Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:50:27.462Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New Poverty and the Old Poor: Pensioners' Incomes in the European Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Frank Laczko
Frank Laczko
Affiliation:
Department of Social Science and Policy Studies, Coventry Polytechnic, Priory St, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

As we approach 1992, it is likely that elderly people in Britain will increasingly compare themselves with elderly Europeans. In Britain, recent government statements suggest that, for most pensioners, old age is no longer associated with being poor. The purpose of this paper is to compare poverty among elderly people in Britain and other European Community countries. The paper draws upon data from an EC-sponsored study on ‘new poverty’ in the European Community. ‘New poverty’ is not a term commonly used in Britain to describe the changes in poverty that have occurred in the last decade. It is suggested that one of the reasons for this could be because poverty in Britain, more so than in many other EC countries, is still strongly associated with the ‘old poor’. The paper shows that elderly people in the UK are much more dependent on means-tested social assistance (income support) than elderly people in other EC countries.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , September 1990 , pp. 261 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldrich, J. 1982. The earnings replacement rate of old age benefits in 12 countries, 1969–80. Social Security Bulletin, 11, Vol. 45, no. 11.Google Scholar
Casey, B. and Bruche, G. 1983. Work or Retirement? Gower, Aldershot.Google ScholarPubMed
Deacon, A. and Bradshaw, J. 1983. Reserved for the Poor: The Means Test in British Social Policy. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
DHSS 1985. Reform of Social Security, Cmnd 9517, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Dieck, M. and Steinack, E. 1987. Social Integration, Social Interaction, Material and Non-Material Resources: Aspects of the Situation of the Elderly in the Federal Republic of Germany. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin.Google Scholar
Drury, E. 1989. Elderly People and 1992: The Social Dimension. EurolinkAge, Mitcham, Surrey.Google Scholar
EC 1988. L'insertion Sociale des Préretraites: Rapport de Synthèse Européen. Commission of the European Communities, Brussels.Google Scholar
EC 1989. Community Charter of Fundamental Social Rights (preliminary draft). Commission of the European Communities, COM (89) 248 final, Brussels.Google Scholar
Fiegehen, G. C. 1986. Income after retirement. Social Trends, 13–18. HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Fogarty, M. 1987. Meeting the Needs of the Elderly. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin.Google Scholar
Hedstrom, P. and Ringen, S. 1987. Age and income in contemporary society: a research note. Journal of Social Policy, 16 (2).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huby, M., Lawton, D. and Walker, R. 1988. Avoiding financial dependency in old age. Working Paper 416, Social Policy Research Unit, York.Google Scholar
Johnson, P., Conrad, C. and Thomson, D. (eds) 1989. Workers Versus Pensioners: Intergenerational Justice in an Ageing World. Manchester University Press, Manchester.Google Scholar
Laczko, F., Dale, A., Arber, S. and Gilbert, N. 1988. Early retirement in a period of high unemployment. Journal of Social Policy. 07.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawson, R. 1979. Social Assistance in the European Community. Report presented to the European Commission, Brussels.Google Scholar
Leisering, L. and Voges, W. 1990. Paths through Social Assistance. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Sociological Association, University of Surrey, Guildford, 5–804.Google Scholar
Mastenbroek, I. 1986. The Impact of Changing Social Patterns on the Services for the Elderly in the Netherlands. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin.Google Scholar
O'Higgins, M. 1986. Public/private interaction and pension provision. In Rein, M. and Rainwater, L. (eds) Public/Private Interplay in Social Protection. M. E. Sharpe, New York.Google Scholar
OECD 1988. Reforming Public Pensions. OECD, Paris.Google Scholar
Piachaud, D. 1987. The growth of poverty. In Walker, A. and Walker, C. (eds) The Growing Divide. Child Poverty Action Group, London.Google Scholar
Room, G., Lawson, R. and Laczko, F. 1989. ‘New poverty’ in the European Community'. Policy and Politics, 17 (2), 165–76. Bristol.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, A. 1986. Pensions and the production of poverty in old age. In Phillipson, C. and Walker, A. (eds) Ageing and Social Policy. Gower, Aldershot.Google Scholar
Walker, R., Lawson, R. and Townsend, P. 1984. Responses to Poverty: Lessons from Europe. Heinemann, London.Google Scholar
Walker, R. and Hutton, S. 1988. The costs of ageing and retirement. In Walker, R. and Parker, G. (eds) Money Matters: Income Wealth and Financial Welfare. Sage, London.Google Scholar
Wall, R. 1988. The living arrangements of the elderly in Europe in the 1980s. In Bytheway, B., Keil, T., Allatt, P. and Bryman, A. (eds) Becoming and Being Old. Sage, London.Google Scholar