expenditure patterns post-welfare reform in the uk are low.pdf

Expenditure Patterns Post-Welfare Reform in the UK: Are low-income families starting to catch up? Paul Gregg, Jane Waldfogel, and Elizabeth Washbrook Contents Introduction1 Background3 Promotion of paid work and ‘making work pay’ 5 Improved cash assistance for low-income families and other tax-benefit reforms7 Other investments in children 8 The impact of the reforms on caseloads and employment 9 The impact of the reforms on family incomes and poverty 9 Families’ material well-being10 Data12 Methodology14 Results17 Changes in total expenditures 17 Patterns of expenditure20 Changes in expenditures on children’s items25 Changes in possession of durable goods29 Conclusions33 References35 CASE/99 Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion May 2005 London School of Economics Houghton Street London WC2A 2AE CASE enquiries – tel: 020 7955 6679 i Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion The ESRC Research Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) was established in October 1997 with funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. It is located within the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD) at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and benefits from support fr