The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said the rise in children living in poverty was the most serious setback to the Government's child poverty campaign. It found that no progress had been made in three years and said the Government's child poverty strategy was in urgent need of a major re-think.
Peter Kenway, co-author of the report Monitoring poverty and social exclusion, said, 'Progress on child poverty has stalled at a level that is only halfway to the target set for two years ago. Tax credits may be working, but they are not enough on their own. Yet the Government's budgetary and legislative programme set out this autumn contains no substantial ideas about what should be done.'
A report from MPs on the cross-party Treasury Select Committee warned that the Government may have backtracked on its commitment to halve child poverty by 2010, and said the Comprehensive Spending Review had not set out how the target would be met. The report said, 'A failure to meet that target would represent a conscious decision to leave hundreds of thousands of children in poverty for longer than is necessary or desirable.'
Kate Green, chief executive of the charity the Child Poverty Action Group, said, 'We cannot afford not to address the educational failure, health costs and social division that poverty brings to our communities. More radical policies are needed on fair taxation, fair pay, welfare security and affordable housing.'
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Treasury Select Committee report can be downloaded at www.publications.parliament.uk. The Joseph Rowntree report is at www.jrf. org.uk.
