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Local authorities and public bodies are to have their "feet kept to the flames" on child poverty targets, the work and pensions secretary has said.
Unveiling the Child Poverty Bill on Friday, Yvette Cooper set out plans to make it a legal duty for the government, local authorities and other public organisations to help end child poverty across the UK.
Cooper explained that the new law will help the government reach its target of eradicating child poverty by 2020.
"The duty on [local authorities] is to work together and to draw up a local strategy to identify what the causes [of child poverty] are," she told the BBC.
"It might be teenage pregnancy rates that are for example causing a big problem in their area, and to work together to bring that down."
Cooper also defended the decision to make the obligation a legal requirement for government bodies.
"A lot of government organisations and agencies operate within a legal framework," she argued.
"We are saying that this should apply to child poverty because it is so fundamental to what happens to children for the rest of their lives when they grow up. What their chances are in their early years."
The Child Poverty Bill will "keep everyone driving in the same direction", she claimed.
"You can't just walk around and turn away because it is getting difficult."
The Bill will include targets to have fewer than 10 per cent of children living in households with less than 60 per cent of median income.
And under the legislation, ministers will be required to publish a three-yearly strategy as well as annual progress reports. An advisory child poverty commission will be also be established.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd