Earlier this year, the Government published a strategy re-committing itself to ending child poverty by 2020. Earlier this week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the share of children growing up poor is set to rise from a fifth to a quarter by the end of the decade.
Politicians stick resolutely to the ambitious target, while pursuing policies that have no prospect of meeting it. Caught in the middle are millions of families on low incomes.
The Government's attempts to make progress in this area face the major headwinds of lower employment and stagnant wages. In fact, (relative) child poverty is set to rise despite average household incomes falling by 7 per cent over the next three years - described by the IFS as an 'unprecedented collapse in living standards'.
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