Poverty and social exclusion in Britain

This report presents the initial findings from the most comprehensive survey of poverty and social exclusion ever undertaken in Britain. The study was undertaken by researchers at four universities and the fieldwork was conducted during 1999 by the Office for National Statistics. The main part of the fieldwork, conducted during September/October 1999, was a follow-up survey of a sub-sample of respondents to the 1998/99 General Household Survey. It is particularly important at this time to create a base line understanding of the nature of poverty and social exclusion. On any measure, poverty at the turn of the new millennium remains one of the greatest social problems challenging Britain, and reducing social exclusion is at the heart of Government policy.