An article examined children's subjective well-being in rich countries. It developed a new domain index of subjective well-being based on seven indicators, including: life satisfaction; relationships with family and friends; well-being at school; and subjective health. Changes in subjective well-being between 2001-02 and 2009-10 were analyzed, along with the relationships between subjective well-being and objective domains – material, health, education, behaviour, and housing and environment. At a macro level subjective well-being was associated with all these domains. It concluded that subjective well-being should be included in comparative studies of well-being, but not necessarily as just another domain: it was a related but different order measure.
Source: Jonathan Bradshaw, Bruno Martorano, Luisa Natali, and Chris de Neubourg, 'Children's subjective well-being in rich countries', Child Indicators Research, Volume 6 Number 4
Links: Abstract
See also: Jonathan Bradshaw, Bruno Martorano, Luisa Natali, and Chris de Neubourg, Children's Subjective Well-Being in Rich Countries, Working Paper 2013-03, UNICEF
Date: 2013-Dec
An article examined the extent and nature of kinship care in the United Kingdom, drawing on 2001 census micro data. It said that more than 173,000 children were living with relatives, without their parents, and the majority of these lived in poor and deprived circumstances. It highlighted the relevance for policy, and particularly for the needs of carers.
Source: Shailen Nandy and Julie Selwyn, 'Kinship care and poverty: using census data to examine the extent and nature of kinship care in the UK', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 43 Number 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Dec
A report examined the prevalence and classification of disability among children, and the links between disability and socio-economic disadvantage. It discussed three definitions of disability: developmental delay; long-standing limiting health conditions or illnesses; and special education needs. It said that more disabled children were born into socio-economically disadvantaged circumstances that continued through their early years.
Source: Sam Parsons and Lucinda Platt, Disability Among Young Children: Prevalence, heterogeneity and socio-economic disadvantage, Centre for Longitudinal Studies (University of London)
Links: Report | Summary I | Summary II | CLS press release
Date: 2013-Nov
A survey of children supported by Action for Children found that they were trying to cope with problems such as parents' unemployment, illness, family breakdown and domestic abuse. Frontline staff reported an increase in support needs, including a need for more emotional support, and a deterioration in children's mental health. The survey report called for greater certainty over funding, with five year budget cycles to coincide with the electoral cycle, and a firm commitment to spending on early intervention.
Source: The Red Book 2013: Children under pressure, Action for Children
Links: Report | Summary | Action for Children press release
Date: 2013-Nov
A report examined the impact of universal credit on households with children. It said that there would be 'winners' and 'losers' under universal credit, and called for benefit changes to made alongside efforts to address low pay and childcare costs. Recommendations included: adoption of the living wage; reductions in benefit taper rates; and payment of 85 per cent of childcare costs for those workers who would receive universal credit.
Source: Improving Work Incentives under Universal Credit and Tackling Low Pay, Save the Children
Links: Report | SCF press release
Date: 2013-Nov
The children's watchdog for England published the outcome of research into children's aspirations and needs, and inequality in access to material items and opportunities. It said that money was the most important thing, but children and young people also valued: access to services such as education, health, advice, and support; relationships with their family; and having friends and being able to socialise with them. Children and young people with disabilities placed a greater emphasis on sport, holidays, ability to travel, and having a good social worker. Children and young people in care valued access to practical items such as cookers, clothes, a living room, feeling safe in their home, and support from professionals. The report recommended refining the measure of child poverty to reflect the priorities and views of children and young people.
Source: "What We Say We Need": A report on the important items, opportunities and aspirations for children and young people, Office of the Children's Commissioner
Links: Report | OCC press release
Date: 2013-Nov
A report provided an update on progress over the past year on the protection of children's rights in the United Kingdom. It said that, while welcome progress had been made on some measures, children had faced continuing and new, actual and potential violations of their human rights. It discussed: the unlawful use of restraint on children in detention; the age of criminal responsibility; the legality of corporal punishment; cuts to legal aid and restrictions on judicial review; the impact of poverty and deprivation; and the impact of budget reductions on key protective and responsive services such as social care, education, and health.
Source: State of Children's Rights in England: Review of government action on United Nations recommendations for strengthening children s rights in the UK, Children's Rights Alliance for England
Links: Report | CRAE press release
Date: 2013-Nov
An article examined studies of the gap in cognitive skill between richer and poorer children, with some in particular suggesting that highly able children from disadvantaged homes were overtaken by their rich but less able peers before the age of 10 in terms of their cognitive skill. This finding was, however, vulnerable to the effect of regression to the mean and there was no convincing evidence for it.
