Government commitment on child poverty to be enshrined in law

The Government has published a landmark child poverty bill that enshrines in law a duty to eradicate child poverty by 2020 – so that all children have the best start in life and have the opportunities to flourish. The cross departmental bill requires Government to reduce poverty so families on low income do not get left behind. It puts duties on local authorities, and partner organisations like the NHS and Police to work together at local level to lift children out of poverty. It also requires Government to report to Parliament each year on progress and creates a new expert Child Poverty Commission to publish advice and encourage progress.

500,000 children have been lifted out of poverty already and measures currently in train are expected to lift around a further half a million children out of poverty. The target for relative poverty requires the UK to go further than the best currently being achieved in Denmark, Finland and other European countries.

In summary the UK-wide Bill will:

• Establish four income targets to be met by 2020, which will define the eradication of child poverty; Relative poverty: Less than 10 per cent of children living in relative low income poverty by 2020 (i.e. in households with less that 60 per cent of the median income); Material Deprivation: Less than 5 per cent of children living in combined material deprivation and low income (i.e. in households with less than 70 per cent of median income); Persistent Poverty: percentage of children living in relative poverty for three out of four years (target level to be set by the end of 2014 as data are currently unavailable); Absolute low income: less that 5 percent of children living in families with an income below an absolute threshold.

• Require the Government to publish a UK child poverty strategy, which must be revised every three years. The strategy will set out the policies that will put in place to meet the targets.  There will also be a requirement for Scottish ministers and Northern Irish ministers to publish child poverty strategies and the establishment of a child poverty Commission to provide advice on the development of the child poverty strategies.

• Require the Government to publish annual progress reports. Place duties on local authorities and other local delivery partners to work together to tackle child poverty, conduct a local needs assessment, produce a child poverty strategy and take child poverty into account in the production and revision of their Sustainable Communities Strategies.

The Government is also announcing the pilot areas that were selected for an innovative scheme which gives local authorities the opportunity to draw up individual plans to tackle local child poverty issues and the areas to benefit from targeted accommodation support for teenage parents.

‘Take Up the Challenge’, the report from the Take Up Taskforce outlines how local services can help poor families to take up their financial entitlements, illustrated by examples of local approaches that are having a real impact. Increasing the take up of benefits and tax credits is an important part of the Government’s strategy, and is particularly important to help vulnerable families through a time of economic uncertainty. This report will help local authorities and partners meet the requirements of the Bill.

Details on the Child Poverty Bill and the Take Up Taskforce’s report can be found at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/ecm/childpoverty

There are currently 42 Local Authorities running pilots.

HMRC Outreach Pilot: The HRMC Outreach pilot tests whether providing tax credit advice in Children’s Centres will assist in the take up and best use of tax credits for families, ensuring that families in poverty are claiming all that they are entitled to claim to better support them. The HMRC-led and funded pilot began in five Children’s Centres in Preston and Newham in May 2008 has been extended, from April 2009, to 100 Children’s Centres in the West Midlands, NW Lancashire and London areas.

Work Focused Services Pilot: This pilot, led by DWP and DCSF is testing whether placing JobCentrePlus (JCP) advisors in Children’s Centres, along with additional support aimed at getting more people into employment .It was launched in 10 Local Authorities and 30 Children Centres in January 2009 and early anecdotal evidence is showing that parents are making good use of the service and support provided in their Sure Start Children’s Centre.

Family Intervention Pilot: The DCSF has been running the successful Family Intervention Project (FIP) programme since July 2008 and in October of the same year, funding was made available for 10 local authorities to run a FIP programme specifically aimed at supporting families who experience poverty, inter-generational worklessness and other complex needs. Once fully launched, it will be operating in 32 areas with each area working with 40-60 families. It was launched in October 2008 in 10 areas which each area working with 15-20 families. 2 more projects are scheduled to be operational by September 2009.
Child Development Grant Pilots: The Child Development Grant Pilots provides incentive based programmes, aimed at encouraging hard to reach parents to engage in a number of positive activities to help lift them and their families out of poverty. The pilot will run for two years in ten Local Authorities.

Local Area Innovation pilots: In ten LAs, the Local Area Innovation Pilots give local authorities and their partners the chance to draw up new and innovative programmes to help tackle local child poverty issues. The pilots will seek to encourage movement into employment, increase the take-up of benefits and help to raise incomes through measures tailored to support the local authority.

Supported accommodation for teenage parents: In May and June 2009, seven local authorities will test how providing enhanced support for teenage parents’ housing needs can help improve outcomes for teenage parents and their children. The pilots will help to define the best ways of offering enhanced support.