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A time of need: Exploring the changing poverty risk facing larger families in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Ruth Patrick
  • Aaron Reeves
  • Kitty Stewart

Abstract

Child poverty in the UK has seen rapid change over the last two decades, broadly falling from the late 1990s until 2012/13 and rising since then. As a result, child poverty rates converged with rates of poverty for working-age non-parents before diverging again. This paper examines these changes through the lens of family size, asking how horizontal inequalities have changed over this period between larger families - those with three or more children - and smaller families with one or two. Focusing on data from before the pandemic, we look at trends in poverty rates for the two groups and explore alternative explanatory factors - including changes in the composition of larger families, differential employment rates, and differences in the impact of social security support.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruth Patrick & Aaron Reeves & Kitty Stewart, 2021. "A time of need: Exploring the changing poverty risk facing larger families in the UK," CASE Papers /224, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:sticas:/224
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    File URL: https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/casepaper224.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kerris Cooper & John Hills, 2021. "The Conservative Governments’ Record on Social Security: Policies, Spending and Outcomes, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020," CASE - Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Papers 10, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
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    3. Cooper, Kerris & Stewart, Kitty, 2020. "Does household income affect children’s outcomes? A systematic review of the evidence," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107029, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    7. Kitty Stewart, 2013. "Labour's Record on the Under Fives: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997 - 2010," CASE - Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 04, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
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    9. De Agostini, Paola & Sutherland, Holly & Hills, John, 2015. "Were we really all in it together? The distributional effects of the 2010-2015 UK Coalition government’s tax-benefit policy changes: an end-of-term update," EUROMOD Working Papers EM13/15, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
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    Cited by:

    1. Reader, Mary & Portes, Jonathan & Patrick, Ruth, 2022. "Does Cutting Child Benefits Reduce Fertility in Larger Families? Evidence from the UK’s Two-Child Limit," IZA Discussion Papers 15203, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    child poverty; family size; social security; benefits;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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