Source: John Jerrim and Anna Vignoles, 'Social mobility, regression to the mean and the cognitive development of high ability children from disadvantaged homes', Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, Volume 76 Issue 4
Links: Article
Date: 2013-Oct
The children's rights watchdog in Wales published a progress report on the Welsh Government's child poverty strategy. It noted that the child poverty rate in Wales stood at 33 per cent, and had increased over the previous five years.
Source: Child Poverty Strategy Progress Report 2013, Children's Commissioner for Wales
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Oct
A commission issued a report on social mobility and on progress against the government's child poverty targets.
Source: State of the Nation 2013: Social mobility and child poverty in Great Britain, Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission
Links: Report | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Independent report | CPAG press release | NAVCA press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report said that more families were using their local children's centres, at a time when local authorities were predicting further reductions in funding. The report said that centres supported two thirds of all disadvantaged families with children under the age of five, and warned that progress was at risk of being undermined by future cuts in support.
Source: Children s Centres Census 2013: A national overview of developments in Children s Centres, 4Children
Links: Report | 4Children press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report said that a systematic review had found strong evidence of a causal relationship between household financial resources and children's outcomes. The report noted that protecting households from income poverty was important, and questioned the effectiveness of policy that reduced access to welfare support in order to preserve spending in other areas. Further research was recommended.
Source: Kerris Cooper and Kitty Stewart, Does Money Affect Children s Outcomes? A systematic review, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | JRF press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report (produced by a multinational food company) explored the impact of hunger on schoolchildren in England and Wales, and its effects on learning. It said that, on average, 2.4 pupils in every class would arrive at school hungry at least once per week. Around 8,370 schools had children arriving hungry or thirsty every morning. 28 per cent of teachers had witnessed an increase in children arriving at school hungry; and 31 per cent said that they had to spend a disproportionately higher amount of teaching time with children who arrived at school hungry than with those who did not. If a child arrived at school hungry, teachers said that they lost one hour of learning time a day.
Source: A Lost Education: The reality of hunger in the classroom, Kellogg's
Links: Report | Kelloggs press release | Daily Mail report | Guardian report | Nursery World report
Date: 2013-Sep
A report said that cuts of £1.5 billion to early intervention funding and a multitude of barriers were stopping many of those families most in need from using children's centres. Many disadvantaged families had very little knowledge of children's centres; a quarter of parents said that they found it difficult to access their local centre because of transport problems; and working parents often struggled to use centres because of their work commitments.
Source: Sam Royston and Laura Rodrigues, Breaking Barriers: How to help children s centres reach disadvantaged families, Children s Society
Links: Report | Childrens Society press release | Nursery World report
Date: 2013-Sep
A think-tank report examined whether Sure Start children's centres were being used to their full potential. It said that local authorities needed to make better use of them to close the gap between rich and poor children. They should return children's centres to their original purpose and target their expenditure on more deprived areas, alongside increased financial transparency. The government should consider lowering the cap on parental income eligibility for tax-free childcare, and reinvest the money in time-limited seed funding that local authorities, early years providers or individual children's centres could bid for to raise the quality of childcare in deprived areas. Outcome-based measures should be developed for all children's centres.
Source: Harriet Waldegrave, Centres of Excellence? The role of children s centres in early intervention, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | Action for Children press release
Date: 2013-Sep
A report examined the extent to which child poverty and social exclusion featured in the 2013 National Reform Programmes (NRPs) of European Union member states. Overall the NRPs showed some modest improvements compared with the previous year: but the attention given to tackling child poverty and social exclusion still fell far short of what was necessary to achieve the Europe 2020 goal on reducing poverty and social exclusion, and to respond to the severe and growing impact of the economic crisis and austerity measures.
Source: Hugh Frazer, The 2013 National Reform Programmes (NRP) from a Child Poverty and Well-Being Perspective, Eurochild
Links: Report | Eurochild press release
Date: 2013-Sep
The coalition government announced that all infant school pupils (aged 5-7) in state-funded schools in England would be eligible for free school meals from September 2014. Disadvantaged students at sixth-form colleges and further education colleges would also be eligible for free school meals from September 2014. These measures would cost approximately £600 million per year: full details on funding would be announced in the Autumn Statement later in 2013.
Source: Press release 17 September 2013, Department for Education
Links: DE press release | AOC press release | ATL press release | Childrens Society press release | Citizens Advice press release | CPAG press release | Demos blog post | 4Children press release | Full Fact blog post | JRF blog post | NAHT press release | NCB press release | NUT press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Nursery World report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Sep
An article examined the support given to parents of gifted and talented children from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Most of the parents surveyed had good, supportive relationships with their children and had high aspirations for them. But nearly all felt unable to engage with their child s learning in the home, and felt inadequate to help with subject choices and advise on matters relating to higher education. Peer groups were seen as threats to their children s well-being and advancement. Schools were highly rated for relationships: but they offered no specific support to these parents, who seemed to be being forced to go it alone .
