UK benefits system hindering child poverty efforts

An independent report for the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Finance Committee on child poverty in Scotland has raised concerns over the current UK benefits system and the failure of work to ensure low income parents are better off. The report showed children in Scotland are more likely to miss out on experiences of childhood because of poverty than those across the UK and that for many parents in poverty entering employment meant a loss of income.

Alongside tackling the problem of benefits to reduce income poverty it highlighted building council and social housing, free school meals and smaller class sizes as key steps that could reduce the social rather than financial poverty. SNP MSP Alasdair Allan and SNP Work and Pensions spokesman John Mason MP have voiced their concerns that Labour’s proposed benefits reforms will make the situation worse.

The report shows that:

·       Children in poverty in Scotland were more likely to miss out on experiences of childhood than their counterparts across the UK (holiday, sports, playgroup, school trips etc).
·       Single parents with young children are unlikely to be better off by returning to work.
·       Forcing people into work will do little to tackle child poverty and may make the situation worse
·       Reducing benefits to force people into work will not overcome poverty or improve conditions for children.
·       The main issues with an impact on children in poverty are reserved to Westminster.

Deputy Convener of the Local Government committee Alasdair Allan MSP said;

“This report highlights the poverty trap created in Scotland by the UK benefits system. Whilst many parents whose children are living in poverty wish to train or to work they too often find they are penalised by the system for doing so.  With people put off applying for work and college because they will lose benefit support and others put off the tax credit system because of the “irrationality” with which it operates there are real concerns here that must be addressed. Disturbingly the UK Government’s proposed changes to the system seem more likely to increase poverty amongst those with illnesses or one parent families than to tackle the real problems.

SNP Work and Pensions spokesman John Mason said;

“This study confirms that few of those on benefits want to be living on benefits. The measures the Scottish Government has introduced to reduce class sizes, to build new council  and social housing, to increase nursery provision and to offer free school meals are all part of tackling the social side of child poverty in Scotland however there can be no escaping the real impact low incomes have on too many of our children. This study confirms that the UK Government’s proposals to cut benefits and force people back into work risk having a detrimental effect on children in poverty.  At the same time if those returning to work are earning less than they would do on benefits we must ask if the minimum wage is meeting it’s targets.”

The children and young people committee’s report into child poverty in Wales: Eradication through education

Helen Mary Jones introduced a debate about the children and young people committee’s report into child poverty in Wales, ‘Eradication through education’.  Presenting the report to the Assembly, Jones said that the committee focused on the government’s delivery through the education service, because “schools are the one public service that touches the lives of all of our children and young people.”  She said that there are some areas of good and innovative practice, but found an overall “lack of strategic co-ordination” from the government.

Jones asked the government to clarify whether or not it will make non-recurrent funding contingent on the local authority’s ability to demonstrate how the resources will help it to tackle child poverty. She said that it is essential that school staff are “enabled to understand the effects of poverty on children’s lives and on their ability to learn”, in order to help them mitigate those effects. She called on the minister to ensure that this is included in future teacher training.

She highlighted the report’s fourth recommendation, which called for the publication of targets for each ministerial portfolio, an annual report on the progress made towards those targets, and an annual debate in the Assembly to monitor that progress. She went on to say that the education system “should be the vehicle that mitigates the worst effects of poverty in children’s lives”, and provides them with the tools to climb out of poverty.

The minister for children, education, lifelong learning and skills, Jane Hutt, said that the Assembly Government remains totally committed to eradicating child poverty, and recognises the “key role that education has to play.” Hutt welcomed in particular recommendation 3, which calls for an updated and refreshed child poverty strategy and implementation plan for Wales. She went on to say that there is now a delivery group of senior officials from relevant policy departments that focuses “specifically on the progress made in delivering on the Assembly Government’s child poverty agenda.” The minister said that through core aim 7 of the children and young people’s plans, “local authorities working with their partners must set out the action that they have agreed to take to address child poverty.”

Department of Work and Pensions questioned about child poverty

In response to a question about definitions of child poverty, Kitty Usher, Parliamentary Under Secretary, noted that the Department uses three indicators to monitor levels of child poverty which were established in 2003 following a lengthy period of consultation.  She noted that since 1998 progress has been made against all of the indicators. 600,000 children have been lifted out of relative low income between 1998-99 and 2006-07, a shift from 3.4 million children to 2.9 million children. The number of children living in absolute low income has halved from 3.4 million to 1.7 million. Between 2004-05, the first year data was available, and 2006-07 the number of children in the UK defined as poor using the combined indicator of relative low income and material deprivation fell by 200,000 from 2.2 million to 2.0 million on the particular material deprivation threshold that was chosen.

