Published by the Resolution Foundation, February 2020

Authors: Lindsay Judge & Hannah Slaughter

This report explores the nexus between poverty, work and housing, adding to knowledge of ‘in-work poverty’ in two distinctive ways. Firstly, it looks at in-work poverty not just as a static but also a dynamic condition. It analyses the effect that moving into work has on a household’s income, and track their fortunes over a number of years. Specifically, it probes the common claim that record employment’s coexistence with rising in-work poverty suggests that work does not pay.

Secondly, it investigates whether housing tenure plays a role in determining in-work poverty rates. The poverty differential between social renters and those in other tenures is larger for working households than for out-of-work households.