The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has urged the Government to improve workers’ rights in order to help tackle poverty in the UK.

According to the foundation, the number of people who find themselves repeatedly in and out of work has risen by 60% since 2006 - this shows that work is not a “sustainable route out of poverty” for many, and that new laws concerning job security and low pay are needed to help employees stay in work for longer.

The charity indicated that that 20% of poverty is “recurrent”, where people only escape poverty for a short time before returning to it.

Much of this is thought to be due to the recession, which has forced many workers to accept short-term contracts or temporary work.

Due to this, many people go from earning very little to earning nothing at all - they do escape relative poverty, but not for long.

The foundation claims that current government policy does not reflect this common phenomenon, and that laws need to be changed to provide further protection for people in this situation.

Poverty research manager at the foundation Chris Goulden commented: “A plain message from the research is that employment does not provide a sustainable route out of poverty unless job security, low pay and lack of career progression are also addressed.”

He added that, as employment grows less and less secure, “it is becoming ever clearer that getting a job does not provide a solution on its own.

“This raises the worry that when it comes to employment as a way of lifting people out of poverty, many are merely bumping along the runway and never taking off.”

The Department of Work and Pensions has promised to invest £5 billion in helping people to return to work.

A spokeswoman for the department said: “The Better Off in Work credit will guarantee that everyone who has been on benefits for six months will be at least £40 a week better off when they go into work, so that we can guarantee that work will pay.

“Together with the National Minimum Wage, tax credits address in-work poverty by guaranteeing minimum levels of income for families.”

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