Legislation planned on child poverty target

ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on news that the government will enshrine in law the target of abolishing child poverty by 2020.

In his speech to the Labour Party conference in Manchester, the prime minister announced his intention to introduce ground-breaking legislation to fulfil Labour's pledge to end child poverty.

Stakeholder response: NUT

Christine Blower, acting general secretary at the National Union of Teachers, Europe's largest teaching union, told ePolitix.com: "Gordon Brown's commitment to ending the debilitating cycle of child poverty by making it a legal requirement to end child poverty by 2020 is a laudable decision. Poverty is undoubtedly the main barrier to educational advance, which is why the NUT supports the ECP campaign.

"Over three million children in the UK live below the poverty line. This is an appalling statistic. Children from low-income families, by definition, are more likely to live in a poor environment, in poor quality housing, have a poor diet and shorter life expectancy. Needless to say, they tend to have less energy for learning.

"They are more likely to be emotionally upset and less likely to have opportunities for educational help at home. The cumulative effect of these disadvantages will work against a child's emotional and educational development and will mean their experience and aspirations will be the poorer.

"Poverty often generates a sense of powerlessness among parents who, despite having aspirations for their children, feel that they can make little or no contribution themselves to advancing their children's learning or to help their own learning.

"Education is one of the most effective means of lifting people out of poverty. For that to happen we need to have a level playing field in our education system where it is not only those with the strongest voice or the well-off that receive a good education.

"A state-funded education system, free to all, should be the bedrock of society. It should be seen as an investment in the future and not become hijacked by so-called 'choice' or 'market solutions'.

"The latest report on education from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows that primary school class sizes in the UK are still higher than class sizes in many other industrialised countries and that the gap between the average class size in state and private schools is also one of the widest. While Britain has now achieved the average spent on education by industrialised countries, there is much more to do.

"The prime minister has committed the country to spending in the state schools at the level of that in the independent sector in 2006. This increases expenditure per child from £5,000 to £8,000. This investment should greatly benefit those schools in socially deprived areas giving children from poor backgrounds the extra support and assistance they need.

"I urge Gordon Brown to set 2014 as the date for this goal being reached, a date identified by the Institute of Fiscal Studies as one which is achievable.

"The OECD report rebuts the corrosive messages, from those determined to limit the numbers of youngsters going to university that university expansion has led to a watering down in the value of qualifications. No one can ignore the fact that young people who gain 14 to 19 qualifications and degrees benefit from an earnings premium that lasts throughout their adult lives.

"In this country the message from the OECD is unequivocal. Raising the education and training leaving age to 18 and expanding the number of university places is good for the country and good for young people.

"The UK's investment in early years provides the structure for later achievement. The next step is to remove the barriers that prevent young people from socially deprived backgrounds from staying on in education after 16.

"It is only when all our youngsters are given the support to achieve their full potential that we can truly say that we have an education system fit for the 21st century. An education system that is about individuals, not background".

 

Stakeholder response: UNITE

"Unite the union is supporting the Fawcett Society's Keeping Mum campaign calling on the government to address the links between women's inequality and child poverty.

"Given that the wellbeing of children cannot be divorced from that of their mothers, the government must understand and address the links between women's poverty and children's poverty, if it is to meet its child poverty targets. 

"Policymakers must work to create an environment where women are able to negotiate the transitions between motherhood and paid work without being exposed to risks of poverty, by having the opportunity to access a living wage, flexible work, benefits, childcare, and quality educational opportunities."

 

Stakeholder response: Wise Group

"The Wise Group welcomes this announcement from the government. Ending child poverty now is an urgent task – not just for those children currently experiencing poverty, but also for future generations: children born into poverty are more likely to become poor adults, and their children are more likely to be poor (Best 2005).

"Backing such an important commitment with legislation will bring the impetus to deliver an improvement to the lives of the one-in-three children that, according to the End Child Poverty campaign, live in poverty in the UK today.

"The strength of legislation is particularly important in light of recent comments by Donald Hirsch, poverty adviser to Joseph Rowntree Foundation that 'after a six-year period of falling, child poverty rose in the two years to April 2007, wiping out some of the previous gains… to meet the [child poverty] target, a total of 1.2 million will need to benefit.' 

"We call on the government to follow enactment of legislation with policies to address the root causes of poverty, without reducing support given to those currently living in poverty to deal with the results and symptoms of it.

"The capacity of those living in poverty is often greatly restricted by structural barriers, inequalities and a lack of resources. For example, 42 per cent of children in poverty are living in lone parent families, and one-in-three children in poverty has a parent with a self-reported disability or long-term health condition (Lyon et al 2006 cited in Harker 2006). Such challenges faced by parents need to be addressed to reach and sustain a context where no child in the UK lives in poverty. 

"Employment, whilst not a panacea for all of the problems associated with poverty, has a fundamental role in tackling poverty. Paid work can, if of a suitable quality, be important in tackling poverty, not just through the obvious effect of increased income, but through the positive impact that work can have on health, self esteem, and social capital.

As an organisation that has helped over 25 000 people move into work over the last 25 years, the Wise Group urges the government to do more to open up opportunities for unemployed people both through public sector employment and through private sector partners, using the power of procurement. 

"The focus, however, must simultaneously be on high quality work, with opportunities for training and further development. Nearly half of all children in poverty are in families where someone is in employment: work alone is insufficient to end child poverty (Harker 2006). Low pay thus makes a significant contribution to poverty and the government should support the concept of a Living Wage. 

"Post-employment support is a critical factor in helping those in vulnerable positions in the labour market to stay and progress in work, and greater investment should be put into this kind of intervention. This is of particular importance since transitions into and out of work is one of the key risk factors of severe poverty. Particular difficulties are experienced by families who move in and out of employment, enduring a 'low pay, no pay' cycle. 

"The role of legislation to underpin commitment to end child poverty is an important development amongst a range of actions that are required to achieve this commendable aspiration."

 

Stakeholder Response: Play England

"Play England fully supports the End Child Poverty campaign."