Still doing it tough: an update on deprivation and social exclusion among welfare service clients
Peter Saunders and Melissa Wong
Social Policy Research Centre
Contact Email:   melissa.wongunsw.edu.au

This paper will report results from a new survey of disadvantaged Australians conducted in 2008 and draw comparisons with the situation in 2006. Both surveys recruited clients of selected welfare services when they accessed services or sought assistance and thus provide an important insight into the circumstances of those experiencing the most extreme forms of disadvantage. The methods and indicators developed in earlier SPRC research will be used to examine the incidence of different forms of disadvantage as well as the incidence of multiple disadvantage, and the robustness of these methods will be tested across the two surveys. Attention will focus on comparing the level and patterns of deprivation and social exclusion among different groups (including those reliant on different social security payments) and how they have changed over the period using benchmarks that capture community views on which items and activities are essential for all Australians to have or to participate in. Evidence on the existence of deprivation and exclusion will be correlated with information on the experience of adverse events and subjective perceptions of well-being as a way of identifying the kinds of factors that trigger the onset of disadvantage and the consequences that result for the individuals affected.

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