Latest news with #AlisonGarnham
The Herald Scotland
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Starmer faces mounting pressure to abolish child benefit cap
The report, complied for Labour-affiliated pressure group Compass, is also backed by new research commissioned by dozens of charities, including CPAG, Save the Children and Barnardo's. It found that almost three quarters (73%) believed that all children 'deserve a good childhood, even if it costs the government more to support families that need it'. Some 71% also agreed that children must be prioritised in government investment, according to the survey. The Herald joined with 23 of the country's leading charities to urge the Prime Minister to abolish the cap, warning the policy, which prevents families from claiming child tax credit and universal credit for more than two children, is 'one of the most significant drivers of child poverty in the UK today,' adding: 'It punishes children for circumstances entirely beyond their control'. It has been estimated that 250,000 children across the UK out of poverty overnight. Read more: Charities warn Swinney's child poverty plan is not 'new' The Herald unites with 23 charities on child poverty push Disabled children 'plunged into poverty by damaging UK cuts' Child poverty inaction is 'deliberate act of state harm' The Prime Minister, and his officials, have yet to respond to last month's open letter. As the UK Government looks to publish its child poverty taskforce in the coming months, it has also faced calls for introduce legally binding targets to reduce child poverty. Legally binding targets already exist in Scotland and, backed by politicians across the political sphere, means the Scottish Government has committed to reducing absolute child poverty to under 10% by 2030 and absolute child poverty to under 5% - although interim targets were recently missed. A total of 4.5 million children in the UK are reported to live in poverty – a record high at 31%. Rates are expected to rise further in every part of the UK – except for Scotland by 2029. Alison Garnham, the chief executive of CPAG, said: 'Almost a year after the election, the government's manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty remains hugely popular. Read more: Herald urges Starmer to scrap two child benefit cap The Herald unites with 23 charities on child poverty push 'A child poverty strategy that increases living standards and improves life chances will make the crucial difference to children, their families and the country alike. The public stands in support of the 4.5 million children in the UK living in poverty and now it's time for government to act – starting by scrapping the two-child limit.' It is understood UK ministers were privately ruling out scrapping this cap, with the Guardian reporting last month that insiders said: 'If they still think we're going to scrap the cap then they're listening to the wrong people. 'We're simply not going to find a way to do that. The cap is popular with key voters, who see it as a matter of fairness.' Meanwhile, Scotland's First Minister John Swinney has committed to mitigating the two-child benefit cap by April 2026, at an estimated cost of £200 million per year. The UK Government has been asked for comment.
The Independent
13-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
More children in the UK are living in poverty than pensioners and it should shame us all
It's been a fairly average few weeks for child poverty headlines in the UK, in that there have been many, and they've been brutal. A national crisis rolling on through 2025, the bodies of our poorest children falling beneath its wheels. This week, findings from a research laboratory set up by Sarah and Gordon Brown confirmed that deprivation impacts a baby's brain development. Last week, it was announced that 30,000 British children have been pushed into poverty since the election by the two-child limit. The week before: a new record was set, with 4.5 million children now living in poverty in the UK. It's not quite what we were promised. Not in the Labour manifesto – where there was a specific pledge to reduce child poverty – or on the campaign posters the party shared online that pitched their future for our country. The most emotive of which depicted a family flanked by tall wheatgrass, one child on the dad's shoulders, a second backlit by the sinking, late-afternoon sun, and the words: 'Change will only happen if you vote for it.' Nine months on, that promised powder-blue-sky future has dissolved into fantasy land, with a Labour government now predicted to deliver an even bigger record: 4.8 million children living in poverty by the end of their first parliamentary term (which led Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group to comment, 'Record levels of kids living in poverty isn't the change people voted for.') It would certainly represent an extraordinary failure of this government, one that to date, hasn't impressed with their work on the crisis. 'Disappointingly, the UK government has not yet shown the level of political ambition and commitment needed to match the scale of the challenge,' Joanna Barrett, associate head of policy at the NSPCC, tells The Independent. And the cost? It rains down on our children. The same children who were locked in their homes and out of schools in Covid (lest we forget theme parks opened before the classrooms did) – and emerged with anxiety and delayed development, some not emerging at all. British children have some of the worst health outcomes in Europe (including the lowest wellbeing of all countries) and see relatively little invested in their early care and education (0.5 per cent of GDP versus the likes of France and the Nordics, who spend double that). Sometimes it feels like we've made a national sport out of failing our children – in the UK right now, they face higher levels of poverty than any other group in society (twice that of pensioners). 