Our first priority on taking office was dealing with the situation we inherited of pensioners already living in poverty. Since 1997 1 million pensioners have been lifted out of relative poverty thanks to measures like pension credit.
The White Paper “Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system” announced our commitment to secure these gains into the future by uprating both the basic state pension and the standard minimum guarantee in pension credit in line with earnings over the long-term.
Pension credit ensures that no pensioner need live on less than £114.05 a week (£174.05 for couples). The Department has a public service agreement performance target to: by 2008, be paying pension credit to at least 3.2 million pensioner households, while maintaining a focus on the most disadvantaged by ensuring that at least 2.2 million of these households are in receipt of the guarantee credit.
In the report “A Sure Start to Later Life: Ending Inequalities for Older People”, published in January 2006, the Department committed to look at wider definitions and indicators of pensioner poverty in the wake of recently commissioned research, and to consider with the Treasury how and whether these should feed into PSA targets as part of the 2007 comprehensive spending review.
We have set a public service agreement target to halve the number of children in relative low-income households between 1998-99 and 2010-11 on the way to eradicating child poverty by 2020. This latter is defined as:
Halve the number of children in relative low income (below 60 per cent. of median income before housing costs); and
Halve the number of children suffering a combination of material deprivation and relative low income (below 70 per cent. median income before housing costs)
We have also announced that we aim to make further progress so that there are fewer than 1 million children in absolute low income.
There are no explicit departmental targets regarding poverty among working age adults without children based on the 60 per cent. of median earnings definition. However we have set ourselves the ambitious target of achieving a 70 per cent. employment rate for lone parents by 2010. This is part of our overall aim of achieving 80 per cent. employment across the country. Hitting these targets will contribute towards reducing working age poverty.
Specific information regarding low income for Great Britain is available in “Households Below Average Income 1994-95 to 2004-05”, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. The threshold of below 60 per cent. contemporary median income is the most commonly used in reporting trends in low income.
The data source does not allow us to provide robust numbers for estimates below a regional level. Therefore estimates for Coventry are not available. Instead, information on the numbers of pensioners and children in households with low incomes, in Great Britain in 1996-97 and 2004-05 and the Government Office for west midlands region in 1995-96 to 1997-98 and 2002-03 to 2004-05, are presented in tables 1 and 2. Estimates are shown both before and after housing costs.
Great Britain West midlands After housing costs 1996-97 2.78 — 2004-05 1.77 — Change in number in low income -1.01 — After housing costs 1995-96 to 1997-98 — 0.25 2002-03 to 2004-05 — 0.21 Change in number in low income — -0.04 Notes: 1. Numbers, for the west midlands region, are presented using a three-year moving average, as single-year estimates do not provide a robust guide to year-on-year changes. Hence, figures are not consistent with any previously published single-year estimates and there may be differences in changes over time. In circumstances such as a change in trend, moving averages will show less variation than single-year estimates. 2. The Great Britain figure is for a single year. 3. The table shows number of pensioners in millions, rounded to nearest 10,000. 4. In this answer low income is determined for pensioners as living in households with incomes below 60 per cent. of the GB median. 5. Figures may not sum, due to rounding. Source: Family Resources Survey
Great Britain West midlands Before housing costs 1996-97 3.17 — 2004-05 2.44 — Change in number in low income -0.72 — After housing costs 1996-97 4.23 — 2004-05 3.42 — Change in number in low income -0.81 — Before housing costs 1995-96 to 1997-98 — 0.33 2002-03 to 2004-05 — 0.28 Change in number in low income — -0.04 After housing costs 1995-96 to 1997-98 — 0.40 2002-03 to 2004-05 — 0.36 Change in number in low income — -0.05 Notes: 1. Numbers, for the west midlands region, are presented using a three-year moving average, as single-year estimates do not provide a robust guide to year-on-year changes. Hence, figures are not consistent with any previously published single-year estimates and there may be differences in changes over time. In circumstances such as a change in trend, moving averages will show less variation than single-year estimates. 2. The Great Britain figure is for a single year. 3. The table shows number of children in millions, rounded to the nearest 10,000. 4. In this answer low income is determined for pensioners as living in households with incomes below 60 per cent. of the GB median. 5. Figures may not sum, due to rounding. Source: Family Resources Survey