mattpadley.bsky.social

Delighted to give evidence to Work and Pensions Committee on pensioner poverty. Report says "retirement should be dignified and not a struggle at the poverty line." @jrf-uk.bsky.social and @crsp-uk.bsky.social's Minimum Income Standard measures this. What do the stats show? It's not good news (1/4).

New government data on the impact of the two child limit: 469,780 households now affected, with 1,665,540 children in those households

Almost 40,000 more children affected since last year

It's a child poverty machine & it will cost us all more in the long term - get rid of it

Welfare bill will now lift 50,000 out of poverty after U-turns, assessment finds Revised bill passed after UK government rowed back on cuts will mean fewer rather than more people in relative poverty in 2030

This is nonsense. The impact assessment starts from an imaginary baseline incorporating reforms planned but never implemented by the previous government

In the real world, the cuts that remain in the Bill will push around 50,000 disabled people into poverty www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

The share of employees in low pay (defined as people with hourly pay below 2/3 median) has fallen to an all time low of 3 per cent thanks to increases in the minimum wage.

That awkward thing where you write an annual report called 'Low Pay Britain' but 'low pay' has been all but eliminated (on the standard hourly pay < 2/3 median measure).

(Our 2025 Low Pay Britain report is out on Thursday, launch event here www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/new-d... )

Really sad news. Such an important organisation and funder. And as importantly, such a lovely team to work with. Gutted for everyone affected by this.

May 2025: median wage of a UK worker, £30,252; net £25,293.

In 2024 (2025?) a single person needed to earn £28,000 for minimum acceptable standard of living; £69,400 for a couple with two children.

Low incomes, unchecked profiteering blights life.

50 families have more wealth than 34m Britons.

Government whip Vicky Foxcroft quits over disability benefit cuts The Labour MP says she could not vote for the welfare bill published by the government earlier this week.

UK Govt whip quits over disability benefit cuts.

Why pursue this cruel cut? Govt backtracked on Winter Fuel Payment.

Rebellion will grow, people will be alienated.

Govt finds money for wars, corporate welfare/bailouts; tax concessions to non-doms and private equity. But not for poor, disabled.

Our new research on what’s needed to live with dignity in the UK capital is out today. The big shift is from social to private rented housing for households with children. I’ve blogged about that here: trustforlondon.org.uk/news/minimum...

Really good to be at the University of Economics, Varna as part of summer school focused on building knowledge and collaboration around reference budgets in Europe.

48 and a half years on this planet without having a watched The Sound of Music. What a fool I have been. What a film!

Together with @liverpooluni.bsky.social, @goodthingsfdn.bsky.social and Nuffield Foundation, we've developed a single Minimum Digital Living Standard (MDLS) -a benchmark on what households need to be digitally included.

Find out what the MDLS for UK households is in 2025 here tinyurl.com/3aw2d2mv

Really pleased to be invited to speak at the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisors Summit in Stockport today - discussing the value of advice and the costs of non-uptake of benefits @nawra.bsky.social

Lower energy costs make retirement less expensive A one-person household needs £13,400 a year for a basic standards of living in retirement, a report suggests.

New research by Prof @mattpadley.bsky.social (for the PLSA) shows the cost of a minimum retirement living standard for a one-person household has decreased by £1,000-a-year to £13,400.

A two-person household now needs an annual income of £21,600, down from £22,400 a year.

More: 👇

bit.ly/3FnQyo1

At least one in four children in poverty in two-thirds of UK areas - see list Overall, 42% of constituencies in the UK have a child poverty rate higher than the national average of 31%, according to new analysis by Loughborough University

New research by @drjulietstone.bsky.social for the End Child Poverty Coalition shows that two thirds of MPs represent constituencies where at least one in four children are in poverty.

Reported here in the @mirror.co.uk 👇

bit.ly/3SsDW1P

Revealed: The increasing cost of sending a child to school in the UK The cost of sending children to school in the UK has ‘significantly increased’ since 2022, a report has found

It costs £1,000-a-year to send your child to state primary school and £2,300 for secondary school - new research from Prof @mattpadley.bsky.social.

Read more: 👇

bit.ly/4iT5Jmy

not long now, so excited

New @lsepoliticsblog.bsky.social blog on local welfare as part of our @safety-nets.bsky.social research. In workstream 3 we're exploring discretionary & local welfare & asking questions about spatial inequalities & poverty reduction.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

The latest Household Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics show that poverty continues to affect millions of children in the UK, with 4.5 million affected by poverty during 2023-2024, an increase of 100,00 on the year before. These figures should shame us all, and must be examined alongside the UK Government’s proposals to take £4.8 billion in social security support from some of the most vulnerable, and indeed poorest, among us. The Government’s own Impact Assessment suggests that 50,000 more children will be pulled into relative poverty as a direct result of these changes. But another way is possible. For the past five years, almost 200 parents and carers living on a low-income from all four nations of the UK have been working alongside researchers at the University of York and Child Poverty Action Group to document everyday life in poverty and to push for change. The project started life as Covid Realities in the pandemic and became Changing Realities in a cost-of-living crisis that has never gone away. In our work together, we have contributed real-time evidence to policymakers, challenged harmful media narratives, and developed co-produced recommendations for change.