 

Absolute low income measures whether the poorest families are seeing their income rise in real terms. The threshold is fixed as equal to the relative low income threshold for the baseline year of 1998-99 expressed in today’s prices. Relative low income measures whether the incomes of the poorest families are keeping pace with the growth of incomes in the economy as a whole. This indicator measures the number of children living in households below 60 per cent of contemporary median equivalised income. She noted that this is the indicator which is used to measure performance against the public service agreement target to halve child poverty by 2010-11.

 

Material deprivation and low income combined provides a wider measure of people’s living standards. This indicator measures the number of children living in households that are both materially deprived and have an income below 70 per cent of contemporary equivalised median income.  

 

She also said that low income is not the only dimension to poverty and a child’s quality of life, including access to health care, education and a safe environment, are critical. The three indicators are therefore underpinned by the broader Opportunity for all indicators. Opportunity for all is the Government’s report on poverty and social exclusion which includes a wide range of poverty and social exclusion indicators for children and young people (as well as working age adults, older people and communities) including health, education and housing.

Best practices sought to tackle child poverty

The Government’s new Take Up Taskforce is asking local authorities and their partners to show how they are tackling child poverty by supporting parents to take up tax credits and benefits. The Taskforce is currently looking for examples of good practice from across the UK, which demonstrate how local services have supported families at risk of poverty to take up the financial support they are entitled to. Local authorities and their partners are invited to share their best practices with the Taskforce by 20 February 2009. The Government says that it has redesigned the tax and benefit system to provide help for all, and extra help for those who need it most, whilst still maintaining incentives to work. It notes that this has been critical in lifting 600,000 children out of poverty over the last decade. However, many families are still not taking up the tax credits and benefits that they are entitled to, and remain in poverty as a result.

Children in poverty experience the realities of disadvantage and deprivation, suffering not only from poverty of income, but poverty of aspiration and opportunity. Whilst child poverty exists, our children, our society, and our economy will not reach their full potential.

The Government has set up the Taskforce of experts from local authorities and the voluntary sector to develop ways to help local services improve the take up of benefits and tax credits. The Taskforce is looking specifically for work done in the last three years, which:

• looks to increase take up of a range of tax credits and benefits, and support families to manage their claims;
• aligns increasing take up with wider efforts to increase parents’ aspirations and help them to understand the benefits of work;
• demonstrates good value for money, and can be replicated within mainstream budgets;
• reach families in innovative ways through different local services;
• focus on families with children who are at risk of poverty.

New anti-poverty campaign launched in Scotland

West of Scotland SNP MSP Bill Wilson, launched the Getfair Scotland campaign this week. Getfair Scotland is a new campaign group aimed at raising awareness of poverty issues in Scotland and across the UK. It was launched in the Scottish Parliament with the signing of a Poverty Pledge by senior representatives from Scotland’s parties. More than 50 organisations across the UK have joined the coalition. In Scotland, the campaign is being led by the Poverty Alliance, SCVO, the Scottish Churches Social Inclusion Network, Faith in Community Scotland, Citizens Advice Scotland and others.

Commenting on the aims of the campaign Bill Wilson said: “It is my hope that this campaign will help the UK Government work towards addressing the issues identified by Getfair Scotland to reverse the possible impact of the economic crisis, particularly for those on low incomes. I am pleased that the SNP Government is taking the action within its powers to tackle poverty with steps to increase affordable housing with 5,700 new starts over the last year and a £25 million fund to help those struggling with mortgage costs at this time.”

SNP MSP John Wilson, who has previously worked for Poverty Alliance and as a Director of the Scottish Low Pay Unit, also welcomed the campaign. He said

“It is my hope that the UK Government will work towards addressing the issues identified by Getfair Scotland to reverse the possible impact of the economic crisis, particularly for those on low incomes. It is a disgrace that we are in a situation where people in Scotland, particularly children, still live in poverty.  Poverty in Scotland has increased during Labour’s time in office.  It must not be allowed to get worse as we fight Labour’s recession.”

“I have serious concerns over the impact of UK Government actions to push single parents into work by threatening to reduce benefit payments and measures put in place last year that reduce the time over which benefits can be reclaimed from 12 months to 3 months will have on addressing poverty in Scotland.  For as long as the UK Government controls our welfare system we must make sure it works for the best interests of Scots not the bank balance of the Treasury.”

The pledge reads:

The Poverty Pledge

Get Fair Scotland 2009

As the Leaders of the political parties represented in the Scottish Parliament and other elected representatives in Scotland:

•       We hold that the current number of people in Scotland living in poverty, 950,000 or nearly 1 in 5 of the population, is wholly unacceptable.
•       We believe that the reduction of poverty must be a shared key objective of Governments in London and Edinburgh.
•       We recognise that the current economic crisis threatens to push more Scots into poverty and acknowledge that Government responses must include specific measures to protect those most at risk
•       We endorse the aims of Get Fair and believe that an increase in income adequacy will be an essential part of the package of measures necessary to achieve a major reduction in poverty.
•       We undertake to use, or support the use of, all policy powers available to the Governments of Scotland and the UK to meet poverty reduction targets.
•       We reaffirm our commitment to end child poverty by 2020 and to end Fuel Poverty for all households by 2016.

