Weather a household earns around half the average income in Britain.
Weather they claim means tested benefits or not e.g. income support.
Weather they have the ability to afford a ‘basket’ of key goods and services.
These methods may help the government, but even these new methods have problems which may cause them to make inaccurate judgements.
At one point in time a person may have a large amount of saving and investments which they make money off. To say that someone is in poverty because they earn under half the average income may be inaccurate because of this reason.
Also the national average income may be quite a lot larger than most people could hope to earn, mostly people in the lower class. So a lot of people may be classed as ‘in poverty’ although they may be people who have more basic provisions then people really in poverty.
Claiming means tested benefits doesn’t show if you are in poverty or not. You may be eligible to claim the support, but you may not need the support due to savings and investments etc.
Also a person may not realise that they are entitled to benefits, and if they don’t realise but they are still living day to day life out of poverty, then it is clear that this method of finding out who is in poverty may be inaccurate.
Finally, the ability to be able to afford a ‘basket’ of key goods and services is a hugely inaccurate way to test if someone is in poverty. People want and need different things to others, what one person wants or needs another person may find no use for. The system of people wanting and needing items also needs to be updated all the time due to advances in technology and new desirable possessions.
In conclusion, the government really has no accurate way of testing if a person is in poverty or not. If I wanted to find out who was is poverty, I would find the best way actually visiting their living conditions and asking them questions about savings and investments. I feel that the three methods I have outlined are just another way for the government to cut corners. The reason there is inequality in Britain today is because the government has failed in its efforts to abolish poverty in Britain.
