The Minimum Income Standard as a benchmark of a ‘participatory social minimum’

Davis, Abigail; Hirsch, Donald; Padley, Matt

doi:10.1332/175982717x15087736009278

Cited by 26 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Since 2008, the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) has been calculated regularly in the United Kingdom, based on research in which focus groups comprising members of the public are tasked with identifying the prerequisites for a minimum living standard. The details of this method have been described elsewhere (Davis et al 2017;Valadez-Martínez et al 2017;Bradshaw et al 2008). In summary, the method proceeds as follows.…”

Section: Methodology: Using the Minimum Income Standard To Produce Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Low Income Gap: A New Indicator Based on a Minimum Income Standard

et al. 2020

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In many high-income countries, governments seek to ensure that households at least have sufficient incomes to afford basic essentials such as food and clothing, but also to help citizens reach socially acceptable living standards allowing full participation in society. Their success in doing so is commonly monitored in terms of how many citizens are below a poverty line set relative to median income, and by how far below it they fall (the 'poverty gap'). Yet the threshold below which this gap starts to be measured is arbitrary, begging the question of what level of low income needs addressing. A more ambitious measure, presented in this paper, considers the extent to which people fall short of a benchmark representing a socially agreed minimum standard. This 'low income gap' can be used to represent the distance a society has to go to eliminate income that is undesirably low. The paper presents the indicator, its meaning and some recent trends in the United Kingdom, where the methodology behind the indicator has been pioneered. The results demonstrate that this empirically derived benchmark has the potential to be of value in other countries, in assessing whether they are making progress in reducing low income.

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Section: Methodology: Using the Minimum Income Standard To Produce Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Low Income Gap: A New Indicator Based on a Minimum Income Standard

et al. 2020

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“…Income from retirement pensions is the stable form of financing the needs of household members, however the average amount of these benefits is lower than the average remuneration for work. Over 11% of households of people who have paid pension contributions to the Social Insurance Institution (contributions from people working full-time or running their own non-agricultural business activity) in Poland receive pensions in the amount equal to the social minimum (which in Poland is defined as a model allowing the minimum level for social integration of households) or below it [35][36][37].…”

Section: Income and Consumption Of The Elderly Householdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Living Standards in One-Person Households of the Elderly Population

Piekut

2020

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The number of one-person households of the elderly continues to rise in developed countries. The study assesses the standard of living in this type of households. The aim of this study is to explore the standard of living of single older adults (60+) in Poland by focusing on the relationship between demographic and socio-economic factors as well as their objective financial situation and subjective satisfaction on their financial and consumption standards. To evaluate the standard of living in one-person households run by people aged 60 and over, the aggregate (composite) indicator was designed, based on the Economic Living Standard Index method. The key issues relating to multifaceted aspects of sustainable development are both the level and the quality of life. It can be concluded that the elderly people running one-person households constitute a group that is heterogeneous due to their different socio-economic and demographic characteristics, which in turn affect their various living standards. The highest standard of living can be noticed in the households run by white-collar workers, self-employed persons and well educated persons. The lowest standard of living can be observed in the households run by groups of people including farmers, people having income from social sources (without pensions), living on supplementary welfare allowance and persons with lower education level (secondary, primary or less). Remedial measures should be taken for these social groups. The key factors determining the standard of living in one-person households of the elderly are socioeconomic status and education level.

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“…The method used to produce the UK's Minimum Income Standard (Bradshaw et al, 2008;Davis et al, 2015) is a refinement of 25 years of developing budget standards, and became the dominant method used from 2008 when expertise developed by the University of York's Family Budget Unit (Bradshaw, 1993) was combined with that of Loughborough University's Centre for Research In Social Policy (CRSP) (Middleton et al, 1994), which had been developing a technique for consulting the general public. The result is a primarily "consensual" method involving decisions by groups of randomly recruited members of the public, which is regularly updated with new research.…”

Section: 6mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is about having the opportunities and choices that you need in order to be able to participate in society (Davis et al, 2015).…”

Section: 6mentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary UK wage floors and the calculation of a living wage

Hirsch

2017

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.*Related content and download information correct at time of download. Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to describe how the voluntary living wage (LW) in the UK is set. It examines how this calculation relates to contemporary approaches to setting wage floors, both in relation to their goal of supporting adequate living standards and in relation to the place of wage floors in the labour mark. Design/methodology/approach -The paper examines how compulsory and voluntary wage floors are being determined, in the UK and in particular the role of public consensus in contributing to the calculation and adoption of a LW. It then reflects on the future sustainability of a system of wage floors in which the concept of the LW plays a significant role. Findings -The central finding is that widespread support for wages delivering socially acceptable minimum living standards has transformed the context in which low pay is being addressed in the UK. The LW idea has stimulated more decisive efforts to do so; however, if a compulsory version of a LW were to reach a level shown to be harming jobs, this could seriously undermine such efforts. Moreover, the extent to which adequate wages are compatible with high employment levels can also be influenced by state support for households, especially tax credits and Universal Credit. Originality/value -The paper clarifies how the setting of the UK LW contributes to objectives related both to living standards and to labour markets, and critically addresses some key issues raised.

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The Minimum Income Standard as a benchmark of a ‘participatory social minimum’

Cited by 26 publications

References 13 publications

The Low Income Gap: A New Indicator Based on a Minimum Income Standard

The Low Income Gap: A New Indicator Based on a Minimum Income Standard

Living Standards in One-Person Households of the Elderly Population

Contemporary UK wage floors and the calculation of a living wage

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