Nursery World - Child poverty - Slipping through the net

Without Government intervention, the Covid-19 outbreak could increase the number of British children living in poverty to 4.5 million, says Deborah Udakis

The UN reported in 2018 that the UK Government is ‘in a state of denial’ on child poverty

UK Government policy in recent years has overlooked the needs of children. Benefit cuts, Universal Credit and rigid economic employment policies have placed many parents in dire financial straits, and in the process damaged the welfare, learning outcomes and life chances of millions of children.

Defining poverty is problematic and hotly contested by governments and organisations such as the United Nations and Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). Our Government uses relative poverty as the sole measure, defined as those families with a household income of 60 per cent of the national average, after housing costs. This measure is commonplace across Europe and is relative to the economic circumstances of individual countries and states.

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