🧵We learned today that a record 4.5 million children faced poverty this year, but we also learned that policy change can make a difference.

changingrealities.org/writings/cut...

New analysis with @cpaguk.bsky.social for @nuffieldfoundation.org

NEW record child poverty revealed today.

But it'll get worse:

4.8m kids will be in poverty by the end of this parliament unless govt takes urgent action including scrapping the two-child limit in its forthcoming child poverty strategy and stepping back from benefit cuts.

The impact assessment on the #SpringStatement has confirmed that 50,000 more children will be pushed into poverty as a result of these measures & 250,000 working age adults as a result of the social security changes.

How can making people poorer & sicker help people into work & grow the economy?

Text from OBR document: Labour supply impact of Spring Statement welfare and employment support measures: We have not made a comprehensive assessment of the labour supply impacts of those elements of the Green Paper that we have incorporated into the fiscal forecast. The individual measures’ labour market impacts are complex to assess and would have interacting effects. The Government did not provide us with a comprehensive and robust analysis of these potential effects, and we were not, in the very limited time available, able to develop our own analysis of their net impact on labour supply. In addition, some of the wider Green Paper reforms set out above, which are not included in the fiscal forecast, could also have labour market implications. We will make a full assessment of the Green Paper policies’ effects ahead of our next forecast

The OBR has not yet been able to forecast any employment gain from the cuts/changes to incapacity & disability benefits

MPs are being asked to support around £6.5bn of cuts & increased conditionality for ill & disabled people without any clear assessment of what it will achieve

Quote from Tom Pollard, head of social policy: Today’s assessment confirms that ill and disabled people will see cuts to benefits amounting to around £6.5bn a year by 2029-30. Yet the Department for Work and Pensions and the Office for Budget Responsibility between them have not yet been able to forecast any impact on employment outcomes. The government’s narrative to justify benefit cuts for ill and disabled people has completely fallen apart – it is clearer than ever that the real driver has been pressure to meet an arbitrary savings target.

This government's attempt to justify cutting benefits has completely fallen apart. They're slashing support for ill and disabled people to meet their arbitrary fiscal rules.

@pollardtom.bsky.social reacts to the cuts announced in the spring statement

UK austerity

Page 111 of the OBR assessment

"The rise in pensioner spending is dampened by the increase in the state pension age from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028 ... reduces spending on pensioner benefits by £10.4 billion".

Many won't be able to work.

One of the worst state pensions in OECD

Prem Sikka: A boost in the minimum wage is welcome, but more must be done to improve people’s material conditions 'Despite the increase, the minimum wage will still be comparatively low, and millions will live below the minimum acceptable standard of living.'

New UK minimum wage for an over-21 full-time worker will be £22,222 a year before tax and NIC.

A single person needs to earn £28,000 a year for minimum acceptable std of living. A couple with 2 children needs £69,400.

Millions in poverty. Save for pension, buy home?

Poverty institutionalized.

The £88,000 household income you need to afford two children Despite more free childcare, the cost of having a young family has risen more than a quarter in real terms since 2019, report Jack Simpson and Anna Dowell

Parents are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a minimum, socially acceptable standard of living. @crsp-uk.bsky.social research highlited in the Times today tinyurl.com/582zezsy

UK govt targeting the poor/disabled.

Page 14: "For new claims the rate of the UC health element will be reduced by £47pw (from £97pw in 2024/25 to £50pw in 2026/27)".

Then the govt will hand £7 back through various increases i.e. cut 40pw, £2500 a yr.

Not acceptable.

Redistribute. Tax the rich.

Quote from Tom Pollrd, head of social policy: The cuts to benefits announced today have clearly been designed to meet a savings target imposed by the Chancellor’s arbitrary and self-imposed fiscal rules, rather than ensuring ill and disabled people get the support they need. Cutting the income of those who need support will not address the underlying factors leading to more people becoming unwell and disabled, it will only make them worse.

Cuts to benefits announced today have clearly been motivated by a desire to make short-term savings to meet arbitrary fiscal rules. They're not going to help ill and disabled people, they're only going to create more problems.

@pollardtom.bsky.social reacts to Liz Kendall's speech

Looking ahead to the disability benefits green paper, this essay for @citizensadvice.bsky.social makes the case for a system focused on improving health outcomes.

Co-authors @maddyirose.bsky.social, @victoria-anns.bsky.social & Simon Collerton

We challenge the 5 big falsehoods underpinning cuts…🧵

Contrary to the myth that seems to be flying around at the moment, claiming disability benefits is not an easy process that anyone who's "a bit stressed" can do.

@pollardtom.bsky.social sets the record straight on Times Radio