Government announces child poverty taskforce

A new child poverty unit will be set up in the Cabinet Office and will report to the education secretary Bridget Phillipson and the work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall, who are leading the taskforce.

The new unit was announced this afternoon, following the King's Speech for the State Opening of Parliament.

Number 10 said that it would bring together experts from across government and external experts to ‘explore how we can use all the available levers we have across government to create an ambitious strategy.’

The government has been under pressure to reverse the two-child benefit cap, which many charities and experts see as a clear way to cut child poverty.

The cap was brought in by the Conservative government and came into effect from April 2015. It is reported to affect around 1.5 million families.

The Work and Pensions Secretary met with leading organisations this morning including Save the Children, Action for Children, Barnados, TUC, End Child Poverty Coalition, Resolution Foundation and UNICEF to invite their views on how they can shape the strategy.  

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, ‘For too long children have been left behind, and no decisive action has been taken to address the root causes of poverty. This is completely unacceptable - no child should be left hungry, cold or have their future held back.

‘That’s why we're prioritising work on an ambitious child poverty strategy and my ministers will leave no stone unturned to give every child the very best start at life.’

Kendall shared a photo on X of her meeting and said, ‘Developing an ambitious strategy to tackle the problem is vital and urgent work which starts today.

‘We will turn the tide on rising poverty levels, so that every child no matter where they come from has the best start in life.’

Phillipson said, 'Tackling child poverty is at the heart of breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving the life chances for every child.

'For too many children, living in poverty leaves them not ready to learn and robbed of opportunity. But child poverty reaches far beyond the school gates and alongside the Work and Pensions Secretary, I am determined to drive the work forward to support families and communities.'

She added this was ‘a shared mission across government’ and the taskforce would  work closely with parents, charities and civil organisations ‘to remove the stain of child poverty from our country.’

Paul Carberry, chief executive at Action for Children, said, ‘I was pleased to meet with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall, today to discuss how to urgently help lift children out of poverty.

‘It’s right that the new taskforce and Child Poverty Unit works across government to look at the wider drivers and solutions to child poverty. 

‘This should include breaking down the barriers to work many parents face and investing in social security.

‘A strategy for tackling child poverty must start with abolishing the cruel and unnecessary two-child limit. This would immediately lift around 300,000 children out of poverty.’

Chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said, ‘The taskforce is a welcome first step towards fulfilling the government’s pledge to bring in an ambitious child poverty strategy.  But with a record number of kids in poverty now, scrapping the two-child limit on benefits has to happen in the government’s first Budget. The two-child limit is driving up child poverty more than any other policy, children need it to be removed as a priority.’