The poor
Sir: I have just seen your leader of 20 May, in which you attribute to John Moore MP, Social Security Secretary, a reference to 'the Child Poverty Action Group's definition of the poverty line' as leading to a description of 'one in three people in Britain today [living] in dire need'. Before this mistake spreads any further, I should like to put the record straight.
CPAG has used the supplementary be- nefit level of income as a definition of a 'poverty line' — whilst recognising that there are shortcomings in any such measurement. On this definition, however, the latest figures available (for 1985) show about one in six people in Great Britain not one in three — living 'in poverty' (i.e. on or below this income level). We then talk of those living up to 40 per cent above the supplementary benefit level as living 'on the margins of poverty'. To my know- ledge, CPAG has never talked of one in three of the population living in dire need.
Fran Bennett
Child Poverty Action Group, 4th Floor, 1-5 Bath Street, London ECI
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