'All children deserve the best start in life,' says Alison Garnham. 'But far too many are denied that chance – that's something that should put us all to shame'. The shame is only growing. The recent welfare cuts – targeting disability and sickness benefits – announced by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in the spring statement 'pulled the rug from under people who are ill and disabled', says Garnham. With 44 per cent of children in poverty already living with someone who is disabled, the reforms, she says, 'will drive child poverty higher still'. On that point, the government (kind of) agrees, their own impact statement putting the number of kids that'll be pushed into poverty at some 50,000 (or the population of Durham). Back to basics Jolene, a neurodivergent mum of three neurodivergent children in Wales (and member of online lived experience documentary project, Changing Realities), knows exactly what those 50,000 kids face. Her own family plunged into hardship after she quit her job to care for her autistic child, who'd increasingly struggled during Covid. 'She stopped going to school, stopped sleeping, stopped leaving the house,' says Jolene. But her daughter's crisis was met with threats of school absence fines, no offer of alternative provision, and a refusal of help from CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services). After leaving her job working in an opticians, Jolene entered the 'humiliating' and complex world of disability and sickness benefits. It took 18 months to receive PIP (personal independence payment) after an initial refusal by the Department for Work and Pensions (they U-turned just before a tribunal was due to hear an appeal). 'Things were severe,' says Jolene, whose partner worked full time. 'We could just about afford food, the absolute basics.' How bad did the situation get? 'One day I was going to kill myself,' she says of the substantial period of hardship, fighting for benefits she was entitled to and for support for her daughter. 'I thought, this is the only way to get help for my children.' After three years, Jolene was able to return to work part time, at a job she loves. Finally, she thought, her family's fortunes were changing. Then, two blows in quick succession: the disability green paper and welfare reforms dropped, and just a week ago, the family's PIP renewal was refused out of the blue, stripping them of £550 per month instantly. Now, Jolene is preparing for another PIP appeal, but knows she'll lose money regardless due to the reforms. 'The level of trauma that comes from trying to navigate a system that is supposed to be a safety net…' she says with both sadness and anger. 'There is no safety net.' Far from driving her further into employment, which the government is relying on to ease hardship, she is now unsure how she is going to be able to afford to go to work with her caring responsibilities and the huge cuts to her family's income. 'I don't know how we're going to manage. I feel crushed. I was trying so hard to lift myself up from the depths of despair. What more can I possibly do?' It's a very good question. With 71 per cent of children in poverty living in a working household (at least one working adult), it's not even the case that forcing people into employment via hardship is the fix. 'Government knows that employment isn't where the answers lie,' says Garnham, pointing to the actions of the last Labour government, which lifted hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. 'We know what key levers to pull.' She points out – contrary to hysteria around spiralling benefits – that we spend £50bn a year less on social security than we did in 2010, and that benefits have been increased by headline inflation only five times in the last 14 years. 'That should focus ministers on the need to reinvest.' Scrap the two-child benefit cap And there's no investment more urgently needed than that to scrap the two-child limit – a welfare policy that blocks families in receipt of universal credit or tax credits from support for any child after the second. A policy called 'obscene' by Labour in opposition after it was proven to influence women's decisions on abortion. Morality (and humanity) aside, the policy is an outlier, globally. Ruth Patrick, professor of social policy at the University of York and lead of Changing Realities calls it an 'internationally unique policy' saying that 'when we did a comparative investigation looking at the approaches other countries take to providing support for children through their social security system, the UK was the only country which limits support at just two children'. And yes, when judged against other advanced economies, the UK experienced the largest increase in child poverty from 2014-2021, a rise entirely made up of bigger families (half of all large families now live in poverty). As a tool wielded by the state then, it's unparalleled at increasing hardship, forcing an additional 109 children every single day below the poverty line. And while the bad news is that the two-child limit is the single biggest driver of child poverty, the good news is that its end would be the quickest and most cost-effective solution, lifting 540,000 kids out of poverty at a cost of £2.5bn per year. Too expensive, the government cries. Yet, it represents