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e benefit rates may be set at a very low rate, well below average earning, and thus do not provide an acceptable poverty threshold measure'.

Low income is a major problem in the United Kingdom, as it is at the centre of poverty matters. It has short term as well as long term effects on individuals and society overall, as people who are in low income are more likely to have serious illnesses, for example 'Cancer mortality rates in the poorest areas (200 per 100,000) are 50% higher than average, and have not fallen in the last decade, while the average has fallen by one-sixth' (Aldridge et al, 2013). Low income also affects the whole British economy, as British society has turned out to be controlled by material goods and market relationships and any shortage would have a great effect on the economy. This means, that measuring poverty in the right way would help to reduce the pattern on low income (Kenway et al, 2002, 18).

The cause of the rise and fall of the number of people with low income is debatable. Some consider it to be the individual's fault because laziness and passivity. However, others see it deeper than that and put the responsibility on the government's policies as Kenway et al (2002, 18) state that 'the chief weapons that have been used in the assault on low income over the last few years are first, reforms to the tax and benefit system and second, the national minimum wage'. For example, if the government raises taxes and cuts down on benefits, as a result, the number of people on low income will rise, as well as poverty. On the other hand, it could be argued that this weapon can be used in a positive way to decrease the number of people on low income and against poverty, by decreasing taxes and offering more/higher benefits. The same also applies for minimum wage, where it could be increased or decreased, which in turn will have an effect on the level of poverty in Britain. That's why there are many measures of poverty, as each measure is used to look deeper into the problem from a different angle to try and conclude where the responsibility/blame lies and the best ways to deal and solve this problem.

Another way of measuring poverty is by using 'consensual/social indicators'. This approach is very much dependent on social surveys and on public view of necessities. Not only the UK implemented this approach of measuring poverty, but many other countries did, such as, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Germany and Vietnam. That made it one of the most common approaches of measuring poverty. However, it has been criticised 'because people's responses are firmly based on their own subjective experience, which may be far removed from the poverty level' (MacPherson & Silburn, 1998, 12).

'Budget standard' is another method to measure poverty. It is based on a very basic basket of goods, the only good thing about it is, that things can be put into or taken out of a budget standard easily (Gordon et al, 2000, 75). But when it comes to weakness points, 'budget standard' has some, for example, it only focuses on a group of people and does not cover all types of people, such as, people from various cultures, or with special needs, as Roll (1992, 39) confirms; 'the argument is that people have different spending patterns so that, even if they had the same amount of income from benefit, they would not spend it on the basket of goods'. Because of that, this approach is not used muc