Sixty years after the founding of the welfare state, a report has
warnedthat poorer people continue to have the worst access to
opportunities and services.

A study published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows those with the
greatest need for good health care, education, jobs, housing and transport
continue to lose out.

Researchers at the Universities of Sheffield, Bristol and Edinburgh found
that areas with the highest levels of poor health have the
lowest numbers of doctors, dentists and other health professionals.

And areas with the greatest proportions of young people with no
qualifications have the lowest availability of working teachers per head of
population.

High-status jobs were found to be concentrated in London and the South
East, while in areas where such jobs are relatively rare,  there are higher
proportions of people with good qualifications in low-status occupations.

The poorest neighbourhoods with high proportions of families where no one
is in paid work also tend to have the highest proportion of children and
young people providing informal care for relatives or friends.

"Our analysis exploits the unique power of the most detailed Census data
ever gathered on health, education, housing, employment and poverty," said
Professor Danny Dorling of the University of Sheffield.

"These are the aspects of British life that closely reflect the five 'giant
evils' of disease, ignorance, squalor, idleness and want that William
Beveridge identified in his 1942 report leading to the creation of a
welfare state.

"From that point of view, it is acutely disappointing to discover that so
many opportunities and resources still depend on where
people live.

"Wide and persisting inequality is reflected in big differences between
'rich' and 'poor' areas in terms of housing, education and
health care as well as economic wealth.

"Perversely, people living in the poorest neighbourhoods with the greatest
needs are often the least likely to have access to the
services and support that would help them improve their lives and life
chances."

The findings prompted shadow work and pensions secretary Sir Malcolm
Rifkind to call for "a much stronger focus on tackling poverty".

"I do not doubt Labour’s intention to tackle poverty, but the results have
been patchy at best," he said.

"For real progress, we need to vastly expand the role of voluntary and
commercial enterprises in helping the sick and unemployed
into work.

"They do so much more effectively and cheaply than the existing state
employment services."

http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/0425.asp