a lower cost per child than any other potential change in the benefits system. And even the most rudimentary maths suggests that with child poverty costing the country £39bn per year currently – and increasing year on year, hitting £40bn by 2027 – by my rudimentary calculations this one measure, would lift 4 per cent of children out of poverty and you could put just over £1.5bn back in the pot straight away. And that number is even more likely to scream 'bargain' when the more indirect savings are counted across an entire lifetime. With improved life chances for children, savings would be made in health, social care, and the criminal justice system when they become adults. Potential higher taxes could be counted on (just like Sure Start, which is now proven to have more than paid for itself in those areas). Not to mention the moral imperative of respecting a child's most basic human rights to food, to shelter, to education, and life. Currently, research shows that kids in our most deprived areas are far less likely to achieve a grade 5 or above in English and Maths, but are far more likely to be obese, to lose their teeth, to live in nutritional food deserts, to struggle with their mental health, to be absent or expelled from school, to be homeless, to even die sooner. And in adulthood, those who grew up in poverty earn less, are more likely to have long-term mental health issues. Still, ministers – including work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall in an interview just last week – have continued to resist calls from the likes of the End Child Poverty coalition (a group of 130 organisations and charities) – to scrap it ('we will only make promises if we show we can afford it and how we're going to commit to them'). Wait, she says, for the government's child poverty strategy – now due in June, almost a year after they took office. For the experts though, scrapping the two-child limit is non-negotiable. 'If the government's child poverty strategy leaves it in place,' says Garnham, 'it will not be a credible strategy.' India, a mum of four kids (aged 1-7) from Suffolk, found herself brutalised by the two-child limit after her life changed overnight. 'This was not the plan,' she says of the unexpected separation from her husband while pregnant with her fourth, and youngest, child – an event that pushed her into homelessness and in need of desperate help from the state for the first time. 'A big shock' is how India describes the realisation, while applying for universal credit, that she would receive no support at all for her youngest two children due to the two-child limit – a loss of several thousand pounds. India was then also hit by the benefit cap – an intersecting limit on the amount of benefits all working-age people can claim – that cut an additional £250 a month from her housing benefit. To say life has been a struggle since is an understatement. She buys her kid's clothes, shoes and school uniforms second-hand or via donations, has used the local authority's welfare assistance scheme, but still, after rent and bills, there's little left. 'Sometimes there's not enough for food, so I have to use food banks,' she says. 'I'll eat toast or whatever they don't eat – but I don't want them to realise [why]. They shouldn't have to know.' For while the pressure on India is clearly immense and, at times, unbearable – 'I've had moments where I feel like I'm failing as a parent, you have breakdowns, are in tears' – her only real concern is for her children, and the impact on them of living in poverty. 'I worry about it affecting not just their physical, but their mental health,' she says. She worries that being unable to afford anything extracurricular – 'they would love to do swimming lessons' – means they 'can't experience those things that could help them later in life.'Like Jolene, India would love to work, but childcare costs would leave her in even deeper poverty. Niña from London, now 19 and a youth ambassador for the End Child Poverty Coalition, whose family was pushed into homelessness by hardship, talks about the impact it had on her. 'It was really traumatising,' she says, becoming emotional. 'I'm [still] always scared of losing my house, my home.' Growing up, Niña's own long-term goals 'had to take a back seat'. But she says: 'It held me back socially more than anything'. Fellow ambassador Sophie, 21, who grew up in a single-parent family in the northeast, recognises this pressure. 'I couldn't concentrate at school because I was worrying about my sisters and stuff [at home],' she says. 'Like realising when I got older that my mam might be skipping meals.' Now studying at university – due to sheer force of will and graft – Sophie has to work twice as hard as her peers just to keep her head above water. Whether it's working 'three or four jobs in the holidays' or finding (and paying) for a guarantor so she is able to rent a house without a home-owning parent. 'I sometimes wonder why I'm doing it when it's so hard,' Sophie says. 'The worry never leaves you, the anxiety.' All eyes then are on the government, the party of social and economic equality, to give children the same opportunity to thrive, to learn, to live. Their child poverty strategy is the only real chance to begin fixing this most urgent national crisis, one in which we've currently abandoned our poorest and most vulnerable children. 'Unless we see significant action on child poverty, the UK risks becoming an international outlier among richer countries in how badly it treats children living on a low income,' says Ruth Patrick. 'The future of this nation and its children depend on it.'
