JRF poverty adviser Donald Hirsch said:
“Disappointingly, after a six year period of falling, child poverty rose in the two years to April 2007, wiping out some of the previous gains. More recently, the government has taken some significant measures which should help turn the tide once again in a positive direction, and this does not yet show up in the figures. But the rise in child poverty makes it even tougher to meet the stated target of halving child poverty by 2010. The Treasury estimates that the £2 billion made available in the last two Budgets will take half a million children out of poverty. But to meet the target, a total of 1.2 million will need to benefit, and this requires even greater efforts in the next two Budgets.
“Joseph Rowntree Foundation research earlier this year showed that turning the tide decisively against child poverty is particularly difficult with our present system for uprating benefits and tax credits. Without ad hoc budget announcements giving them more money year by year, families on the lowest incomes will fall behind. A more automatic system of uprating incomes to keep pace with rising earnings would tackle child poverty in a more systematic manner.”
Background information
More information is available at our Child Poverty mini-site.
For interviews please contact Nasreen Memon, Head of Media Relations, on 020 7278 9665 / 01904 615 919 / nasreen.memon@jrf.org.uk