UNICEF report warns of childcare disadvantage

 A new UNICEF report has warned that the potential benefits of out-of-home child care could be lost and social inequalities widened if governments in the world’s richest nations do not guarantee high quality early years care and education  for all, especially the most disadvantaged.

The international comparative study, released this week by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, warns that poor quality child care may harm a child’s development. It highlights that the poorest often cannot afford high quality child care meaning that children born into these families face the double disadvantage of being born into poverty and receiving poor quality childcare.

The report proposes 10 ‘benchmarks’ as a first step towards establishing a set of minimum standards by which progress in early childhood education and care might be monitored and compared across the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). England meets five of the 10 benchmarks and ranks joint 11th out of 25.

Early Day Motion tabled on Campaign to End Child Poverty

An EDM was this week tabled stating:

That this House is deeply concerned that there are 3.9 million children living below the poverty line in the United Kingdom, which is one of the worst records in the EU and amongst other wealthy countries; recognises the appalling damage poverty does to children’s wellbeing and life chances; further recognises the strength of public concern, as demonstrated by over 10,000 people at the largest ever event in support of an end to child poverty, the Campaign to End Child Poverty’s recent rally in Trafalgar Square; believes that British children should not have to continue suffering worse levels of poverty than their counterparts in other wealthy countries; notes research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation indicating that social and economic problems resulting from child poverty cost the United Kingdom at least ?25 billion each year; believes that the Government should recognise, measure and act on relative poverty; and calls on the Government to eradicate United Kingdom child poverty by 2020.

Ministers attend London Summit to address Child Poverty

Children’s Minister, Beverley Hughes, Financial Secretary, Stephen Timms, Minister for London, Tony McNulty, Mayor of London, Boris Johnson and London Councils’ Chairman Councillor Merrick Cockell met this week to discuss the issue of child poverty in London and to announce a joint target to raise the number of parents in employment by three percent by 2013.

 

The meeting, chaired by Kate Green of the Child Poverty Action Group, looked at more ways to work together to help bring an end to child poverty in the capital in line with the Government’s target of eradicating national child poverty by 2020.

As part of the plans for the capital, which has the highest child poverty rate in the country with 31% of children living in poverty, Ministers introduced the London Child Poverty Pledge which they signed at the meeting to highlight the Government’s continued commitment to ending child poverty.

 

Ending Child Poverty in London will require a contribution from a wide range of organisations – including local authorities, public services and charities. The Pledge asks these organisations to do more to tackle child poverty by improving the services they provide for poor families, and ensuring their employment practices support parents to enter, stay and progress in work. This will begin to generate the widespread commitment and action required to meet the challenging target of ending child poverty.

 

Work for parents who can, remains the best route out of poverty, particularly in London where the persistent rate of child poverty is driven by a low level of parental employment. The Government is committed to supporting them to find work, stay in work and progress so that they can build a sustainable future for their families.

Report launched on well-being of children and young people in Wales

Welsh Conservative Shadow Social Justice Minister Mark Isherwood AM has commented on the launch of a major report on the well-being of children and young people in Wales. The report aims to give a detailed picture of children’s lives in Wales, pulling together information about everyone under the age of 18, and looks at health, education, access to play and a whole range of issues.  It will help evaluate how well Government policies are working.

 

Mr Ishwerwood said: ‘We welcome the Assembly Government’s recognition that research and statistical data should underpin its policies and priorities for children and young people. However, as recession looms we are concerned that this may be used as a fig leaf for failure. We should not forget that reductions in child poverty in Wales bottomed out in 2004, child poverty in Wales has since been rising faster than in England, and that lack of work is the greatest factor in child poverty. Despite 16 years of economic growth we enter recession with almost 300,000 children in Wales living in families in poverty and almost one in five Welsh children living in workless households.’

Department for Work and Pensions launches new scheme for parents of poverty stricken children

Child Poverty Minister, Kitty Ussher launched a new pilot scheme aimed at helping parents of children in poverty getting back into work, stating that the Government remained committed to eradicating child poverty.

The new initiative, rolled out to ten authorities, will enable parents to access Jobcentre Plus personal advisers in Children’s Centres to enlist upon work focussed services. The pilot, which will run in 30 children’s centres from January 2009, will also test what other services could be beneficial in moving parents into employment. It complements the existing initiative of providing tax credits advice through Children’s Centres, which is being expanded following a successful pilot earlier in the year.

The ten Local Authorities chosen to test the impact of embedding Jobcentre Plus services in children’s centres are: Westminster, Lambeth, Nottingham City, Southampton, Sandwell, Redcar and Cleveland, Somerset, Blackpool, Kingston Upon Hull and Ealing.