Britain's poorest children revisited : evidence from the BHPS (1994-2002)

This is a follow-up to an earlier study of Britain’s poorest children (Adelman et al., 2003), carried out by the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) on behalf of Save the Children UK (SCUK). The earlier analysis had used two data sets: the Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey (PSE) of 1999; and the first nine waves of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) covering the period 1991-1999. The policy impact of the earlier analysis has been widespread, and the need for continued work on Britain’s poorest children is apparent. Three further waves of the BHPS (2000-2002) have since become available, making it possible to update the earlier analysis of the BHPS using more recent data sets. Hence, this study uses the nine most recent waves of the BHPS available (1994-2002) to update the earlier work on Britain’s poorest children, focusing on key issues of particular policy significance.