Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T10:11:51.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From Being to Becoming: The Importance of Tackling Youth Poverty in Transitions To Adulthood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2008

Alan France
Alan France*
Affiliation:
Centre for Research in Social Policy, Loughborough University E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The central emphasis of New Labour's anti-poverty strategy has been on tackling child poverty. While such an approach is both important and valuable youth poverty has been given limited attention. Low and unstable incomes are a major cause of poverty amongst young people and risks are greatly increased as they try to live independently and move out of the family home. In the discussion that follows, I argue that New Labour's continued commitment to the social exclusion agenda has marginalised both the problem of youth poverty and the necessary solutions. Social exclusion policy is more concerned with responsiblising families and young people and disciplining them to work regardless of its value. Little attention is given to addressing the problems of youth incomes or providing adequate housing support for those most vulnerable to poverty.

Type
Themed Section on The Poverty of Policy? Gaps in Anti-Poverty Policy for Children and Young People
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , October 2008 , pp. 495 - 505
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aassve, A., Iacovou, M. and Mencarini, L. (2006), ‘Youth poverty and transitions to adulthood in Europe’, Demographic Research, 15, 2, 21–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berthoud, R., and Robson, K., (2003), ‘Early motherhood and disadvantage’, ISER Working Paper.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, J. (ed.) (1993), Budget Standards for the United Kingdom: Studies in Cash and Care, Aldershot: Avebury.Google Scholar
British Youth Council (2006), The Submission to the Low Pay Commission on the impact of the Minimum Wage for young people, London: British Council.Google Scholar
Bynner, J., Elias, P., McKnight, A., Pan, H. and Pierre, G. (2002), Young People's Changing Routes to Independence, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Byrne, D. (2005), Social Exclusion (Issues in Society), 2nd edn, Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Cooke, J. and Owen, J. (2007), ‘“A place of our own?” Teenage mothers’ views on housing needs and support models’, Children and Society, 21, 56–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department for Communities and Local Government (2007a), ‘Tackling youth homelessness’, Policy Briefing 18, Department for Communities and Local Government, Wetherby.Google Scholar
Department for Communities and Local Government (2007b), ‘Homelessness statistics September 2007and rough sleeping 10 years on from the target’, Policy Briefing 20, Communities and Local Government, Wetherby.Google Scholar
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2004), Supporting Young People to Achieve: Towards a New Deal for Skills, London: DfES.Google Scholar
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2006), Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care, London: DfES.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2007a), Households Below Average Incomes Publications 2000–01 to 2005–06, Leeds: DWP.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2007b), In Work, Better Off: Next Steps to Full Employment, London: Department for Work and Pensions.Google Scholar
Eurostat (2002), Income, Poverty and Social Exclusion: Second Report, Luxembourg: European Social Statistics.Google Scholar
Evans, M. and Scarborough, J. (2006), Can Current Policy End Child Poverty in Britain by 2020? York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Fahmy, E. (2006), ‘Youth Poverty and Social Exclusion’, in Pantzis, C., Gordon, D. and Levitas, R. (eds), Poverty and Social Exclusion in Britain, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, S. and Jones, A. (2005), ‘Pursuing social justice or social cohesion? Coercion in street homelessness policies in England’, Journal of Social Policy, 34, 3, 389–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
France, A. (2007), Understanding Youth in Late Modernity, Open University Press.Google Scholar
Furlong, A. and Cartmel, F. (2007), Young People and Social Change: New Perspectives, 2nd edn, Maidenhead: McGraw Hill/Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hirsch, D. (2007), Experiences of Poverty and Educational Disadvantage, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
HM Treasury (1998), Comprehensive Spending Review: Cross Departmental Review of Provision for Young Children, Supporting Papers vols 1 and 2, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
HMSO (2002), Homelessness Act 2002, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
HMSO (2004), Housing Act 2004, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
HMSO (2006), The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, 2006, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Homeless Act (2002), ‘Shelter's response to the homelessness code of guidance – shelter's campaign’, http://www.homelessnessact.org.uk/Shelter/homelessnessact-100-f0.cfm (accessed 17 September 2007).Google Scholar
Homelessness Directorate (2002), ‘More than a roof: a report into tackling homelessness’, Department for communities and local government, http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/156600Google Scholar
Iacovou, M. and Aassve, A. (2007), Youth Poverty in Europe, Findings, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Jones, G. (2002), The Youth Divide: Diverging Paths to Adulthood, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Kangas, O. and Palme, J. (2000), ‘Does social policy matter? Poverty cycles in the OECD countries’, International Journal of Health Services, 30, 335–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kemp, P. (2006), ‘Young people and unemployment: from welfare to workfare’, in Barry, M. (ed.), Youth Policy and Social Exclusion, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Low Pay Commission (2007), The National Minimum Wage, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
MacDonald, R. (1997), Youth, the Underclass and Social Exclusion, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
MacDonald, R. and Marsh, J. (2005), Disconnected Youth?: Growing Up in Britain's Poor Neighbourhoods, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mizen, P. (2004), The Changing State of Youth, London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Moore, K. (2005), Thinking about Youth Poverty through the Lenses of Chronic Poverty, Life-Course Poverty and Intergenerational Poverty, Manchester: Chronic Poverty Research Centre.Google Scholar
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) (2002), Good Practice in Supported Housing for Young Mothers, London: ODPM.Google Scholar
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) (2004), The Impact of Government Policy on Social Exclusion among Young People, London: ODPM.Google Scholar
Platt, L. (2007), Poverty and Ethnicity in the UK, 1st edn, The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Shaw, M. and Giullari, S. (2005), ‘Supporting or controlling? New Labour's housing strategy for teenage parents’, Critical Social Policy, 25, 3, 402–17.Google Scholar
Smeeding, T. and Ross-Phillips, K. (2002), ‘Cross-national differences in employment and economic sufficiency’, Annals of American Association of Political and Social Science, 580, 103–33.Google Scholar
Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) (1998), Rough Sleeping, Report by the SEU CM 4008, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) (1999), Teenage Pregnancy, Report by SEU CM 4342, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) (2000), Minority Issues in Social Exclusion and Neighbourhood Renewal: A Guide to the Work of the Social Exclusion Unit and Policy Action Teams So Far, London: Cabinet Office.Google Scholar
Stein, M. (2005), ‘Young people leaving care: poverty across the life course’, in Preston, G. (ed.), At Greatest Risk: The Children Most Likely to be Poor, London: Child Poverty Action Group.Google Scholar
Teenage Pregnancy Unit (2003), Implementation of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy: A Progress Report, London: Teenage Pregnancy Unit.Google Scholar
United Nations (1995), Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, World Summit for Social Development, 6 March, New York, New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
Veit-Wilson, J. (1998), Setting Adequacy Standards: How Governments Define Minimum Incomes, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
White, R. and Wyn, J. (2004), ‘Youth research in Australia and New Zealand’, Young: Nordic Journal of Youth Research, 12, 3, 271–89.Google Scholar
YWCA (2007), No Frills: Young Women and Poverty, Oxford: YWCA.Google Scholar