The following section sets out what may happen to low-income families under the alternative “Golden Age?” These two scenarios share some common trends. In both future worlds, economic growth is expected to be slow to modest (on average) to 2030, both expect to see rising social inequalities, and both predict continued pressure on public spending with the generosity of welfare payments declining. But there are important differences between the scenarios with differing implications for poverty and social cohesion. As a result, while the numbers living in absolute poverty have declined, the continued rise in inequality has meant that relative poverty has continued to grow, albeit at a relatively slow pace. While incomes have risen, so too have costs, particularly for housing, education and transport and those at the bottom of the income distribution scale are increasingly excluded in these domains.