As the Government’s Autumn cost of living payment starts to hit doormats from today, Child Poverty Action Group and Changing Realities warn that they won’t be enough to prevent more hardship for families with children this winter.
Our UK Cost of the School Day programme, carried out in partnership with Children North East, has been transformative for schools and pupils. An independent evaluation of the project between 2019-22 highlights its impact on families, schools, local authorities and the wider education system.
Last week, the House of Commons’ Education Committee published a report on persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils. There is growing concern about rising levels of pupil absence following the pandemic. Attendance data highlights that children from lower-income households have lower attendance rates than their peers. Children eligible for free school meals are more than twice as likely as their peers to be persistently absent from school.
Struggling families would be substantially worse off than they were five years ago if benefits are not uprated with inflation, new analysis from Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) shows.
GMPA (now Resolve Poverty) has been supporting local authorities in Greater Manchester and across the country to introduce anti-poverty strategies. What role do local anti-poverty strategies play in helping individuals and communities? What can be learned from work that is currently being done? And what makes a good strategy?
The UK is wealthy, in terms of relative disposable incomes, median household incomes and the relative price of goods and services. But child poverty rates here, and child deprivation, are comparatively higher than in most rich countries in the European Union and OECD. Why is the UK’s initial child poverty rate before cash transfers in benefits and tax credits among the very highest in Europe? What role are these transfers playing to reduce child poverty? And what can we learn from other countries about reducing child poverty?
When it comes to campaigning, academia, the media and government, whose voices count? Whose expertise do we engage with and listen to in policymaking debates and processes? And what responsibility do charities, think tanks and academics have to make sure that the voices of those they are campaigning for and/or researching are part of the broader conversation for change?
As more families migrate from older benefits to universal credit, new official figures show there are 2.3 million children in households on universal credit (UC) which are having debt deductions from their benefit, forcing them to live on significantly less than their entitlement.