Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 06/2009

Close to Home: UK poverty and the economic downturn

April 2009

Oxfam Publishing

Abstract

The UK is in recession, and things stand to get much worse for the fifth of the population already living in poverty, and for the millions more whose livelihoods will become more vulnerable as a result. The UK government has recognised its responsibility to help people through the recession, but needs to do more to help the poorest, and to provide security for all. As importantly, policy makers need to take the opportunity that the recession provides to rethink many of the policies of the past decades.