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Thousands more in poverty, say campaigners ahead of two-child limit anniversary
An effort to tackle child poverty will 'fall flat on its face' if the two-child limit is not scrapped, campaigners warned ahead of the eighth anniversary of the controversial policy coming into effect. Charities have been ramping up pressure on the Government to ditch the benefits restriction as part of its new child poverty plan. The strategy is due to be published this spring, although the End Child Poverty Coalition has said it believes the document might not come until June. Organisations working in the sector argue that 109 children across the UK are pulled into poverty by the policy every day. The two-child limit was first announced in 2015 by the Conservatives and came into effect on April 6 2017. It restricts child tax credit and universal credit (UC) to the first two children in most households. While it applies across the UK, the Scottish Government has pledged to mitigate the policy's impacts for people there, although payments for this are not expected to begin until 2026. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) – which is part of the coalition – estimated that by Sunday, 30,000 more children will have fallen into poverty under the policy since Labour came into office at Westminster in July. The group said its analysis suggests an estimated 350,000 children would be lifted out of poverty immediately if the policy was scrapped. While the group said this move would cost the Government around £2 billion, they claimed it would be cheaper than other measures. The CPAG said increasing the child element of UC by £17 a week would cost £3 billion, while increasing the UC standard allowance by £25 a week would cost £8 billion. CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham said: 'The Government's child poverty strategy will fall flat on its face unless it scraps the two-child limit. 'Every day the policy forces families to go hungry and damages the life chances of children up and down the country. 'Reducing the record high levels of child poverty in the UK will require a whole government effort, but abolishing the two-child limit is the essential first step.' Reports earlier this year suggested that changing the two-child limit to a three-child limit could be under consideration as part of the strategy. Separate analysis in February by the Resolution Foundation estimated this move – taken together with the benefit cap being scrapped – would cost around £3.2 billion in 2029-30 and reduce child poverty by 320,000. The benefit cap is separate to the two-child limit. Introduced in 2013 under the then-Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government, that policy limits the total amount a household can claim in benefits. On Friday campaigners were planning to hand a letter to the Treasury, saying the two-child limit 'has to go'. They warned: 'It cannot be scrapped for some families and not others as this would result in some of the most vulnerable families remaining in poverty – with no way to pull themselves out.' The letter is signed by a range of groups, including Unicef UK, the National Education Union, food bank organisation Trussell and the National Children's Bureau. A Government spokesperson said: 'No-one should be living in poverty, and we know that the best route out of poverty for struggling families is well-paid, secure work. 'That is why we are reforming our broken welfare system, so it helps people into good jobs, boosting living standards and putting money in people's pockets. 'Alongside this, our Child Poverty Taskforce is building an ambitious strategy to give all children the best start in life while we increase the living wage, uprate benefits, and support 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a fair repayment rate on universal credit deductions to help low-income households.'
