2015 03 06_briefing 54- the value of cash benefits paid to the rich has gone up since the recession_briefing_54

1. INEQUALITY BRIEFING
What does this
mean?
Welfare reforms and austerity
are hitting the poorest
hardest and protecting those
most able to weather cuts to
public expenditure. Despite
substantial increases in their
original income, the richest
in society have received a
greater share of social security
expenditure since the financial
crisis. This is in part due to the
protected status that pensions
have enjoyed compared with
other social security payments.
While cash benefits that mainly
go to the poor have been cut,
increases to pension payments
have been maintained. The
proportion of older people
in the richest fifth of the
population has grown, so total
cash payments to the richest
fifth have also increased.
Political and financial power
appears to have protected
older, richer people. This
undermines the notion that we
are ‘all in this together’.
The amount of cash
benefits paid to the
richest fifth of the
population has gone
UP since the recession
For sources and references see www.inequalitybriefing.org
BETWEEN 2007 AND 2013,
CASH BENEFITS RECEIVED BY THE
RICHEST FIFTH INCREASED BY 42%.
CASH BENEFITS RECEIVED BY THE
POOREST FIFTH FELL BY 5%.
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
-10%
Bottom 20% Middle 20% Top 20%
Income distribution
-5%
3%
42%
Real-terms increase in
cash benefits, 2007-2013