To think money ends poverty- not education, not mindset, not budgeting advice, just actual money?

[WildHazelCritic]

I keep seeing discussions about “breaking the poverty cycle” or helping people escape hardship and the solutions are always long-term or conditional: learn to budget, go back to school, change your mindset. But poverty is often just not having enough money. And people giving money - whether through better wages, benefits, or direct support, would make the biggest difference. AIBU to think we over complicate it because people are uncomfortable with the idea of redistribution or just giving people what they need?

Other people's money do you mean.

I think enough council housing is the single biggest thing the country could do it reduce poverty.
And as for education, yes, education is great but we also need absolute armies of people to do boring hard jobs that don't need a lot of education for. These people should have to live in poverty.

Two people in full-time 40 hour minimum wage jobs will now have a combined gross household income of around £50,000. Why do they need benefits with that much money? Having an income of £50k is no way living in poverty.

What allows people to make good money though? Normally it’s the education and skills to do high paid jobs or start your own business. Someone who is illiterate is unlikely to have a high powered job.

Money is a short term patch. A person needs a long term solution to keep themselves secure. That is education and a career.

we do have a problem that there are necessary jobs that do not pay a living wage. That needs to be addressed.

And yet there are regularly people on here with a household income of £100k plus pleading poverty.

And the Rowntree Trust, who calculate minimum income standards state a couple with 2 children need a household income of £64,900 to reach a minimum acceptable standard of living.

I assume that's what OP means.
From what they've written it doesn't appear to mean they think people should need to do things to equip themselves so that they're in a better position to earn more of their own money, they just think more money should be given out to people with nothing required in return.
Where they think this money should come from is anyone's guess.

@Jellycatspyjamas absolutely, it would make a huge difference if initiatives such as the ones you've listed were properly funded and consistently applied. Of course it wouldn't end poverty overnight for everyone but it would make a real difference to many of the lives of the families we support.

A pp mentioned the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Their report into child poverty released earlier this year was a really sobering read. It stated that even if our economy improved and people had more money in their pocket, child poverty rates would continue to increase unless we invest in specific initiatives to address structural issues around poverty. From memory, Scotland was the only region of the UK where this wasn't the case and that was because they had invested in initiatives to address child poverty.

We are giving people money though, and often lack.of education means they can't manage it well. Im sure there are people in poverty who budget down to the penny, are frugal and are well educated but unlucky. There are also many, and I know them, who live month to month, buy expensive clothes, have numerous children, buy £80 birthday cakes, buy balloon arches, Spanish kids clothing etc, who are in an endless cycle of poverty because they dont know anything else.

We are not in poverty, we've been poor and worked our way out of it, but I am always telling my dc that they just need to do the best they can at each bit of school, to get them to the next stage so they have the most options when they're older. Lots of my dds peers aren't even encouraged to go to school, never mind do well, so it definitely is a lack of education imo

Thank you. I feel incredibly privileged to do a job I love every day, working with such dedicated people that make such a positive impact on children's lives. I come from a corporate / finance background and I hope I never have to go back into that line of work!

Mindset with a bit of luck. I know rich people squandered their inherited money becoming poor, and immigrants who arrived with nothing doing just fine. But there’s luck too. Before, houses were cheaper, jobs easier to get. Degrees unnecessary.

Yes, this definitely used to be possible and was great - as social mobility was real and could be gained through education. This is no longer possible and not the case in the UK, unfortunately.

I live in a grammar school area. Maybe it is just confirmation bias talking but the only kids I see at our school doing the 11+ are middle-class and/or from South and South East Asian families.

Money is finite. If you don’t have the other attributes, what do you do when it runs out?

Yes it’s very sobering reading. I’m a social worker in Scotland and while the Scottish child payment has made a big difference it’s also been accompanied by different measures to improve supports for struggling families and it is making a difference. It’s far from perfect and there are many other issues that need addressed but child poverty markers are slowly improving.

It just doesn't work like that. Many people in poverty lack the financial literacy to make the right decisions - that is why education is so important. Take the lottery, it is primarily low income people that buy tickets, yet it is one of the worst investments you can make, beyond just setting fire to the cash (or buys cigarettes and burning your cash that way). Smoking is another example it is very expensive buy families in poverty are far more likely to have household members who smoke.

Opportunity, attitude and education.

If you’re claiming benefits and capable of working without childcare issues you should turn up at the job centre each day and get given work to do….community service. That way you’re earning your benefits and keeping physically and mentally active while contributing to the community.

Families shouldn’t be going hungry, they should be provided with enough benefits while job searching to feed themselves and have a OK standard of living.

There should be outreach centres to support children living in poverty with basic life skills and education. I’ve seen plenty of parents from deprived areas who can’t read properly so what hope do they have of supporting their children.

There needs to be the opportunity to find work that pays a decent wage. However successive governments have sold our country out and our big name ‘British’ companies offshore jobs to countries where labour is cheaper.

We need to be more protectionist now and look at how we can start caring about our country and its people.

Not all poor people are uneducated. You see many rich people also making bad financial decisions. What about inherited wealth? And those that are rich due to their previous family history of just getting lucky? Rich people also smoke, you would think with all that money and a private education they would be smart enough to figure it out it’s unhealthy, but yet they still smoke.

No stats are ever going to be 100% one way or the other. The fact is that poorer people are statistically much more likely to smoke

It doesn’t matter how financially literate you are if you’re a single parent with no outside support, or you’re caring for someone with a disability and can’t work around those responsibilities. It doesn’t matter how intelligent you are if you’re facing systemic discrimination that acts against career progression. If you don’t have enough money to house and feed your family, all the financial intelligence in the world won’t change that

You talk like it’s a level playing field when it’s not.

I wonder why people who are living inherently stressful lives might chose coping strategies like gambling, smoking or alcohol use.

Take off tax, pension contributions, , childcare, commute to work and they are hardly any better off than folk on benefits. In fact they might be a lot worse off.

YABU, give broke people money and they'll spend it all. Most lottery winners end up broke again, people that come from families on benefits are more likely to end up in benefits themselves. You need both money and a mindset change, with the latter being more important IMO.

It's not as simple as that. There'll always be people who'll live poorly/in poverty because they can't look after themselves for a raft of different reasons or make the wrong life choices. Throwing more money at them might/might not help them.

Where more money would definitely help is more support services, housing etc.