30 November 2020
Poverty is an intractable and systemic problem that affects children, families and communities across the UK. Child poverty in the UK has increased by 2.8% in the last four years and is predicted to increase to 5.2 million children by 2022.
The vast majority of parents are doing the best they can in extremely trying circumstances.
However, the onset of Covid-19 has put hard pressed families under additional acute financial and emotional pressure.
This briefing introduces two established psychological frameworks which, if embedded in wider social contexts, can increase policy makers’ understanding of how poverty affects people’s experiences and wellbeing.
We review how this evidence base and theory can be used to better understand the psychological dimensions of poverty, and how these can be incorporated into policy making to improve outcomes.