Centre for Policy on Ageing



Raising the poverty plateau — the impact of means-tested rebates from local authority charges on low income households
Author(s)	Pete Alcock, Sarah Pearson
Journal title	Journal of Social Policy, vol 28, part 3, July 1999
Pages	pp 497-516
Keywords	Means testing ; Council tax rebates ; Local Authority ; Poverty ; Poor elderly ; Measurement ; Oldham.
Annotation	The role of means-testing within social policy has become more important and more central in the 1990s. However, extensive reliance on means-testing brings with it the accompanying problems of unemployment and poverty traps. These have taken on more of the form of a poverty plateau, accentuated by a new savings trap. This article uses hypothetical calculations of benefit entitlement to explore the extent of the poverty plateau and its impact on the growing use by local authorities of means-tested rebates. Such rebates have been developed, because of a concern that the new charges being made for services might disadvantage poor local citizens. Drawing on work of one typical authority (Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council), this article reveals that these rebates do add significantly to the poverty plateau, and yet this is an issue which is little understood by both local and national policy planners. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-991021218 A
Classmark	JF4C: J5R: PE: W6: F:W6: 3R: 83F
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