Philip Hammond pledged that his budget would deliver for so-called hardworking families: “the strivers, the grafters and the carers who are the backbone of our communities and our economy”. Last week’s announcement of increases to work allowances within universal credit was immediately welcomed by anti-poverty campaigners, some of whom have been calling for action to address the “burning injustice” of in-work poverty.

But a political narrative that focuses on society’s “grafters” only sustains simplistic divisions between “deserving” and “undeserving” populations, implying that those not in work require corrective interventions to do the right thing, by engaging in paid employment and making the transition from “shirker” to “striver”.

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While there is no question that the sharp increase in the number of people living in poverty in working families should concern us all, there are real dangers in focusing on this one dimension of poverty. First, it pits “hardworking families” against the supposed passivity of “welfare dependants”. And neat divisions also conceal the reality that people move in and out of work over time. People on these benefits may have been forced to give up work because of illness or impairments, or to care for a family member. Others who are not in paid employment may not be expected to look for work, such as those with severely limiting illnesses or disabilities, or single parents with pre-school children.

Second, a narrow focus on in‑work poverty can imply that the continued existence of out-of-work poverty is somehow less concerning than people with jobs experiencing poverty. Much more noise needs to be made on the injustice of the 4.5 million children living in poverty in the UK. Recent figures show a large number of individuals living in destitution (1.5 million in 2017),increases in how far below the poverty line families are being forced to subsist, and rates of child poverty are predicted to soar by 2021 as welfare cuts bite, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Reversing these trends requires action on poverty as a whole.

Third, favouring “hardworking families” conceals the large amounts of unpaid labour that is undertaken, often by women, in so-called workless households. Unpaid household work, such as looking after children, doing laundry and cooking, is worth £1.24tn a year in the UK. Even those seeking work are expected, under universal credit, to spend hours looking for job opportunities, updating CVs, writing applications, and travelling to and from various meetings in order to receive their benefits. All of this sounds suspiciously like “work”.

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Hammond’s decision to inject £1.7bn into universal credit work allowances will certainly improve the lives of those with jobs living in poverty. It will deliver up to £630 a year (£50 a month) additional income to working families with children or disabled people.

It is without doubt a positive step, but the danger is that it marginalises those who are not in the labour market. Poverty shames us all, regardless of whether or not the person in poverty has a job.

• Ruth Patrick is a lecturer in social policy and social work at the University of York and author of For Whose Benefit? She wrote this article with Stephen Crossley, a senior lecturer in social policy at Northumbria University and Kayleigh Garthwaite, a fellow at the department of social policy, sociology and criminology at the University of Birmingham