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In-work poverty: a systematic review

On 4 February 2009, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) published a report which presents the findings of a systematic review of the evidence base on working poor families with dependant children.

The report notes that government strategy is committed to halving child poverty in the UK by 2010 and eradicating it by 2020. It acknowledges that a range of policy initiatives have made measurable progress towards the attainment of these goals, with 600,000 children lifted out of poverty in the last 10 years.

However, the report also recognises that the number of poor children living in working households has remained static at 1.4 million, nearly half of all poor children.

As such, it sets out findings designed to inform policy in relation to the reduction of in-work poverty among families with dependent children as well as highlighting gaps in the evidence base which might be addressed by further research.

The report seeks to answer two questions:

• what is the nature and extent of the research that has been undertaken on the barriers to, and facilitators of, reducing in-work poverty in families with dependent children?
• what is the effectiveness of interventions with the potential to reduce in-work poverty in couple families with dependent children?

In-work poverty: a systematic review (PDF)