In the News Teaching Activity – are the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer in the UK? (May 2024)

Last week the Sunday Times published its ‘rich list’ showing the UK’s 350 wealthiest people have wealth greater than £795bn. Meanwhile there has been an increase in child poverty.

According to Sky news, the age of the growth of the number of UK billionaires is coming to an end with a fall in the number of billionaires from 177 in 2022 to 165 in 2024. Meanwhile 3.1 million food bank packages were delivered to those struggling with poverty. While Prime Minister Sunak’s family appear in 8th place on the list with £14.9bn, ex-PM Gordon Brown has been pushing for policies to be introduced to tackle child poverty. Food banks in Fife are no longer just helping households that are struggling with food, but also a range of other necessary household goods. Child poverty has been rising and is set to rise further. Trussell Trust food banks have increased from 35 in 2010 to over 1,300.

‘People haven’t woken up to the scale of this’: Gordon Brown on the UK’s child poverty scandal | Poverty | The Guardian

1. In addition to food parcels, what other necessary household goods are being donated to help poor households in Fife?
2. Using the chart in the article titled ‘Proportion of children living in relative poverty by number of children in the household,’ assess the impact of the government’s decision to impose a two-child cap on benefits in 2017.
3. Discuss how policies to reduce child poverty could be funded.