation – deprived of both adult and child
necessities (11%)
Non-severe deprivation – deprived of either adult or child
necessities (16%)
Not deprived (73%)
Low Income Threshold
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Household income, equivalised based on the modified
OECD equivalence scale
Income based on ‘after housing cost’ measure
Income poverty measurement based on relative
poverty lines
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Severe income poverty (‘poorest poor’)– bottom half of
those classified as being in poverty based on conventional
60% of median threshold (12% of children)
Non-severe poverty – below 70% of median income (15%)
Not poor – above 70% of median income (73%)
Severe Child Poverty
Definition
Children are classified as being in ‘severe’ poverty
if they are in households with very low income (i.e.
‘poorest poor’) in combination with ‘severe’
material deprivation (i.e in the bottom quintile with
respect to both adult-related and child-related
necessities). Those in households below 70 per
cent of median income, in combination with either
severe or non-severe deprivation are classified as
being in non-severe poverty. The remaining are
classified as not being in poverty.
Poverty permutation and mean
income
Poverty permutation
Mean income for a onechild couple family (£)*
Per cent
of children
Not in poverty
-neither income poor nor deprived
-not income poor, some material deprivation
-income poor, no material deprivation
426
514
377
160
78.3
52.0
11.3
15.0
Non-severe poverty
-non-severe income poverty and deprivation
-income poverty and deprivation, one of
which is severe
193
211
179
17.7
7.6
10.1
Severe poverty
(severe income poverty and deprivation)
112
4.0
Base Population: All children (n=16012) in 2004-5 FRS
What do families of children in
severe poverty go without?
Item
A holiday away from home once a year (adults)
A holiday away from home once a year (children)
Make regular savings of at least £10 a month
Small amount of money to spend on self per week
Replace any worn out furniture
Replace or repair broken down electrical goods
Household content insurance
Keep home in a decent state of decoration
Friends/family around for a drink/meal once a month
Leisure equipment e.g for sports or a bicycle
A hobby or leisure activity
Go swimming at least once a month
Have friends for snacks at least once a fortnight
Enough bedrooms for each child aged 10+ of diff. sex
Base Population: All children (n=16012) in 2004-5 FRS
Not in
poverty
Nonsevere
poverty
Severe
poverty
25.8
19.4
29.2
21.5
18.8
10.5
7.0
9.9
8.8
2.8
10.5
4.3
3.0
10.9
82.6
74.8
83.4
75.6
76.2
63.8
56.2
50.1
42.8
22.2
47.0
31.1
22.9
35.7
95.7
91.7
89.2
88.5
86.3
77.8
76.0
68.4
67.5
61.7
58.6
56.8
56.1
52.0
76
Not in poverty
76
Non-severe poverty
5
80
21
5
16
75
79
Severe poverty
5
9
19
76
24
67
Lo
nd
on
20
4
17
id
la
nd
s
4
an
ds
79
3
20
id
l
83
3
18
W
es
tM
W
es
t
So
ut
h
we
st
84
3
15
W
al
es
84
83
3
13
Ea
st
M
2
14
Sc
ot
la
nd
2
15
Ea
st
No
er
n
rth
Yo
er
n
rk
Ire
s
an
la
nd
d
No
H
rth
um
-W
be
es
rs
t&
id
e
m
er
se
No
ys
rth
id
e
Ea
st
En
gl
an
d
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
So
ut
h
Per cent of children
Regional Variations of Severe
Child Poverty in the UK
Severe Child Poverty Status by
Economic Activity of Parents
Column per cent
Economic Activity of
Parents
Severe Child Poverty Status
All
children
Not in
poverty
Non-severe
poverty
Severe
poverty
One or more self employed
15
6
4
13
Full-time work (lone or both)
21
4
1
17
One FT, one PT (couple)
28
4
1
23
One FT, one no work (couple)
19
13
9
18
Only PT work (lone or both)
10
16
16
11
Workless parent(s)
8
57
69
19
Unweighted cases
12394
2979
639
16012
Base Population: All children in 2004-5 FRS.
Severe Child Poverty Status
by Benefit Receipt
Column per cent
Benefit /tax credit receipt of
family
Severe child poverty status
All
children
Not in
poverty
Nonsevere
poverty
Severe
poverty
Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
6
8
3
7
Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
1
5
7
2
Incapacity Benefit (IB)
3
7
7
4
Income Support (IS)
6
51
45
15
Working Tax Credit (WTC)
15
19
11
15
Child Tax Credit (CTC)
64
87
75
69
None of the above benefits/tax credits
34
8
21
29
12394
2979
639
16012
Unweighted cases
Base Population: All children in 2004-5 FRS.
Severe Child Poverty Status
by Family Type and Size
Column per cent
Family composition
Severe child poverty status
All
children
Not in
poverty
Non-severe
poverty
Severe
poverty
Family type
- lone parent
- couple parents
17
83
52
48
47
53
25
75
Family size
- one child
- two children
- three children
- four or more children
25
47
20
8
22
36
24
18
26
34
20
20
25
44
21
10
12394
2979
639
16012
Unweighted cases
Base Population: All children in 2004-5 FRS.
Severe Child Poverty Status
by Ethnicity
Column per cent
Ethnic background of
household head
Severe child poverty status
All
children
Not in
poverty
Non-severe
poverty
Severe
poverty
White
91
82
63
88
Mixed /Chinese /other
2
4
9
3
Asian and Asian British
5
10
20
6
Black and Black British
2
5
8
3
12394
2979
639
16012
Unweighted cases
Base Population: All children in 2004-5 FRS.
High Risk of Severe Poverty
Among Children:
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living in London, Wales and the Midlands ;
with workless parents;
whose parents have low educational qualifications;
living in rented accommodation;
whose parents have no savings/assets;
in large families of four or more children;
from ethnic minority groups, especially of Asian origin; and
in families with disabled adult(s).
Selected risk factors of severe and non-severe
child poverty, relative to not being in poverty
Factor
Non-severe
poverty
Severe
poverty
Economic activity of parents (workless)
- Self employed
- couple or single, part-time work (no FT)
- Couple or single, all in full-time work
0.34*
0.60*
0.15*
0.06*
0.01*
0.29*
Mother’s educational qualification (degree)
- No qualification
- non-degree qualification
3.45*
2.54*
6.27*
4.00*
Benefit receipt (no receipt)
- Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Incapacity Benefit
- Income Support
- Child Tax Credit
2.65*
1.36*
2.84*
1.29*
0.81
0.75
0.54*
0.80
Ethnic Group (White)
-Asian
-Black
-Mixed /other
2.39*
1.33
1.40*
6.08*
2.51*
2.82*
Interesting Patterns
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Non-receipt of benefits generally associated with
a higher risk of severe child poverty
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Benefit take-up possibly an issue for families
experiencing severe child poverty.
Lone parents associated with lower risk of
severe poverty but higher risk of non-severe
poverty than couple parents.