Title: Re-thinking destitution in the UK: typologies, spaces and transitions

Authors: Deepak Gopinath

Addresses: School of the Environment, University of Dundee, Tower Building, Perth Road, Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland, UK

Abstract: Destitution, a severe form of poverty still persists in modern, industrialised nations such as the UK despite a robust, social security system in place. Increased use of food banks, inadequate housing provisions, etc., point to evidence that there are those who experience such extreme forms of deprivation. There is therefore the need to understand why destitution persists and if it might be possible to contemplate alternative approaches beyond the currently employed legal frameworks focusing mostly on asylum seekers. This commentary presents a conceptualising of various spaces and types of destitutes in the UK and points to where policy makers and the third sector might sector intervene so that transitions from 'not destitute' to 'being destitute' might be reduced.

Keywords: destitution; UK; United Kingdom; typology; spaces; pathways; conceptualisation; poverty; deprivation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRCS.2014.067881

International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, 2014 Vol.2 No.4, pp.341 - 347

Received: 01 Nov 2014
Accepted: 09 Nov 2014
Published online: 13 Mar 2015 *

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