United Kingdom
In the UK, Oxfam's focus is on ensuring that people have sufficient income to live on, challenging public perceptions of people living in poverty, and gender and race equality.
Issues we work on: Poverty in the UK
Poverty in the UK
More than 13 million people in the UK live in poverty - that's one in five of the population.
Many people can't afford essential clothing, or to heat their homes. Children go to school hungry, or to bed without enough food.
How Oxfam is helping
Oxfam believes it is unacceptable that millions of people in the UK don’t have enough to live on. We are working to end poverty in the UK in three ways.
- We develop projects to improve the lives of people living in poverty
- We raise public awareness of poverty in the UK to create a pressure for change
- We work with policy-makers to tackle the causes of poverty
Oxfam has a vision of everyone in the UK having enough to live on, and of all men, women and children being treated with respect and dignity no matter how much money they have.
Kate Wareing, UK Poverty, Oxfam
Ending exploitation at work
Half of all children living in poverty have at least one parent in work. But they may still go to school hungry, or live in an unheated house, because their parents don’t earn enough to live on. Low-paid workers include:
- Homeworkers packing or assembling goods such as clothing, footwear and gifts. They often receive less than the minimum wage – some as little as 70p an hour
- Migrant workers in skilled jobs. They are often promised the minimum wage – but the ‘gangmasters’ who contract them take unfair deductions from their wages
How Oxfam is helping
Oxfam is working with low-paid workers to make sure that they know and claim their rights. And supporting partner organisations in calling for better rights for low-paid workers.
- We're are working with migrant workers to ensure they know they are entitled to the minimum wage and to health and safety protection
- Working with others, we are campaigning for better employment rights for homeworkers who are denied benefits such as sick pay or maternity leave
Learn more
Pressure for change
At Oxfam, our experience teaches us that poverty is caused by circumstances beyond an individual's control. Things like your gender, your nationality, or even where you live.
70 per cent of Bangladeshi children in the UK grow up in poverty – that’s not a choice;
Nor do women working part-time choose to earn nearly 40 per cent less than men;
Asylum-seekers do not choose to be the poorest people in the UK.
How Oxfam is helping
When the odds are stacked against you like this, it’s easy to see why some people are poor.
That’s why Oxfam is working to increase awareness that poverty is not the fault of the individual and to create public pressure for action to end poverty
And that’s why Oxfam campaigns with others on the issues which affect people living in poverty.
Find out more about our work influencing public attitudes to poverty
