LIVING ALONE - A new analysis of EU-level data by Eurofound shows that one in three households in the EU is now single occupancy. Germany has the largest proportion of the population living in single-person households, and large increases in the share of the population living alone have been reported in Lithuania and Bulgaria. 

The report highlights that single-person households are at greater risk of poverty and social exclusion, which is partly due to having only one income with which to run a household. Lithuania and Bulgaria, which have both experienced the largest increases in the share of the population living alone over the last decade, also report the highest levels of income inequality in the EU. Among those of retirement age, women are nearly twice as likely to live alone (42%), compared to men (24%), and are therefore more at risk of experiencing poverty. The fact that pensions are, on average, 30% lower for women than men in the EU further compounds this issue.

Speaking about the findings of the report, Eszter Sandor, Eurofound Social Policies Research Manager, said “This research suggests that the increase in single occupancy households, coupled with a sizeable gender gap in pension cover, is contributing to high levels of income inequality – this needs to be taken on board for future policy action in this area.”

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DWP CASELOAD - Minister for Welfare Delivery Will Quince MP confirms that universal credit case managers have an average caseload of more than 450 cases each.

That means that is has dropped from the 650+ - a figure that the ABC were given from Basildon Benefit Delivery Centre some while ago. 

It does not explan why Mandatory Reconsiderations are taking so long? 

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RESIDENTIAL LETTING - The estimated number of landlords in the private rental sector has shrunk to a seven-year low, according to a recent report.

Across Britain, there were 2.66 million landlords in 2019, Hamptons International calculated.

Hamptons said it was the lowest level since 2012 when there were 2.58 million landlords in Britain.

The number of landlords peaked at 2.88 million in 2017, but the report said tax and regulatory changes have caused some landlords to sell up and leave the sector.

Despite the falling number of landlords, those remaining in the sector are building bigger property portfolios.

Three in 10 (30%) landlords owned more than one buy-to-let property in 2019 – double the proportion seen a decade ago when just 15% owned multiple rental homes.

The average landlord owned 1.93 buy-to-let properties last year, the highest number since 2009.

Landlords in the North East of England were found to have the biggest portfolios, at 2.05 homes on average, followed by those based in Yorkshire and the Humber (2.03) and London (2.01).

Investors in Wales and Scotland were least likely to have big buy-to-let portfolios, with landlords in both countries letting out 1.83 properties typically.

Researchers also found that average rents across Britain increased to £998 per month in January, up by 3.6% annually.

Rents increased across Britain, from a 6% annual uplift in the South West of England to a 1.2% upswing in Wales.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International, said landlords “who have stayed tend to have bigger portfolios – a further sign that the sector is professionalising”.

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BUDGET - Rishi Sunak has been appointed Britain’s new chancellor of the exchequer at a time that the government is moving strangely leftwards.  Rishi whose father was a doctor went to posh Winchester College and then to Oxford University. His meteoric rise has certainly surprised a few.  

The government is considering two significant moves in the budget due on March 11^th. The fist is imposing a ‘mansion tax’ on very expensive homes and the second is cutting pension tax relief for higher earners. The mansion tax could be an annual levy on expensive homes or a higher council tax band.

The pension reform may mean cutting tax relief on people who earn more than £50,000 a year from 40% to 20% to raise an extra £10bn a year. Other raids on capital gains, inherited money and profits are reportedly being considered according to the Economist.

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STATE PENSION - Mark Tami, the Labour MP for Alyn and Deeside is bringing pressure to have rules changed after it was found that people are becoming at risk of hardship because of the long wait between the end of payment of Universal Credit and their first state pension payment.

"It's not right that some pension-age people have to go nine weeks with no income," said Mr Tami, urging other MPs to sign his Early Day Motion (EDM) on the issue.

Individuals do not receive the first payment of the new state pension until up to five weeks after they have reached the state pension age, as it is paid in arrears. Subsequent payments will be made every four weeks.

ABC Note: An early day motion (EDM), in the Westminster system, is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by Members of Parliament that formally calls for debate "on an early day". In practice, they are rarely debated in the House and their main purpose is to draw attention to particular subjects of interest.

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POVERTY - Families already living under the poverty line have been pushed deeper into poverty since 2012, new analysis from Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) shows.  And, the analysis finds, the number of children in poverty in households where all the parent(s) work full time  - be they single or couple-parents - has doubled from 200,000 in 2012/13 to 400,000 in 2017/18.*

The analysis of DWP data shows the average ‘poverty gap’ - ie how far below the poverty line poor families are living –  jumped by 30% between 2012/13 and 2017/18 even after controlling for inflation.   That means that after housing costs (AHC) are taken into account, poor families are now on average £73 per week (28%) below the poverty line, up from £56 in 2012/13.

