THE Government’s new Child Poverty Strategy makes “important steps”, but lacks ambition, the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, has said.
The strategy, announced on Friday, will lift about 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030, a Government statement said — “the biggest reduction in a single parliament since records began”.
“Following the reversal of the two-child limit [News, 28 November], the strategy tackles the root causes of poverty by cutting the cost of essentials, boosting family incomes, and improving local services so every child has the best start in life,” it continued.
Measures announced in the strategy include: “more accessible childcare for working parents on Universal Credit”; an end to “the unlawful placement of families in Bed and Breakfasts beyond the six-week limit”; £950 million, from April, “to deliver up to 5,000 high-quality homes for better temporary accommodation by 2030”; the creation of “1,000 Best Start Family Hubs across every single area in England”; and help for “families with the cost of essentials by helping families to buy more affordable infant formula”.
The Prime Minister said on Friday: “Too many children are growing up in poverty, held back from getting on in life, and too many families are struggling without the basics: a secure home, warm meals, and the support they need to make ends meet.
“I will not stand by and watch that happen. . . This is a moral mission for me. It’s about fairness, opportunity, and unlocking potential. Our strategy isn’t just about reversing the failures of the past, it sets a new course for national renewal, with children’s life chances at its heart.”
Bishop Snow, who is the lead bishop for child-poverty issues, wrote on social media on Friday: “I welcome the Government’s commitment to lifting children out of poverty and the important steps included in their Child Poverty Strategy. Expanding family hubs, improving access to childcare and providing targeted support to families in temporary accommodation will make a meaningful difference to many families. Ending the two-child limit on means-tested benefits will certainly help hundreds of thousands of children have a fairer start in life.”
He continued: “However, while these measures are positive, the Strategy as a whole lacks the ambition needed to reverse a decade of rising child poverty. Much of what has been announced today had already been trailed in earlier budgets or policy papers, and the new commitments fall short of the scale of the challenge. Even with these reforms, projected poverty levels are likely to remain far higher than they were a generation ago.
“Child poverty carries immense costs — to the families affected, to the public purse, and to our common life together. With that in mind, I believe the Government could have afforded to take more robust and holistic action.”
The Children’s Society posted on social media: “The commitments laid out [in the strategy] have the potential to transform children’s lives. Now we must turn these promises into concrete action: food on tables, stability at home and hope for every child.”
The director of influencing at Action for Children, Lucy Schonegevel, said that the strategy had “the potential to transform the lives and life chances of hundreds of thousands of children and marks a serious step forward in tackling the child poverty crisis. . . To fully realise the strategy’s ambition, it is vital we build upon these foundations further in the months and years to come. We stand ready to work with the Government on implementation, and on the further steps it can take to improve the social security system, further widen access to childcare and family support services and boost parental employment.”
The chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis, Matt Downie, told the Big Issue: “It is absolutely right that government is setting out an ambition to deliver the largest reduction in child poverty since records began. We back them to the hilt on this. . .
“What we need to see — and what we hope will be set out in the upcoming homelessness strategy — is a plan to tackle the underlying causes that are pushing children into homelessness at record-high levels. Much of this comes down to housing affordability. This is at the root of so many of these problems and has yet to be addressed by the Government.”
The director of research and policy at the Institute for Public Policy Research, Ashwin Kumar, described the measures announced in the strategy as “bold early steps”, but said “this must be the start, not the finish line. To truly turn the tide, the Government will need to go further: by eliminating destitution amongst children, removing the benefit cap, restoring Local Housing Allowance so housing support keeps up with rents, and setting long-term targets to drive poverty down. If ministers build on today’s first steps, this strategy could become the basis of a fairer system that guarantees every child security and the chance to thrive.”
