Comment

Representation ID: 11158

Received: 24/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Richard Carter

When poverty in the UK is researched, what are considered to be the leading causes of poverty
are easy to identify. They include (source: https://cpag.org.uk/ accessed 16/01/2021):
Low paid, insecure jobs.
Unemployment and constantly having to cycle between periods of work and unemployment.
High costs and inadequate benefits.
However, what is often missed (and these factors help to feed the issues identified above) are the
underlying social, cultural and environmental factors that generate the negativity, dissatisfaction, disillusionment and despondency which contributes to society’s “why should I bother” attitude and which, subsequently, can also lead to self-imposed poverty, i.e. people get trapped in a rut of accepting “second best” and substandard conditions.