Families with children under five face ‘steep rises’ in poverty, warns research

Based a hundred research studies and other sources, the review examines patterns in poverty for young children. It reveals that while child poverty rates have fluctuated since 2000, there has been a sustained increase since 2013/14, with families with at least one child under five experiencing the steepest rise.

According to the evidence review, the rise in poverty is largely due to changes to the benefits system, including the two-child limit and the reduction of in-work support, reflecting the changing nature of work and family life, including the rise in insecure work and the growth of the private rental market.

The Nuffield Foundation argues that policy to address child poverty has been ‘shaped by political differences and changing socioeconomic circumstances, resulting in a lack of a sustained and consistent commitment to addressing child poverty over the last two decades'.

The review, ‘Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood’, calls for increased financial support for low-income families with young children and a ‘multi-dimensional’ approach to addressing child poverty that reflects the intersecting needs of families.

Carey Oppenheim, early childhood lead at the Nuffield Foundation and author of the report said, ‘The increase in poverty for families with children under five is stark and has both short- and long-term implications for children’s development and future. Addressing early childhood poverty requires an approach that provides a financial bedrock for families with young children through improved social security benefits and access to employment, as well as policies that support parental mental health and parenting from the earliest stage of a child’s life. 

‘Even with those measures, it will be difficult to sustain reductions in child poverty unless we also address longer-term changes in society that are contributing factors to child poverty, such as insecure and low-paid work, access to affordable and secure housing and high-quality early education.’

A Government spokesperson said, 'Children in households where every adult is working are around five times less likely to be in poverty than households where nobody works. That is why we have a comprehensive Plan for Jobs to help people into jobs and to progress in work, along with a childcare offer for working parents, nearly £1 billion of additional housing support through Local Housing Allowance rates, a £220m Holiday Activities and Food Programme and extra help with council tax bills.'

They added that the evidence review is based on figures on 'relative poverty' whereas the Government believes 'absolute poverty' is a better measure of living standards.'

Each year, the Government publishes a survey of income poverty in the UK called Households Below Average income (HBAI). This survey sets the poverty line in the UK at 60 per cent of the median UK household income.

The Child Poverty Action Group states on its website that if a household’s income is less than 60 per cent of this average, HBAI considers them to be living in poverty. This is the definition of 'relative poverty', whereas 'absolute poverty' is where a household’s income is less than 60 per cent of the median as it stood in 2011.

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said, 'The findings from the Nuffield Foundation are worrying because we know what an impact poverty has on children’s development, learning and life chances. The Duchess of Cambridge’s work on early years has recently shown that we spend £16 billion a year on services that could be avoided with better support in early years.'