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Disability and debt causing financial strain in families and pushing children into deprivation, report warns
Spiralling housing costs are forcing more children into 'enforced deprivation', preventing them from having basics like a warm home or a second pair of sturdy shoes, a report published today warns.
The
Economic and Social Research Institute
(ESRI) study found that, in 2023, almost one in five children (17 per cent) were living lives classified as 'deprived' despite coming from households with incomes above the poverty line. This was up from 12 per cent the previous year.
The way poverty is currently measured is not fully capturing the level of deprivation suffered by all children, the report says. It adds that this may have to change 'to include factors like housing costs and the cost of disability'.
Those who live in poverty
come from households with a disposable income below 60 per cent of the median. People are experiencing deprivation if they are unable to afford two or more of 11 key items. This includes an adequately heated home or a main meal with protein at least every second day.
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The report, Deprived children in Ireland: Characterising those who are deprived but not income-poor, looks at the growing number of children in such households.
A 'significant number of this cohort is facing high housing costs, preventing them from translating their relatively higher income into an adequate standard of living', say the authors.
'This report finds that 39 per cent of children in [this cohort] are living in households where at least one member over the age of 16 has a disability.'
It goes on to say this 'suggests that the additional costs of disability are another reason for experiencing deprivation while not being income-poor'.
Forty-one per cent of children who are not officially in poverty, but who are suffering enforced deprivation, live in lone-parent households.
Their families are often enduring 'financial, health and wellbeing strains', with more debt and arrears than even the poorest families.
The report added: 'This suggests accumulated debt is another reason why those above the income threshold are materially deprived.'
The authors highlight 'the role of housing costs for understanding the living standards of families with children and their risk of deprivation'.
They continue: 'Poverty measures calculated using a post-housing cost measure of income are now routinely published by the Central Statistics Office . . . Adjusting income for the cost of disability to take account of this group's significant additional needs should also be considered.'
More comprehensive policies to tackle child poverty are needed to ensure children in these families are not being excluded from supports, say the authors.
The report notes the 'significant role that social transfers and benefits . . . play in reducing child poverty at a national level', as well as a 2023 ESRI finding that a second tier of
child benefit could lift 40,000 children out of income poverty
.
Eva Slevin, co-author of the report, says it highlights 'the serious challenges faced by families whose incomes are above the poverty line but still experience deprivation'.
She added: 'These include high levels of financial strain, difficulty coping with unexpected expenses and high levels of depression and poor health among household heads. These problems are on a similar scale to those captured by the official 'consistent poverty' measure, suggesting this group should also be considered for policy intervention.'
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the report would 'help us better understand the factors contributing to deprivation and poverty among children, [and] help us target responses to our most vulnerable children and to ensure that every child gets the start they deserve'.
