Indledning
Tens of thousands of families in the United Kingdom every year do not have enough food to live on and are turning to sources of non-state charitable aid.

This new phenomenon of growing hunger for some of the least well-off people in the country, has emerged alongside a wide-ranging and draconian restructuring of the country’s welfare system since 2010.

With reductions in welfare support year on year, the number of people, including families with children, going hungry is rising at an alarming rate and represents a troubling development in the world’s fifth largest economy.

Indholdsfortegnelse
Hammond: I reject idea millions live in dire poverty
System must 'evolve'
Downward mobility 'becoming a reality for much of British youth'

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Uddrag
But he said the government had worked to tackle the causes of poverty and rejected a United Nations report that claimed austerity had increased poverty.

Published last month, the rapporteur accused the government of plunging millions into poverty, in some instances with "tragic consequences".

Mr Hammond said: "I reject the idea that there are vast numbers of people facing dire poverty in this country.

"I don't accept the UN rapporteur's report at all. I think that's a nonsense. Look around you, that's not what we see in this country.

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Downward mobility – the phenomenon of children doing less well than their parents – will become a reality for young people today unless society makes dramatic changes, according to two of the UK’s leading experts on social policy.

The UK is among the worst of the developed countries for social mobility. It appears increasingly unlikely that people will be able to escape economic disadvantages linked to their background.