ROOF Blog

Progress in tacking child poverty in Scotland has stalled, with more than one in five children living in poverty. A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report found there had been no improvement in the number of children living in poverty in the past five years, despite commitment to halve poverty levels by 2010 and eradicate it entirely by 2010. The report wants the Scottish government to do more to tackle the issue including improving employment opportunities for parents, introducing a living wage, and improving access to affordable quality childcare. It is estimated that 21 per cent of Scottish children live in poverty.

More people live in poverty in outer London than in inner London, new research has found. The study found that 54 per cent of Londoners with low incomes live in outer London, up from half 10 years ago – and more children were affected by poverty in outer (380,000) than inner London (270,000). Overall, London had the highest proportion of people living below the poverty line, and was found to be the least equal region with more people with an income in either the top or bottom 10 per cent nationally than anywhere else in the country.

New figures out for households of below average income have shown no change between 2006 and 2008 in the number of children living in child poverty, which ministers have admitted has made meeting the target of halving child poverty very difficult. Ministers said they had lifted 600,000 children out of poverty, with a further 500,000 being helped by new measures that have been put into place since 2007, but there are still 600,000 children affected and need to be improved if the 2010/11 target is to be met. The government said it remains ‘absolutely committed’ to the 2020 target of eradicating child poverty altogether.

The promise to eradicate child poverty by 2020 looks set to be abandoned, according to the Child Poverty Action Group. Although Chancellor Alistair Darling repeated the government’s commitment yesterday, campaigners said that levels of poverty have been rising. In yesterday’s Budget Mr Darling is offering only a £20 a year increase to the child tax credit, which CPAG called a pittance.

A table of the wellbeing of young people throughout European states has ranked Britain 24th out of 29 countries. The researchers assessed the countries on 43 separate measures, ranging from infant mortality to poverty and housing, and asked the children how they felt about their lives, schools and relationships. The Netherlands came out on top, while Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta are the only countries which came below the UK. The Child Poverty Action Group who commissioned the research made a number of recommendations including dropping means tests in favour of universal benefits such as child benefit and ensuring a decent home for every family.

A House of Commons’ select committee has warned that the state is failing in its duty to act as a parent to children in care by not protecting them from sexual exploitation, homelessness and crime. In its report the children, schools and family committee calls for a radical overhaul of the system to ensure that the most vulnerable children get the services they require. It says that concerns for the happiness and welfare of the 60,000 children in care should be at the heart of the system and that government is ‘too timid’ in demanding that health services and the criminal justice and asylum systems give special consideration to looked-after children.

Leaders of religious faiths, humanists and academics have written to Chancellor Alistair Darling demanding more action to improve the lives of children in poverty. There is a ‘moral imperative’ to help the country’s poorest during a recession, they argue. And because poorer families immediately spend money on their basics, giving them assistance also helps stimulate the economy, the letter’s signatories say.

On the tenth anniversary of Labour’s pledge to end child poverty, the Child Action Poverty Group (CPAG) has urged the government not to abandon the target in the face of global economic issues, arguing it was still possible to achieve the goal of halving child poverty by 2010. In a report the CPAG found that 600,000 children have already been lifted out of poverty since 1999, with a further 500,000 expected to follow as a result of current policies, leaving 700,000 still on the 2010 target. Analysts have estimated that an investment of £3 billion could help the government eradicate child poverty.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that an extra £2.4 billion a year will need to be spent on tax credits if the government is to meet its target of halving child poverty. JFR says that 2.3 million children will be in poverty in 2010, missing the 1.7 million target set in 1999. The JRF also says that there has been a sharp increase in the number of children living in poverty who have at least one parent in work, suggesting that the recession could push many further below the poverty line because of increased unemployment.

The Children’s Society has found that children and young people feel personally affected by the financial and emotional consequences of the recession. One in five children aged 11–13 said they were worried about what they saw on the news, rising to 28 per cent of young people aged 17–19. Girls appear to be more sensitive about how the news is affecting their parents with around 40 per cent of girls and young women saying their parents were concerned about the situation, compared with 30 per cent of boys and young men.