Child Poverty Action Group Chief Executive Alison Garnham said:

“We know that the number of children in poverty is rising - and at risk of reaching a record high - but poor families are also deeper in poverty than they were just seven years ago.  That should sound alarm bells for a Government committed to ‘levelling up’ because it means families in poverty are further away from escaping it.   Many of these families are living well below the poverty line.  Their children are going without the basics of a good childhood with all the lost opportunities that brings for them and for our wider economy.   Our new Government has committed to reducing child poverty.  It must now bring forward clear policies for achieving this.”

While there is a tendency for the poverty gap, at any one time, to shrink when the poverty rate grows (because when people have just moved into poverty they are likely to have incomes relatively close to the poverty line), since 2012/13, both the poverty rate and poverty gap (before housing costs and after housing costs) have risen – so over the past five years more children have been pushed into poverty, while those in poverty are further away from escaping it.

The poverty gap is consistently higher for couple-households compared to lone parents, although since 2013 the poverty gap for lone parents has risen by 36%, reducing the difference considerably.   This is unsurprising perhaps given that since 2013 benefits have been cut in real terms causing particularly heavy losses for lone parents who derive a higher share of their income from benefits.

The analysis also shows that the poverty gap (AHC) grew between 2012/13 to 2017/18  for all family types who are poor– for couples where both partners work , where one partner and neither partner works and for lone parents whether they work or not.

ABC Note: Poverty estimates: An estimated 14.3 million people are in poverty in the UK. 8.3 million are working-age adults, 4.6 million are children, and 1.3 million are of pension age.

Around 22% of people are in poverty, and 34% of children are considered to be in poverty.

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US JOB OPENINGS - The number of job openings in the US fell to 6.4 million (-364,000) on the last business day of December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, hires and separations were little changed at 5.9 million and 5.7 million, respectively.

Within separations, the quits rate and layoffs and discharges rate were unchanged at 2.3 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. When times are good employees are more likely to quit their jobs for a better paid one. 

The number of job openings in the U.S. fell to a two-year low in December, reflecting a slowdown in hiring tied to a softening economy. The UK there was almost zero growth and everywhere the economies are slowing down. 

The sharp drop in job openings toward the end of 2019 is something to worry about says economists

Job openings sank to 6.42 million in December from 6.79 million. It’s the second significant decline in a row and openings have fallen by more than 1 million in the past 12 months.

Not a crisis by any means, but as a trend it is not looking good. 

ABC Note: If you want to understand US terminology the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey is called (JOLTS). The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collects and compiles JOLTS data monthly from a sample of nonfarm establishments. A more detailed discussion of JOLTS concepts and methodology is available online at:  www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch18.pdf.

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SUICIDES - The DWP is facing calls for a full investigation following the National Audit Office investigation into deaths by suicide. Sixty-nine deaths are very likely to be the thin edge of the wedge as the organisation has done everything in its power to avoid providing the information that Frank Field, former Work and Pensions Secretary, has been calling for.

There has been a stream of complaints about the DWP. This includes placing advertisements about Universal Credit which were misleading - the long delays in dealing with complaints, some taking 18 months - unfair benefit sanctions and the controversial Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment Support Allowance (ESA), and the dreaded Work Capability Assessments. The DWP has lost a steady stream of court cases, and some would argue that it is not 'fit for purpose'.

An organisation that is supposed to be helping people funded by the taxpayer is it is being argued, driving people to their deaths.

Tory minister Sarah Newton was appointed Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, in November 2017 and served until her resignation in March 2019 had brushed-off calls for an "investigation" into 20,000 people who died waiting to see if they were owed sickness benefit.

The DWP has admitted making a £1.7bn blunder, where 210,000 people were paid too little Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) going as far back as 2011.

As far back as 2014, the NHS's 2014 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) showed 43% of people on ESA had attempted suicide at some point - compared to 7% of the general population.

Activists such as the Black Triangle Campaign have spent years amassing dozens of individual claims of benefit claimants' suicides since the Tories took power in 2010.

Allegedly DWP officers fail to turn up at four out of five benefit appeal hearings, - an insult to those who have waited years in many cases, fighting to have their appeals upheld.

ABC Note: What people are saying is needed is a proper independent investigation into the DWP, not the usual whitewash.

This is what Becky Smith, writing for Civil Service World has to say:

 Former Work and Pensions Committee chair Frank Field called for a “full investigation into the DWP’s processes” after the National Audit Office revealed at least 69 suicides have been linked to the department’s handling of benefits claims since 2014-15.

The NAO investigation into the information DWP collects on deaths by suicide of benefit claimants found that the department has internally reviewed 69 cases in which “alleged department activity” may have been among the reasons for such death. However, it said gaps in reporting meant the actual figure was likely to be higher.

