POVERTY

An army veteran and his wife committed suicide after becoming destitute and being left to ‘fall through the social services gap’. Mark and Helen Mullins are thought to have killed themselves at their rundown home after being reduced to despair as they struggled to live off just £57.50 a week. The couple, who suffered a series of health and benefits setbacks and had their 12-year-old daughter taken into care, were found lying side by side. Friends said they were let down by social services.

Kervin Julien, from the Salvation Army, said, "This couple were simply allowed to slip through the net with tragic consequences. They just wanted support. This should never have happened." Mr Mullins worked in the Army as a PE instructor but fell on hard times after leaving the service, admitting he struggled to cope with ‘Civvy Street’. His wife suffered from learning difficulties and was deemed unfit to look after her daughter last year.

They walked 6miles a day to a soup kitchen, collecting free vegetables to cook into a broth on a camping gas stove. They stored it in plastic bags in the shed because they didn’t have a fridge in their council home. Mr Mullins told a TV interviewer last year how the pair were ‘living hand to mouth’ after struggling for 14 months to win some benefits for Mrs Mullins. They were terrified that she was about to be sectioned, having long suffered from learning disabilities.

Their bodies were found at their home in Bedworth, Warwickshire. The cause of death has yet to be determined. Mr Julien said, "Mark was absolutely devoted to Helen and didn’t want to be separated from her." Nuneaton and Bedworth borough council said it was ‘saddened’ by the deaths. Deputy leader Tony Lloyd said, "We are working with the police and therefore there is very little we can release about the couple at this time." (Source: Metro, Nov/11)

The UK may soon move out of the bottom of the European poverty league because of "real progress" by government since 1997, say experts. The latest figures suggest poverty has dropped below levels of the early 1990s, but progress has been slower on education and regional inequality. The report, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), found poverty has largely dropped because more people are in work.

But it also said Labour's social and economic reforms since 1997 have also played a part in reaching this "milestone". The report, as with the official poverty line, defines poverty and low income as 60% of median income - currently £114 for a single person, and £273 for a couple with two children. In its latest annual report for the JRF, the New Policy Institute found poverty, if measured by income alone, has now fallen to levels last seen at the end of the 1980s.

In 2001-02 the number living below the official poverty line was 12.5m people, about a million fewer than during the mid-1990s. While the UK still has proportionately more poor people than any other EU country except Greece or Portugal, the indicators suggest it is moving up the league table. The authors found poverty has lessened in 21 of 50 broad categories.

In seven cases, including family homelessness, things had got worse. The indicators also showed while many people had moved out of poverty thanks to the improved economy - others were still struggling because they were in low-paid or insecure jobs. In other areas, the indicators showed the poorest continuing to be the most likely to suffer ill health.

In education, the report found progress in increasing the numbers leaving school with minimum adequate qualification levels had stalled. Anyone leaving school with no qualifications were three times more likely to be in low-paid work by their mid-20s than even those who just manage five basic GCSE passes. The annual report, considered one of the most authoritative studies of poverty and social exclusion, was launched the year after Labour came to power.

Guy Palmer, co-author of the report, said, "With five years' data available to measure progress since Labour came to office, it is much clearer where the Government's strategy for combating poverty and social exclusion is being successful - and where it is not. There is still a long way to go before the number of people living in low-income households reaches the levels of 20 years ago. But the reduction in poverty levels to below those of the 1990s is a notable milestone and suggests real progress."