THE Government’s recent Child Poverty Strategy makes “essential 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 largest reduction in a single parliament since records began”.
“Following the reversal of the two-child limit [News, 28 November], the strategy tackles the foundation causes of poverty by cutting the associated fee of essentials, boosting family incomes, and improving local services so every child has the perfect start in life,” it continued.
Measures announced within the strategy include: “more accessible childcare for working parents on Universal Credit”; an end to “the illegal placement of families in Bed and Breakfasts beyond the six-week limit”; £950 million, from April, “to deliver as much as 5,000 high-quality homes for higher temporary accommodation by 2030”; the creation of “1,000 Best Start Family Hubs across each area in England”; and help for “families with the associated fee of essentials by helping families to purchase more cost-effective 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 fundamentals: a secure home, warm meals, and the support they should make ends meet.
“I is not going to stand by and watch that occur. . . This is an ethical mission for me. It’s about fairness, opportunity, and unlocking potential. Our strategy isn’t nearly reversing the failures of the past, it sets a recent course for national renewal, with children’s life probabilities at its heart.”
Bishop Snow, who’s 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 essential steps included of 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 advantages will definitely help a whole bunch of hundreds of youngsters have a fairer start in life.”
He continued: “However, while these measures are positive, the Strategy as a complete 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 brand new commitments fall in need of the dimensions of the challenge. Even with these reforms, projected poverty levels are more likely to remain far higher than they were a generation ago.
“Child poverty carries immense costs — to the families affected, to the general public purse, and to our common life together. With that in mind, I think the Government could have afforded to take more robust and holistic motion.”
The Children’s Society posted on social media: “The commitments laid out [in the strategy] have the potential to remodel children’s lives. Now we must turn these guarantees into concrete motion: food on tables, stability at home and hope for each child.”
The director of influencing at Action for Children, Lucy Schonegevel, said that the strategy had “the potential to remodel the lives and life probabilities of a whole bunch of hundreds of youngsters and marks a serious step forward in tackling the kid poverty crisis. . . To fully realise the strategy’s ambition, it’s vital we construct upon these foundations further within the months and years to return. We stand able to work with the Government on implementation, and on the further steps it may well take to enhance 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 totally right that government is setting out an ambition to deliver the most important reduction in child poverty since records began. We back them to the hilt on this. . .
“What we’d like to see — and what we hope will likely be set out within the upcoming homelessness strategy — is a plan to tackle the underlying causes which might be pushing children into homelessness at record-high levels. Much of this comes right down to housing affordability. This is at the foundation of so a lot of these problems and has yet to be addressed by the Government.”
The director of research and policy on the Institute for Public Policy Research, Ashwin Kumar, described the measures announced within the strategy as “daring early steps”, but said “this should be the beginning, not the finish line. To truly turn the tide, the Government might want to go further: by eliminating destitution amongst children, removing the profit cap, restoring Local Housing Allowance so housing support keeps up with rents, and setting long-term targets to drive poverty down. If ministers construct on today’s first steps, this strategy could grow to be the idea of a fairer system that guarantees every child security and the prospect to thrive.”
