Information Bulletin

Summary of News and Publications from the Week ending 19 April 2013

JRF Activity
Rising child poverty rates would displease Margaret Thatcher. Blog from Chris Goulden. Benefits cap: a lack of jobs undermines the benefits of welfare reforms a Blog from Helen Barnard. The Minimum Wage is not enough we must aspire to pay a living wage. Blog from Shaun Rafferty.

Poverty
Unemployment in the UK increased to 2.56 million in the December-February quarter, pushing the unemployment rate up to 7.9% from 7.8% in the previous quarter. The youth unemployment rate rose to 21.1%, up 0.6% on the quarter before, with the number of unemployed 16-24 years olds reaching 979,000. London and the North East of England are the hardest hit by youth unemployment, with unemployment rates of 25.5% and 24.8%. According to new analysis from Institute for Public Policy Research, the South West is the least affected with a rate of 15.3%. Locally led employment schemes can be up to seven times more effective than the Work Programme, according to a new report from the London Councils. Getting London Working recommends a ten point plan to give more employment powers to councils. Wales newly appointed anti-poverty champions, two from all 22 councils, will meet for the first time this week, at an event with the newly appointed Communities and Tackling Poverty Minister Huw Lewis. A YouGov survey found 57% of respondents felt they had personally been affected by the economic downturn. Looking ahead, 64% of respondents agreed that the younger generation will find it harder than ours to enjoy a reasonable standard of living. Public attitudes to people who are out of work, receiving benefits and in poverty have been surveyed across several European countries by YouGov-Cambridge. In Britain, 36% of people say the government is too harsh on people receiving benefits, while 38% believe the government is not being tough enough. This compares with a 25% and 50% in Germany. The benefits cap began rolling out in four London boroughs this week. It will be rolled out to the rest of England, Scotland and Wales from July to September. The adult National Minimum Wage has been set to rise to 6.31 from 1 October, up 12p. The rate for 18-20 year olds will rise to 5.03 (+5p), 16-17 year olds to 3.72 (+4p) and the apprentice rate to 2.68 (+3p). The Early Intervention Foundation has been launched, with cross-party support. The Foundation has been designated as the what works lead body for early intervention and

aims to increase life chances by supporting measures to tackle the root causes of social problems among children from birth to 18 years old. The new Evidence Panel and wider Evidence Forum will be launched in May.

Place
Leeds City Region has agreed the largest Green Deal scheme in the country, covering 11 councils and 12,000 homes. The scheme hopes to use economies of scale to improve energy efficiency, reduce bills and tackle fuel poverty. Analysis of Department for Communities and Local Government figures from 2012 by the charity Crisis, show that homelessness in London is rising three times faster than the rest of England as a whole. RIBA has raised concerns that a ministerial Housing Standards Review, which will include building regulations, minimum space rules for new social housing and energy efficiency, could lead to another generation of poor-quality homes. A new Policy Briefing from Shelter urges the Government to improve standards on space in new build homes as part of the Housing Standards Review. Evidence from Shelter shows that local people are more likely to support housing developments that are built to better design standards. Little Boxes, fewer homes. Shelter Setting housing space standards will get more homes built. The first 45 Build to Rent fund projects have been announced, which are intended to produce 10,000 homes for private rent. The number of mortgages granted to first time buyers increased by 17% in February, compared to the same month in 2012. 43% of all house buyers in February were first time buyers, according to Council of Mortgage Lenders. A consultation has been launched by the Department for Communities and Local Government, which contains proposals to lift the community infrastructure levy on self-build houses.

An Ageing Society
The Older Peoples Commissioner for Wales has launched a new four-year Framework for Action. It calls for a greater emphasis on quality of life and embedding the wellbeing of older people into public services. The Framework outlines five priorities and what evidence will be used to measure their success. Workers over 50 are more likely to be made redundant than workers aged 24-50, according to analysis of the latest labour market figures by Age UK. It also shows than once unemployed, workers over 50 find it harder to find another job, with just 23% moving back into work by the next quarter, compared to 35% of unemployed 35-49 year olds and 40% of 24-34 year olds. The DWP has forecast that employers will need to fill 13.5 million job vacancies over the next 10 years but only 7 million young people will leave school and college during that time. By 2020, a third of all workers will be over the age of 50 and the Pensions Minister is encouraging businesses to recruit and retain older workers to develop a multi-generational workforce.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has launched its strategy for the next three years. Changes will include appointing Chief Inspectors of hospitals and social care and developing new fundamental standards of care. Councils may be overwhelmed by the number of people with care needs, once the once the social care cost cap is introduced in around three years time. Blog from the Strategic Society Centre. The OFT is warning consumers about the practices used by some quick sale companies which offer to buy peoples houses at short notice. Consumers in vulnerable positions, such as older people wishing to move into residential care, could lose large sums of money through practices such as false valuations and large last minute drops in the payment being offered.

People and Organisations

The Care and Support Alliance, a coalition of 70 different organisations representing older and disabled people's concerns of the social care system, has elected Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of disability charity Scope as its new chair.

Other
Social Inclusion is a new peer-reviewed open access journal, launched this week. This Information Bulletin is produced on a weekly basis as an update for staff at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT) for the purposes of their work it is not intended to be comprehensive but represents a selection of news and reports appearing in the last week. The items contained in this Bulletin are for information only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the JRF and JRHT.