BRITAIN’s poorest families have benefited from rising standards in schools and falling unemployment but still experience significant inequality in income and health, according to latest research Improved exam results and a continued reduction in the number of working-age adults claiming means-tsted benefits are identified in the third edition of Monitoring poverty and social exclusion,compiled by the New Policy Institute and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. But the guide also points out that four million children are living in households with less than half average income.