The current cost of living is pushing more people into poverty, with almost 68% of low income...
Poverty measurement
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08/12/2017
The centrality of poverty
Poverty as measured by material deprivation through lack of economic resources remains absolutely central to understanding the causation of most aspects of social exclusion and a range of social outcomes, concludes the 2nd of the two-volume PSE-UK study.
Category: Articles -
13/11/2017
The extent of poverty
Read more about the first of the two-volume study based on the PSE-UK survey. Find out how poverty affects people from different groups within the UK: young and old; men and women; different ethnic backgrounds; those with disabilities; and others.
Category: Articles -
30/08/2017
Interviews with fieldworkers: 2
The interviews for the 'Poverty in the UK' 1968/69 survey were undertaken by fieldworkers spread across the UK. A number of these fieldworkers have been tracked down and interviewed about their recollections of working on the survey. These video interviews throw light onto how these fieldworkers were recruited and trained, how they conducted the interviews on the ground and the problems they encountered and the impact this experience had on them at the time. Below you will find interviews with Ian McCannah, Annie Neligan and Una Widdett.
Ian McCannahIan McCannah was studying at the LSE and was recruited to conduct interviews as a summer job and covered Bristol, Yeovil and Oswestry. His video interview is in three parts:
Category: Townsend document -
06/04/2017
Official UK & EU measures
In this section you will find details of the official measures used to monitor child poverty in the UK under the Child Poverty Act, adopted by the Labour Government in 2010. Following the formation of the Coalition government (2010 to 2015) and then the election of the Conservative government (2015-), there were moves to replace these measures with other broader ones. These proposal were widely criticised by an overwhelming majority of poverty experts - see, for example, the PSE: UK team’s response to these proposals in Tackling Child Poverty and Improving Life Chances and Social Mobility and Child Poverty Review).
Category: -
31/03/2017
PSE reduced and responsive scales
This paper identifies a subset of necessities from the full set used in the PSE deprivation index which accurately identifies individuals seen as deprived by the full set - at least down to the level of the most deprived 15%.
Category: PSE Report -
30/03/2017
Producing the PSE poverty line
The PSE poverty threshold is a measure that combines multiple deprivation and low income. A 'Note' on poverty measures and 'Steps' to producing a poverty threshold - set out how this is done and outlines the tests made to ensure a reliable and discriminatory index.
Category: PSE Report -
23/01/2017
Interviews with fieldworkers: 1
The interviews for the 'Poverty in the UK' 1968/69 survey were undertaken by fieldworkers spread across the UK. A number of these fieldworkers have been tracked down and interviewed about their recollections of working on the survey. These video interviews throw light onto how these fieldworkers were recruited and trained, how they conducted the interviews on the ground and the problems they encountered and the impact this experience had on them at the time. Below you will find interviews with Angela Avens, Andrea Cordani and Morag Macdonal and Deidre Forsyth.
Angela AvensAngela Avens was one of the main interviewers and covered the South West of England. Her video interview is in three parts:
Category: Townsend document -
06/12/2016
Research officers: interviews
There were four research officers who formed, along with Peter Townsend and Brian Abel-Smith, the core of the initial research team: Hilary Land (at the LSE), Denis Marsden, John Veit-Wilson and Adrian Sinfield (at the University of Essex). These research officers conducted the pilot studies and were involved in the planning of the main survey. Below you will find interviews with Hilary Land, John Veit-Wilson and Adrian Sinfield. Dennis Marsden died in 2009 after a long academic career, in the course of which he undertook a number of major and pioneering qualitative studies on education and the working-class, lone mothers, unemployment, and on couples and intimacy.
Category: Townsend document -
14/11/2016
Other colleagues: interviews
Below you will find interviews with David Piachaud and Frank Field who, though not involved in the Townsend study, were closely involved in poverty research or campaigns at that time.
Professor David PiachaudDavid Piachaud worked on child poverty at the Department of Health and Social Security at the time of the study. After the publication of Townsend's book in 1979, Piachaud raised a number of criticism of the method which influenced subsequent surveys, notably the Breadline Britain survey of 1983 and, in turn, the Poverty and Social Exclusion surveys. He is now Professor of Social Policy at the LSE. His interview is in three parts:
Category: Townsend document -
11/10/2016
Research assistants: interviews
Peter Townsend employed a number of research assistants during the analysis phase of the Poverty in the UK research project.
Below you can listen to interviews with:
John Bond, then at the Univerrsity of Essex and now Professor of Social Gerontology and Health Services Research, Newcastle University. Alan Walker, who was also at the University of Essex and is now Professor of Social Policy and Social Gerontology, University of Sheffield. Professor John BondIn 1971, John Bond was employed on a one-year contract to analyse the data on health and health resources from the Poverty in the UK survey. The computer programming was done using punch cards. His interview is in three parts:
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