Information Bulletin

Summary of Reports and Statistics from the Week ending 6 March 2015

JRF Activity
Publication Redistribution of Social and Societal Risk
Publication - Could a 'citizen's income' work?
Blog from Chris Goulden - The debate on citizens income needs to go wider
Publication - JRFs 2015 Budget Representation to HM Treasury
Blog from Helen Barnard - Reducing tuition fees sounds progressive but is it a bad use of
3 billion?

Work and Worth

Bridging the Social Divide, the latest report from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty
Commission, has identified variations in social mobility opportunities across England. Certain
areas, such as the East of England and the coastal towns on the south east, which have low
overall unemployment but also higher concentrations of low educational attainment levels
and low paid/ low skilled jobs. It recommends five areas for action, including realigning
government policy to target the working poor and a call for each party to outline how they
would restart the twin engines of social mobility education and housing.
Although lower than its 2009-10 peak, average household incomes are back to around prerecession 2007-08 levels, but not for working age people, according to a new IFS report.
Income this year is forecast to be 7.6% lower for 22-30 year olds than pre-recession and
2.5% lower for 31-59 year olds. The recovery in income has been much slower than in the
three previous recessions, which is attributed to weak earnings growth, tax increases,
benefit cuts and higher inflation faced by low income households. Living standards: recent
trends and future challenges.
The new Policy Exchange report No Worker Left Behind recommends that everyone in fulltime work should receive a Living Income by aligning the thresholds for Income Tax and
National Insurance with the Minimum Wage, and making targeted increases in Universal
Credit. It also advocates that every individual should be given an online lifelong learning
account as a hub for financial support such loans, vouchers, matching funds and
scholarships. Also, every person in Britain should have instant, unlimited and free access to
accredited online courses. No Worker Left Behind: How to improve pay and work for the low
paid.
In Scotland, couples with dependent children will lose an average of more than 1,400 a
year, and lone parents an average of 1,800 a year as a result of welfare reform, according
to an impact report from the Scottish Parliament Welfare Reform Committee. For people with
a disability, reductions in incapacity benefits could average 2,000 a year, on top of any
losses in Disability Living Allowance and other benefits.
The Two Futures Report: The Lost or Found Generation? outlines the YMCAs proposals to
tackle youth unemployment. It calls for greater workplace engagement between schools and
local businesses, removal of the 16-hour rule for young people in full-time skills study

programmes and a review of how Ofsted grades training providers who run programmes for
hard-to-reach groups with lower attainment levels.
A new report from a coalition of UK churches finds that benefit sanctions are often not
proportionate to the issue that has occurred and estimates that 100,000 children were
affected by benefit sanctions in 2013/14. The report calls for a full review of not only the
impact, but the efficacy of sanctions. Time to Rethink Benefit Sanctions.
Apprenticeships are still regarded as a second-best option for school leavers in the UK,
concludes the final report of the Commission on Apprenticeships. The report recommends
creating better incentives for schools to promote apprenticeships, measures to reassure
employers about the value and security of their investment in an apprentice and measures to
drive up the quality of off-the-job training.
The Policy Exchange has launched a manifesto for education. Proposals include City
Regions and the government working together to create incentives to attract teachers such
as discounted housing and childcare; and a new publicly funded retraining scheme for adults
to become qualified in strategically important sectors such as aerospace and advanced
manufacturing.
Achieving 5 A* to C GCSE grades including maths and English can add 80,000 to a
persons earnings over their lifetime, rising to 140,000 if they also achieve at least 2 A
levels, according to research done for the Department for Education.
A new report analyses who has been referred to the West Cheshire foodbank (Trussell Trust
network) and why, during seven months of 2014. 47% of people were referred due to benefit
delays, changes or sanctions, 20% because of low, insecure income, and 11% due to debt
relating to housing costs, bills and loans. In the seven months, 1171 referrals were made
which represents 3026 people. 65% of referrals were for single adults, 14% single parents
and 12% two parent households.

Individuals and Relationships

The report As If We Cared, the result of a year-long study from Resolution Foundation,
identifies and costs a possible roadmap towards a living wage over the course of the next
parliament for the social care workforce. It calculates that paying the living wage would have
increased the gross total cost of care services (public and private) by 2.3 billion in 2013-14,
although the net public cost could fall to 726 million, taking into account higher tax receipts
and lower benefit payments. As If We Cared: The costs and benefits of a living wage for
social care workers.
Only one in seven councils in the UK is paying a fair price for home care for the elderly,
according to a survey by UK Homecare Association. This is the minimum price (15.74 an
hour) which the UKHCA believes can cover the costs of running the service, travel costs and
the minimum wage. On average, councils in the UK are paying 13.66 per hour.
The interim report of the Extra Costs Commission finds that 69% of disabled people are
struggling with or falling behind with bills and credit commitments. It recommends that
disability organisations should investigate setting up price comparison sites and community
platforms for customers to review disability related goods and services. They should also
form partnerships with key retailers to offer discount schemes for disabled people, and work
closely with consumer organisations to strengthen the voice of the disabled consumer.
Driving down the extra costs disabled people face Interim report'

The Place Where People Live

DECC has published its new fuel poverty strategy for England following last years
consultation. The strategy includes already announced measures such as not allowing
private landlords to rent out energy inefficient properties from April 2018, the extension of the
ECO scheme to 2017 and a fund for centrally heating off gas-grid homes. A new 3 million
fund will support a series of pilot schemes on priority areas. 1 million will be used to scale
up local warmth-on-prescription projects in conjunction with healthcare professionals and a
further 2 million for innovative pilot schemes such as community energy approaches.
Cutting the cost of keeping warm: A new fuel poverty strategy for England.
IPPR North has published a report on transport for the North, with a blueprint for maximising
the regions economic, social and environmental performance. Among the recommendations
are transferring greater powers to the Transport for the North partnership in a phased
approach, which would see a capital budget for transport allocated to them for at least five
years by central government by 2020. 'Transport for the north a blueprint for devolving and
integrating transport powers in England'.
2.3 times more jobs were created in the South than in the North, Wales and Midlands over
the past 100 years, according to the Centre for Cities latest report. Their analysis suggests
that a citys innovation and the proximity of knowledge-intensive jobs was a more accurate
determinant of a citys success than the decline of traditional industries. A Century of Cities:
urban economic change since 1911.
The lack of disabled-friendly homes could be costing 450 million a year, in terms of costs to
the NHS and to local council care services in dealing with the problems caused by
inaccessible homes, says a new report from Leonard Cheshire Disability. The real cost
of the lack of disabled-friendly homes.
Since 1969, house prices for first time buyers have increased by 48 times, compared to
incomes which have only grown 29 times, according to analysis in a new report from Shelter.
This Information Bulletin is produced on a weekly basis as an update for staff at the Joseph Rowntree
Foundation (JRF) and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT) for the purposes of their work it is
not intended to be comprehensive but represents a selection of news and reports appearing in the
last week. The items contained in this Bulletin are for information only and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the JRF and JRHT.