Policy Hub
Poverty drops below levels of the 1990s, but no improvement on better basic qualifications
A report by the New Policy Institute, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2003) published on 9 December 2003, shows that income poverty in Britain is on a steady downward trend and has fallen back to levels last seen at the end of the 1980's. However, there are significant differences in disadvantage between Scotland, Wales and the English regions, as well as evidence that improvements in school attainment and the number of young people gaining basic qualifications have stalled.
The figures compare with a peak of 13.4 million people in low-income households in the mid-1990s.
The report can be viewed on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation website