The Child Poverty Bill could go further

Thursday 8 October 2009

As many across the sector will know, Friday 16 October is Child Poverty day. This year will be particularly significant as MPs prepare to debate the Child Poverty Bill, which provides a legal basis for the government's target to eradicate child poverty in the UK by 2020.

As a founding member of the Campaign to End Child Poverty, NCB welcomes this step to ensure a sustained effort towards tackling child poverty. This will not only help us secure better outcomes for the 2.9 million children living in poverty but, bearing in mind the strong correlation between poverty and other costly social issues, such as crime, low educational attainment and poor health, will benefit society more generally.

However, there are a number of ways in which the Bill can be strengthened, and NCB and our End Child Poverty partners will be working to achieve this as the legislation progresses.

Firstly, we want to see a truly ambitious target. The target of less than 10 per cent of children living in poverty proposed in the bill is not satisfactory. End Child Poverty will be calling for a target of less than 5 per cent which would reflect what has been achieved in Europe.

Secondly, we want the Child Poverty Bill to benefit all children and young people living in poverty. Currently, the legislation defines a child as a person up to the age of 15 and those aged 16 to 17 who are entitled to child benefit. This could mean that the 124,000 young people aged 16 to 17 not in education, employment or training and those living apart from their families may be excluded from efforts to measure and tackle child poverty. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child confers on all children under the age of 18 the right to an adequate standard of living. It is vital that this piece of legislation does the same.

Zoe Renton, policy officer at the policy unit, NCB

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