Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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welfare changes continue to affect women disproportionately.
Poorer children on average experience poorer health during their childhoods and the effects
of this last throughout their lives. Three-year-olds in households with incomes below about
£10,000 are 2.5 times more likely to suffer chronic illness than children in households
with incomes above £52,000. 83 Children growing up in poverty experience significant
long-term impacts on their health, educational attainment, employment opportunities
and life expectancy. 84
It has been estimated that Government’s plans will push 600,000 more children into poverty by
2013. 85 Britain’s exceptionally high levels of child poverty already cost £25bn a year. 86 By 2020
one quarter of our children will be growing up in poverty and UNICEF has said that this is a direct
result of the Government’s cuts. 87
Housing and homelessness
Since 2010 a wide array of cuts and caps to Housing Benefit (support for housing costs for those
on low/no income) have been introduced. The National Housing Foundation has warned that
benefit reductions could put 200,000 people at risk of losing their homes. 88 These changes will
have a particularly damaging impact on women as they constitute the majority of recipients
of Housing Benefit: 89 single women constitute approximately 50% of recipients, with couples
composing around 20% and single males 30%. 90 It is expected that 60% of single women,
many of whom are lone parents, will receive less Housing Benefit under the housing benefit
cap, compared to 3% of single men. 91 47% of those affected will have children, of which 32% will
be lone parents. 92 (See Appendix: 15) Overall, almost one million more women claim Housing
Benefit than men – many of whom will be single mothers at risk of poverty.
Case study: 93
“It [the housing benefit cap] fills me with dread and I’ve tried to move to a flat instead of
a house which is about £50 cheaper per month, but no one will touch me because I’m a
[social] housing tenant. So when these changes take place, I will have to end my contract
here and probably go homeless – they aren’t leaving me with any choice.”
Single mother, London.
83. Barnardo’s, Child poverty statistics and facts http://www.barnardos.org.uk/what_we_do/our_projects/child_poverty/child_poverty_what_
is_poverty/child_poverty_statistics_facts.htm Accessed: 15/04/13
84. Government Equalities Office (2010) An anatomy of economic inequality in the UK: Report of the National Equality Panel. GEO: London
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/27_01_10_inequalityfull..pdf
85. Institute for Fiscal Studies (2011) Child and Working-Age Poverty from 2010 to 2020. IFS: London http://www.ifs.org.uk/comms/comm121.
pdf
86. Hirsch, D. (2008) Estimating the costs of child poverty. Joseph Rowntree Foundation: London http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/
estimating-costs-child-poverty
87. In UNISON (2012) InFocus July 2012. UNISON: London http://www.unison.org.uk/Acrobat/IF2012.07.pdf
88. ACEVO (2010) Squaring the Circle: How charities can help Government cut spending whilst protecting society’s most vulnerable http://
tinyurl.com/5vhc79t
89. Stephenson, M. and Harrison, J. (2011) Unravelling Equality: A Human Rights and Equality Impact Assessment of the Spending Cuts on
Women in Coventry. A Joint Report of the Centre for Human Rights in Practice, University of Warwick and Coventry Women’s Voices http://
www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/chrp/projectss/humanrightsimpactassessments/cwv/
90. Department for Work and Pensions (2010) Equality impact assessment housing benefit. Welfare and Wellbeing Group http://www.dwp.gov.
uk/docs/lha-and-carers-eia.pdf
91. Department for Work and Pensions (2011) Housing Benefit Cap: Equality Impact Assessment http://tinyurl.com/438o5yy
92. Department for Work and Pensions (2010) Equality Impact Assessment Housing Benefit – Changes to the Local Housing Allowance
arrangements and Housing Benefit size criteria for people with non-resident overnight carers. www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/lha-eia-nov10.pdf
93. Oxfam (2012) The Perfect Storm: Economic stagnation, the rising cost of living, public spending cuts, and the impact on UK poverty.
Oxfam: Oxford http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/the-perfect-storm-economic-stagnation-the-rising-cost-of-livingpublic-spending-228591
140 Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013