Endless Pressure: Life on a Low Income in Austere Times

Abstract

General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. AbstractMuch has been written that details the decline in living standards following the 'credit crunch' in the UK. It remains that we understand to a lesser degree the lived reality of poverty through the Great Recession and into the era of austerity. This article draws on testimonies of 62 participants from low income households conducted in three different areas of the UK during 2012-13 to document the pressures that this period brought to bear on these households. According to these testimonies, the experience of poverty intensified in key respects: first, participants reported feeling, more than ever before, that they were 'existing, rather than living' due to the meagre budgets they were forced to live on; second, the precarious nature of work and social security contributed to a sense of insecurity that was all pervasive in our participants' lives; third, due to the pejorative political rhetoric and media coverage of poverty, our participants felt that their lives were placed under increased scrutiny which deleteriously impacted their wider relationships and sense of belonging. Our analysis demonstrates the profound consequences for those living on low incomes of the continued shift to residual forms of state welfare and the increased reliance on the 'Big Society' as a means to deal with the pressures identified in this article.

Living on a knife edge: the responses of people with physical health conditions to changes in disability benefits

“…Researchers have drawn on extensive empirical evidence to document the experiences of making disability benefit claims and of living as a benefit claimant, making it evident that being a claimant has many complex aspects. Some of this research has looked at this topic from a poverty or disability perspective, where the welfare system formed a small part of the research, and other studies have combined data about many types of benefit claimants (Pemberton et al 2016a(Pemberton et al , 2016bPatrick 2014). This makes it difficult to make firm conclusions about the experiences and identity of people with physical disabilities.…”

“Treading in sand”: A qualitative study of the impact of austerity on inequalities in mental health

“…An emerging body of qualitative research has explored the impact of austerity on people's lives, with findings suggesting increased material pressures, increasing insecurity, and a negative impact of damaging media and political portrayals of people who are in receipt of out‐of‐work benefits (Pemberton, Sutton, Fahmy, & Bell, ). Dominant narratives position those out of work as “feckless” and as making poor “lifestyle choices”; these negative portrayals have been found to have a damaging impact on mental health (Garthwaite, ).…”

“…Social security cuts have led to increasing levels of stress, worry, and anxiety for people (Patrick, ). The difficulties created by managing on such a restrictive income, and with increased insecurity in the benefits system, have been reported as an endless and unremitting pressure (Pemberton et al, ).…”

Poverty Premiums: Cost of Being Poor

“…However, analysis from other nations also finds a similar examination of poverty, the premiums associated with poverty, and the construction of inequality (for example, Wilkinson and Pickett's 2010 "The Spirit Level"). Pemberton et al (2014) describe survival borrowing simply as "poverty coping strategies," an analogy for "financial decision making," spreading a low-income household budget as far as possible. For others, the experience of the poverty premium is that it may be paid as a social premium, in that they simply go without (Davies et al 2014).…”