This report uses a revolutionary new research tool, LOIS (the Lifetime Opportunity and Incentives Simulation programme), to assess the impact of current government social policy on our lives from cradle to grave. systems are analysed in terms of how well they meet, or are likely to meet, the needs of individuals throughout their lifetimes. Specific government promises, such as those to end child and pensioner poverty and to reward those who work, are also reassessed in this context. it is to reconcile child poverty today against future pensioner poverty; develops new ideas about the design of social policy over the lifetime, such as 'opportunity traps' and the 'lifetime poverty see-saw'; reveals the pitfalls of private pensions for the low-paid. academics, researchers, analysts, students and policy makers who will find the innovative lifetime analysis invaluable. With brief and clear descriptions of the technical aspects of taxation, pensions and benefits, the report is also accessible to a wider readership.