Child poverty predicted to rise in most of UK except Scotland
Child poverty predicted to rise in most of UK except Scotland
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation calls for changes to benefits system amid pressure on Labour to scrap two-child limit. Child poverty is on course to increase in most of the UK by the end of this parliament, with only Scotland bucking the trend, according to analysis by a poverty charity.
Although Labour’s election manifesto committed it to an “ambitious strategy” to reduce child poverty, only in Scotland will rates have fallen by 2029 under current economic projections, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said. Scotland’s relative success – its child poverty rates are projected to be 10 percentage points lower than England’s by 2029 – is attributed by JRF to Holyrood’s more generous child benefits and its plans to scrap the two-child benefit limit.
JRF argues that the government will fail to shift the dial on child poverty if it relies on rising economic growth alone to boost low-income family finances, and that it must drive up living standards through changes to the benefits system. “Any credible child poverty strategy must include policies that rebuild the tattered social security system,” said the JRF chief executive, Paul Kissack. “The wellbeing of millions of children depends on that. And so do the government’s wider ambitions for improved living standards and opportunity.”.
The government is due to publish a 10-year poverty strategy in the summer. There is concern among campaigners that it may shy away on cost grounds from measures such as scrapping the two-child limit. It plans cuts to incapacity benefits, a policy that experts say is likely to drive up child poverty.
