What is the new UK poverty measure – and why is it needed?

The Social Metrics Commission (SMC) set out to develop a poverty indicator that goes beyond a simple measure of people’s relative income by taking into account core living costs such as housing, childcare and the extra costs of disability.The existing measure, which sets the poverty line at 60% of median UK income, was abolished as an official measure in 2015 by the Conservative government (although it has been retained in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).It produced paradoxical outco