The Independent
03-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Thousands more in poverty, say campaigners ahead of two-child limit anniversary
An effort to tackle child poverty will 'fall flat on its face' if the two-child limit is not scrapped, campaigners warned ahead of the eighth anniversary of the controversial policy coming into effect. Charities have been ramping up pressure on the Government to ditch the benefits restriction as part of its new child poverty plan. The strategy is due to be published this spring, although the End Child Poverty Coalition has said it believes the document might not come until June. Labour took office last year" data-source=""> Organisations working in the sector argue that 109 children across the UK are pulled into poverty by the policy every day. The two-child limit was first announced in 2015 by the Conservatives and came into effect on April 6 2017. It restricts child tax credit and universal credit (UC) to the first two children in most households. While it applies across the UK, the Scottish Government has pledged to mitigate the policy's impacts for people there, although payments for this are not expected to begin until 2026. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) – which is part of the coalition – estimated that by Sunday, 30,000 more children will have fallen into poverty under the policy since Labour came into office at Westminster in July. The group said its analysis suggests an estimated 350,000 children would be lifted out of poverty immediately if the policy was scrapped. While the group said this move would cost the Government around £2 billion, they claimed it would be cheaper than other measures. The CPAG said increasing the child element of UC by £17 a week would cost £3 billion, while increasing the UC standard allowance by £25 a week would cost £8 billion. CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham said: 'The Government's child poverty strategy will fall flat on its face unless it scraps the two-child limit. 'Every day the policy forces families to go hungry and damages the life chances of children up and down the country. 'Reducing the record high levels of child poverty in the UK will require a whole government effort, but abolishing the two-child limit is the essential first step.' Reports earlier this year suggested that changing the two-child limit to a three-child limit could be under consideration as part of the strategy. Separate analysis in February by the Resolution Foundation estimated this move – taken together with the benefit cap being scrapped – would cost around £3.2 billion in 2029-30 and reduce child poverty by 320,000. The benefit cap is separate to the two-child limit. Introduced in 2013 under the then-Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government, that policy limits the total amount a household can claim in benefits. On Friday campaigners were planning to hand a letter to the Treasury, saying the two-child limit 'has to go'. They warned: 'It cannot be scrapped for some families and not others as this would result in some of the most vulnerable families remaining in poverty – with no way to pull themselves out.' The letter is signed by a range of groups, including Unicef UK, the National Education Union, food bank organisation Trussell and the National Children's Bureau. A Government spokesperson said: 'No-one should be living in poverty, and we know that the best route out of poverty for struggling families is well-paid, secure work. 'That is why we are reforming our broken welfare system, so it helps people into good jobs, boosting living standards and putting money in people's pockets. 'Alongside this, our Child Poverty Taskforce is building an ambitious strategy to give all children the best start in life while we increase the living wage, uprate benefits, and support 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a fair repayment rate on universal credit deductions to help low-income households.'
The Independent
03-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Controversial two-child benefit cap ‘plunges extra 30,000 children into poverty since Labour came to power'
An extra 30,000 children have been pulled into poverty by the controversial 'two-child limit' on benefits since Labour came to power, according to new research ahead of the eight anniversary of the policy. Last July ministers said they would consider ditching the 'cruel' cap, in a bid to head off a backbench Labour revolt on the issue. separate moves to slash an extra £5 billion from the welfare bill are set to drive another 50,000 kids into poverty. The cap now affects more than 1.6 million children, by limiting welfare payments to the first two children in most families. New costings from Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) show another 109 more children are pulled into poverty by the policy every day. And the number of children affected will continue to increase until 2035 - when the first children born under the turn 18. The charity says that scrapping the cap would be the most cost-effective way to lift kids out of poverty. Were the policy to be dumped, 350,000 children would be lifted from poverty at a stroke, it adds. The depth of the poverty experienced by another 800,000 children would be reduced. Chief executive of the CPAG Alison Garnham said: 'Every day the policy forces families to go hungry and damages the life chances of children up and down the country. Reducing the record high levels of child poverty in the UK will require a whole government effort, but abolishing the two-child limit is the essential first step.' Any effort to tackle child poverty will "fall flat on its face" if the two-child limit is not abandoned, she added. She said that while it would cost around £2 billion, it would be cheaper than other options. Another possibility, increasing the child element of Universal Credit by £17 a week would cost £3 billion. CPAG warns that child poverty is at a record high affecting 4.5 million children, up from 3.6 million in 2010/11. The charity also estimates that unless the government takes substantive action, 4.8m children will be in poverty by 2030. Charities, unions and even former home secretary Suella Braverman have all urged Keir Starmer to dump the cap, brought in as one of former Conservative chancellor George Osborne's austerity measures. The government is due to publish its new child poverty plan this spring, although the End Child Poverty Coalition has said it believes the document might not come until June. A government spokesman said: 'No one should be living in poverty, and we know that the best route out of poverty for struggling families is well paid, secure work. 'That is why we are reforming our broken welfare system, so it helps people into good jobs, boosting living standards and putting money in people's pockets. 'Alongside this, our Child Poverty Taskforce is building an ambitious strategy to give all children the best start in life while we increase the Living Wage, uprate benefits, and support 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions to help low-income households.'