It said the department did not seek to draw trends from the findings of internal reviews, meaning that “systemic issues which might be brought to light through these reviews could be missed”.

The review is among a suite of internal mechanisms DWP is developing to identify and tackle systemic problems in its work and improve the way it investigates and "learns lessons from its customers’ experiences".

DWP told the NAO that its review will look at how its Internal Process Reviews are used to improve processes and prevent harm in future, across three areas – identification of cases, improving the analysis of recommendations, and better prevention.

It will look at how to improve analysis of the reviews “to ensure that the department is aware of any systemic themes and issues and is able to act to put in place effective corresponding improvements”.

And it will also look at how staff decide whether to carry out reviews in the first place. It will improve internal guidance and communication “to ensure staff are aware of and understand the processes for reporting a suicide”, the NAO said.

The watchdog noted that DWP guidance has “not always been clear” on when cases should be investigated, and not all its staff were even aware of the guidance.

The review will be led by a new unit that has been set up within DWP to “improve the department’s approaches to identifying, investigating and learning lessons from customers’ experiences; and to ensure lessons are fed back into improvement processes”, the NAO report said.

Among other things, the unit will also be tasked with improving the coroner’s focal point – a mechanism put in place in 2016 to improve communication with coroners, including about suicide cases.

It will also be responsible for the serious case panel DWP has established in recent months, which it said would “consider the most serious systemic issues” identified in internal reviews and by the Independent Case Examiner.

“The panel will make recommendations to the department and help to assign accountability at the most senior levels in the organisation for ensuring sustainable improvements are implemented,” the NAO said.

“In doing so, the department aims to focus on learning how to avoid similar issues in the future.”

 ‘We need a full investigation’

The NAO launched its investigation at the request of Frank Field, then Work and Pensions Committee chair, last year, after Field said DWP had refused to share statistics on deaths by suicide of benefit claimants.

Image: Frank Field MP, former Work and Pensions Select Committee chair. 

Responding to the report, Field said the report “presents a catastrophic situation for vulnerable claimants and their families”.

“What we need now is a full investigation into the DWP’s processes, and for the necessary changes to be made, so that nobody is ever put into this situation again.”

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LINKEDIN - The ABC has started a LinkedIn Business Page:

 Do please drop by: 

LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Founded on December 28, 2002, and launched on May 5, 2003,

It is mainly used for professional networking, including employers posting jobs and job seekers posting their CVs.

Please click on the logos below:

We are on LinkedIn here:

We are on Facebook:

and Twitter 

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MARKETING - If you are good at something shout about it said a friends headmaster, the friend who incidentally became a communications director for one of the UK's top 50 companies.

We have just had an enquiry from a Texas-based company whose CEO described the ABC website as 'wonderful' and indeed it is an Aladdin's cave of information. Visitors go through our back-catalogue of articles and it is interesting to see how these build in readership over time.

Advertising does more than attract customers - it positions your organisation in the eyes of donors, stakeholders and influencers and can help positively shape the future. The public feel much more confident donating or supporting organisations that advertise themselves. It creates the impression that if an organisation can advertise then they must be successful. The public likes to pick winners, even in the social space.

You may feel you have enough customers, but promoting your offer allows you to choose the customers you want to focus on, by giving you choice.

The argument everyone knows us is the commonest held fallacy in marketing. Richard Branson is one of the UK's best-known businessmen but Virgin still advertise. Promoting needs to be done on an ongoing basis. One advertisement is rarely successful.

Backlinks are also very desirable as Google and Bling's, indexing algorithms look for websites that are well-connected link wise as it is assumed that these are more relevant to what their visitors want. There are billions of websites, how will your audience find your website?

Our website is a directory, but if we don't have a category that matches your offer one can be added as long as what you do is relevant to our audience. 

At the ABC we publish news on an almost daily basis. So there is a good reason for people to bookmark our website and come back and see what's new.

If you want to learn more about promoting your offer on the ABC website, just e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. You will not get a hard sales pitch but we can talk through how we can assist you. It is very cost effective our rates are designed to help the smallest organisations to onboard with us. You can contact us via the Contacts Form in Contacts. 

ABC Note: The ABC is looking for telesales people who can work independently as sales agents. We are particularly keen to recruit some of our salespeople from those with physical disabilities happy to work from home. This is a ground floor opportunity and we will be looking for people who are articulate, enthusiastic and self-disciplined. We don't want high-pressure sales types, just people who can build a relationship and a rapport with organisations who could genuinely benefit from appearing on our website. If you are a people person with a sense of humour, not afraid to pick up the 'phone and chat to people, then this could be the role for you.

PLEASE just send in your C.V. to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will come back for a chat. 

You can find the right information on the Contacts page. 

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