In 2022, the UK will be examined under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. As part of this process, the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) has coordinated the civil society submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Outlining the key issues for children’s rights in the UK, CRAE’s report warns that a child’s right to an adequate standard of living has regressed since 2016. What progress has been made in protecting and promoting children’s rights, and how is the UK government falling short?
One of the principles that CPAG espouses in its Secure Futures project is that social security should protect people in vulnerable circumstances. Recent tragedies highlight where the system is currently falling short, but what is being done to protect people and ensure they always have enough resources to avoid squalor, starvation and suicide?
An anonymous civil servant was quoted in the press on 26 March as saying that the coronavirus crisis ‘could be the making of universal credit’. What has happened in recent months to universal credit (UC), which has been seen as the key answer in terms of benefits to difficulties during the COVID-19 crisis?
With Marcus Rashford’s successful campaign to extend their provision into the summer holidays this year, free school meals are back on the agenda. But what about universal provision? The universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) programme was introduced in 2014 in England. What impact has UIFSM had on disadvantaged school children?
2020 will almost certainly be remembered as the year of coronavirus, but 2020 was supposed to be a milestone year for more positive reasons. In 1999, in a speech at Toynbee Hall in east London, prime minister Tony Blair named 2020 as the target year for ending child poverty. To mark the year child poverty was to have been ended, academics, policy analysts and practitioners have contributed to a collection of essays for CPAG on effective approaches to tackling child poverty: 2020 Vision: ending child poverty for good.
In response to the COVID-19 emergency, our nation’s rallying cry once again is: ‘We are all in it together.’ Each Thursday evening we clapped our love and gratitude for health professionals and carers in our universal health service – the closest we get to national worship. The mutual support for each other in local communities gives meaning to social solidarity. The same gratitude is due for our social security system – the front line for the care and support of our neighbours’ financial security, keeping them safe, secure and fed. But is this how people feel? And if not, why not?
The government spending we have seen in recent months has been necessary and welcome. But how will we as a country pay for this spending? We need a public debate about who will pay for the costs that the country is facing as a result of the pandemic.
Every child should be able to make the most of their time at school, but we know that the cost of school can put pressure on low-income families and put some children at risk of missing out on opportunities and feeling different and stigmatised. CPAG’s Cost of the School Day project in Scotland is working with schools and local authorities to understand the barriers that costs create for children from low-income families, and to support policy and practice change to reduce or remove them. With the project set to be introduced in England and Wales, and expanded in Scotland, what can be learned from the last six years.
A future strategy to end child poverty will need to be honest about the size and role of the state, and how the necessary investments can be funded. Drawing on CPAG’s latest book, Let’s Talk About Tax, Tom Lee puts the size of the UK state in international context and considers a range of options for increasing tax revenues in a progressive fashion.
