Identification information National Network: EAPN UK Peter Kelly (peter.kelly@povertyalliance.org) Contact information: Context The problem of in-work poverty in the UK has been growing for many years. The statutory National Minimum Wage was introduced in 1999 and has helped ensure that low paid workers received higher percentage pay rises than most other groups of workers, particularly in the last 10 years. However, in part because of cuts to benefits such as Tax Credits and Child Benefit, workers in low paid employment have still had far from adequate incomes. In 2017, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimated that around 3.7 million workers in the UK were in poverty and that 8 million of the 12 million working age families in poverty contained someone who was in paid employment. Combined with rising numbers of workers on zero hours contracts and the growth of other flexible forms of employment, the UK
Identification information National Network: EAPN UK Contact information: Peter Kelly (peter.kelly@povertyalliance.org) Context The problem of in-work poverty in the UK has been growing for many years. The statutory National Minimum Wage was introduced in 1999 and has helped ensure that low paid workers received higher percentage pay rises than most other groups of workers, particularly in the last 10 years. However, in part because of cuts to benefits such as Tax Credits and Child Benefit, workers in low paid employment have still had far from adequate incomes. In 2017, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimated that around 3.7 million workers in the UK were in poverty and that 8 million of the 12 million working age families in poverty contained someone who was in paid employment. Combined with rising numbers of workers on zero hours contracts and the growth of other flexible forms of employment, the UK