How can poverty be reduced in the UK?

A message from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation

JRF’s developing anti-poverty strategy for the UK will produce the first evidenced plan to reduce poverty for all age groups and all parts of the UK.

To contribute to our thinking we asked three UK think tanks to tell us how they would reduce poverty:

1. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) asked How can we tackle poverty in the long term?
2. The New Economic Foundation (NEF) asked How can we address the underlying causes of poverty?
3. The Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) asked Can we reduce poverty by cutting the cost of living?

Key findings include:

• IPPR argues poverty can be reduced by long-term measures such as supporting a dual earner household model, redesigning back-to-work support for disabled people, and providing access to low-cost credit and incentives to build up savings.
• NEF argues the root causes of poverty should be tackled through universal childcare, a decent wage structure, and taxation. The financial system should be managed so it does not increase inequality.
• IEA argues reforming policies affecting the markets for housing, energy, childcare, food and ‘sin’ taxes  (taxes for alcohol, tobacco, gambling etc) could reduce the cost of living. Bringing down costs would, in turn, reduce welfare spending and effective marginal tax rates, increasing work incentives.

Read more information about our work on Anti-poverty strategies for the UK, or to discuss this paper further please contact Katie Schmuecker: katie.schmuecker@jrf.org.uk