ABSTRACT
Reducing poverty among both children and adults has figured large in the statements of the present Labour government in the United Kingdom. Alastair Darling, Secretary of State for Social Security, announced in early 1999: ‘We’re moving the fight against poverty back to the centre stage of British Politics, right across government we are tackling poor job prospects, poor housing, poor education and poor health’ (Darling 1999b, emphasis added). The decision to place the attack on ‘poor job prospects’ at the start of this list was unlikely to have been accidental. Government has repeatedly emphasised that it believes that the solution to poverty lies in paid work, hence the raft of policies that have been introduced under the global heading of ‘New Deal’.Work is now seen as the main policy solution to poverty, not just for long-term unemployed people, but for lone parents and disabled people too.
