Ending child poverty

In response to the Government amendment, on the statutory publication of child poverty statistics, to the Welfare Reform & Work Bill, Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: “This is a good and welcome step and we’re pleased that the campaigning work we and others did has helped to secure it...

Government votes down Lords' amendment to keep proper reporting on child poverty.

Yesterday the Government voted to scrap an amendment made to the Welfare Reform and Work Bill by the House of Lords, to oblige the Government to report on how many children are growing up poor. The House of Lords voted resoundingly for an amendment which reinserted measures of poverty based on income (rather than the 'life chances' measures, including educational attainment and parental worklessness the Government prefers). 

Since the House of Lords voted to reject the government's plans to scrap child poverty reporting, it's now up to MPs - and you.

The House of Lords voted by an overwhelming majority to keep measures of child poverty that take account of family income.

After some time on the back-foot, if not in headlong retreat, common sense won out last night in the latest stage of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill's passage through parliament.

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) welcomes the House of Lords vote today to retain the statutory duty to measure and report on income poverty which the Government wanted to scrap. Measures in the Welfare Reform & Work Bill which were voted down today would scrap the statutory duty to measure and report on income-based poverty, replacing it with only a duty to report on the number of workless households and children’s attainment at GCSE.

Last week the Welfare Reform and Work Bill entered committee stage in the House of Lords. The bill will scrap all the government’s child poverty targets and measures, and make sweeping cuts to social security. Given the wide-ranging changes it seeks to make, it is surprising – and worrying – that ministers have provided so little detail on how the new measures will work and what the impacts will be on families with children.

Responding today to today’s Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission report , Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action group Alison Garnham said: “The Commission is right to call for action to boost maternal employment and to raise the minimum wage so fewer people earn less than two thirds of median hourly pay but we need to be clear that cuts in benefits are the key driver of increased child poverty in the UK today...