Why does the UK have so many poor people?

[KenDodd]

Just that really.
Why do you think?

It doesn't.

Not like developing countries.

There are a lot more poor people in other countries. Really, properly dirt poor people, who don't have any support from the state, charities, or anywhere else. This is including in some supposedly civilized 1st world countries.

I feel like more people live in poverty in the US, getting bankrupt from cancer treatments.

I guess it depends what you mean by poor, are you saying a household that earns under 20k a year is poor? 50k? Or do you mean people on nothing but benefits?

It doesn't. It's all relative - how would you balance being poor in the UK compared to being poor in South Africa for instance?

It definitely does seem to be a problem here in the UK, when you look at the number of people relying on food banks, including people working full time such as nurses and teachers which I was quite shocked at. And then the reports of families struggling to feed their children particularly over the school holidays. So I think that there are definitely people under financial pressures here in the UK, probably for many different reasons, high costs of rent and bills combined with low salaries maybe. Also debt problems probably contributes to it, as that can be the start of a downward spiral for many people.
So yes there is poverty in this country too, sadly.

What is your definition of poor? I feel like these days you're deemed poor of you don't go on a holiday every year. 50 years ago, most people didn't go on a holiday and lived month to month. Would you have deemed this poor? It's all relative.

What is poor to you OP?

I don't live in the UK and I see really poor. Mothers looking for food for her children out of dustbins poor.

People can be on the breadline, or battle with finances. I would not class that as poverty though.

Over population
People having children (and then more children) when they aren't financially ready for it.
High levels of unemployment, low paid employment, part time hours and zero hour contracts.
High levels of divorce
An education curriculum that isn't suited to everybody so many leave school with low levels of literacy, numeracy and skills (schools do a great job but the curriculum is the curriculum).
The tories
Tax payer money wasted e.g. on painting a plane, water cannons that don't work, high speed railway to improve links to the North but it stops at Leeds etc

i watched a programme on a lady bee keeper in macedonia. it made lockdown and our lives here look luxurious. No way are people here poor in comparison. she had dirt floors.

Maybe the OP would have been better phrased as 'Why do we have so much wealth inequality?. It was inevitable that the first responses would come from people comparing the UK with other countries.

We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world. The fact that we have any poverty is shameful. We have massive inequality in this country. Unfortunately, the economic impact of Covid is likely to hit the people at the bottom far more than those at the top and a no-deal Brexit will exacerbate this further. Not that anyone seems to care.

50 years ago, most people didn't go on a holiday and lived month to month.

This is the lived experience of literally millions of people in the UK today.

Children, especially single parent families are one of the most likely groups to live in poverty in this country.

I think the problem is that the society we've built usually requires two salaries or at least 2 adults (1 working, 1 childcare) to function, based on average salary vs. Cost of living. But society also allows parents (mostly fathers) not to provide for their children, hence the children are left in poverty. Until we all change our views to be disgusted by friends/ family members who don't pay for their kids (in the same way we would be if they drunk drive or join white supremacists groups) kids will grow up poor.

Further problems arise because we don't tackle obstacles to learning these children face, so they grow up to have few opportunities, and often end up bringing up their own children in poverty too.

Because there are certain sectors of our society which have all of the money (and the houses) and no one in power is incentivised to prevent the inequality.
And the fact that the elder generations have screwed the younger generations over.

You make some good points there, Bubblegum.
It's shocking how many (usually) fathers walk away from their children with no thought given to their financial support. I was the mother in this scenario and being sole provider on a very average income meant we did and do live month to month. This will impact me for the rest of my life, eg. low income = small pension pot etc.

Poverty in the U.K. has been steadily increasing since the 2008/9 financial crisis. That is probably why to you there are “so many”. It’s because there are many more than ten years ago. The most visible indication of this are the increase in rough sleeping homeless people, food banks, and more children on free school meals.

But it’s all relative:

Compared to other OECD countries, the U.K. in general is a poor country

Compared to the rest of the world, the U.K. in general is a rich country.

And the fact that the elder generations have screwed the younger generations over.
What this post says to me is that you're deflecting the blame away from the people who can do something about wealth inequality - eg successive governments - and blaming individuals purely based on their age.

Yes, some of the older generation are very comfortable, but others live in poverty. Meanwhile, the seriously wealthy are allowed to avoid paying tax while no doubt laughing as one group of 'ordinary' people blames another group of 'ordinary' people.

High living costs don't help. People talk about cutting your cloth accordingly but sometimes you can't even afford cloth.

Because people with power and money use that power and money to protect thier power and money, or in other words the rich just keep on getting richer unless government legislate for a more just distribution of wealth
but they don't because people in power use their power to protect their power

The failure of governments to properly legislate the housing market is a large factor which contributes to the high levels of inequality in the UK

I agree the question of inequality is more apt as we are quite a rich country compared to some.

We come from a base of vast inequality and a class system which is marked.

This lowers opportunity for some sections of society.

Gini coefficient shows how unequal a country is, studies show more equal means happier.

I have been poor.
Really dirt poor growing up. Spent a fair time sitting in the cold and dark because we couldn’t afford the coal or the electricity. Only one cold tap in the house and an outside bathroom.

No benefits either.

Today I think poor means something else

Because the wages in the UK are shit. They’re honestly a joke. A lot of people in the UK are wage slaves. Because of the weird history around class, people then take pride in being dirt poor and never asking for help or better wages. You see it on here all the time. It’s like they glorify the Dickensian era, like a kind of Stockholm syndrome.

And yes there is structural inequality and racism adding to the problem as well.

Debt, bad luck (sudden illness/job loss) poor life choices, welfare system that allows men to opt out of responsibility, loads of variables.

I was listening to LBC and a woman rang up outraged that her daughter lived in a two bed flat with a husband, three under four and a six year old. She was furious the council had said (one of the kids was being diagnosed with asd) they'd have to wait and had apparently said 'these people having all these kids don't know what problems they are creating for themselves' or similar. The host was equally outraged.

I was surprised to find myself agreeing that the family had brought in on themselves tbh.

@Lalalamps

Because there are certain sectors of our society which have all of the money (and the houses) and no one in power is incentivised to prevent the inequality. And the fact that the elder generations have screwed the younger generations over.

How did the 'elder generations' screw over younger generations? I mean, as individuals, how did they do that? Do you mean tory governments?

Damn those older generations, working from the age of 15 in many cases, in the days where there were no benefits other than subsistence dole payments.
How dare they eh?