Someone from a black and minority ethnic background is twice as likely to experience poverty as someone from a white background in the UK. The Government’s developing Integration Strategy is an opportunity to right this wrong, but it currently neglects vital aspects of how to tackle poverty for people from different ethnic backgrounds – specifically how low pay and a lack of progression opportunities trap people in poverty.
Poverty creates tensions within disadvantaged communities. In times of austerity, when access to scarce resource is restricted, perceived competition among people in an area for employment, services and support can widen divisions along ethnic, religious and migration status lines.
