Poverty measurement

  • 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.

    Subjects: Area deprivation, Child care, Child poverty, Deprivation, Ethnicity, Gender, Government policy, In-work poverty, Income poverty, Inequality, Intra-household poverty, Living standards, Lone parents, Older people, Poverty measurement, Social exclusion, Youth unemployment
    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 McCannah

    Ian 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:

    Subjects: Poverty measurement
    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).

    Subjects: Deprivation, Europe, Government policy, Income poverty, Living standards, Low-income households, Necessities, Poverty measurement, Unemployment
    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%.

    Subjects: Child poverty, Deprivation, Living standards, Necessities, Poverty measurement, Scotland, Working papers
    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.

    Subjects: Child poverty, Deprivation, Income poverty, Intra-household poverty, Living standards, Necessities, Poverty measurement, Working papers
    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 Avens

    Angela Avens was one of the main interviewers and covered the South West of England. Her video interview is in three parts:

    Subjects: Area deprivation, Poverty measurement
    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.

    Subjects: Families, Gender, Inequality, Lone parents, Low-income households, Poverty measurement
    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 Piachaud

    David 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:

    Subjects: Poverty measurement, Social exclusion
    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 Bond

    In 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:

    Subjects: Poverty measurement
    Category:
  • 19/08/2016

    The video interviews: an overview

    Seventeen people who were either involved in the 1968/69 'Poverty in the UK' survey itself or in closely related work have been interviewed for the Townsend archive. These included five members of the original research team, eight fieldworkers, and five academics colleagues, government advisors or campaigners. These interviews are currently being uploaded to the website and will be accessible through the left hand menu.

    Many of those involved in the 1968/69 research project went on to influential academic careers in social policy and other related areas. Many also became closely involved in various campaigns to tackle, for examples, child poverty, low pay, gender equality, and disability. In these interviews, they look back over this period and reflect on the impact, or otherwise, of poverty research on the policy and on lessons learnt.

    Subjects: Income poverty, Inequality, Poverty measurement
    Category: Townsend document

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