Source: Valsa Koshya, Joanna Brown, Deborah Jones, and Carole Portman Smith, 'Exploring the views of parents of high ability children living in relative poverty', Educational Research, Volume 55 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
An article examined the coalition government's programme of cutting welfare services and social security provision, from a child-centred perspective. It sought to understand how and in what ways policy change and welfare retrenchment might uniquely impinge on low-income children's lives. Recent cuts and changes had threatened to overlook their needs and exacerbate their deepest concerns.
Source: Tess Ridge, '"We are all in this together"? The hidden costs of poverty, recession and austerity policies on Britain's poorest children', Children & Society, Volume 27 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
A report said that the average annual back-to-school cost – including uniforms, coats, bags, and stationery – was £156 for a child at primary school and £285 for a child at secondary school. A family with one child at secondary school and one at primary school might therefore spend £441 – nearly 40 per cent of the monthly income of a lone parent on the poverty line, and almost 30 per cent of a couple's. Local authority grants for school uniforms were a 'postcode lottery', with many having scrapped their schemes completely.
Source: The Big Stitch-Up: How school uniform costs are punishing parents, Family Action
Links: Report | Family Action press release | Daily Mail report
Date: 2013-Aug
A collection of essays examined issues surrounding child poverty from a theological perspective.
Source: Angus Ritchie (ed.), The Heart of the Kingdom: Christian theology and children who live in poverty, Children s Society
Notes: Chapters included:
Tess Ridge, 'Poverty and the experience of children'
Jonathan Bradshaw, 'The impact of child poverty on future life chances'
Ilona Pinter, 'Hidden poverty: refugee and migrant families in the UK'
Date: 2013-Aug
A report said that it cost a minimum of £148,000 in total to bring up a child to age 18 and meet their minimum needs – equivalent to around £160 per week (averaged for a child across all ages and including childcare costs and housing). The figure had risen by 4 per cent in 2013: but 'safety net' benefits for families and children had only risen by 1 per cent, the minimum wage by 1.8 per cent, average earnings by 1.5 per cent, and child benefit by nothing at all. The value of both child benefit and child tax credit relative to the costs of raising a child had decreased. Many low-income families had also seen cuts in housing support with the introduction of changes such as the 'bedroom tax' (cuts in housing benefit for social housing tenants deemed to have surplus rooms).
Source: Donald Hirsch, The Cost of a Child in 2013, Child Poverty Action Group
Links: Report | CPAG press release | IEA blog post | BBC report | Daily Mail report | Guardian report | New Statesman report
Date: 2013-Aug
A paper examined the relationship between family income and six child developmental outcomes in mid-childhood. It was found that the extent of the income gradient differed across outcomes. The strongest gradients were associated with cognitive outcomes, and the weakest with health outcomes. Some inputs accounted for part of the explained income gradient across all six child outcomes: but it was more common for specific inputs to be strongly associated with a limited number of outcomes. This variation in the role of inputs suggested that the underlying mediators of the social gradients in different domains of child development were not the same.
Source: Elizabeth Washbrook, Paul Gregg, and Carol Propper, A Decomposition Analysis of the Relationship between Parental Income and Multiple Child Outcomes, Working Paper 13/313, Centre for Market and Public Organisation (University of Bristol)
Links: Paper
Notes: The paper updated an analysis first published in 2008: Paul Gregg, Carol Propper, and Elizabeth Washbrook, Understanding the Relationship Between Parental Income and Multiple Child Outcomes: A decomposition analysis, CASEpaper 129, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (London School of Economics)
Date: 2013-Aug
A report said that significantly more children were growing up in poverty than 40 years previously – 3.5 million compared with the 2 million found in a major national cohort study in 1973. These children suffered devastating consequences throughout their lives, including: poorer early development; lower educational attainment; greater risk of obesity; greater risk of unintentional injury/accident in the home; and poorer access to green space and places to play. A comparison with other developed nations showed that a lack of ambition for children growing up in the United Kingdom caused children to suffer unnecessarily, and risked these patterns of disadvantage becoming permanent features of society.
Source: Greater Expectations: Raising aspirations for our children, National Children s Bureau
Links: Report | NCB press release | Action for Children press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Nursery World report
Date: 2013-Aug
An article compared the effect of two methods of mobilization – doorstep canvassing and postal appeals – on family attendance at early childhood Sure Start centres in England. No evidence was found of a significant difference in attendance between different groups in the trial: neither visits nor leaflets were effective in encouraging non-attenders to go to Sure Start.
Source: Sarah Cotterill, Peter John, and Alice Moseley, 'Does mobilisation increase family engagement with an early childhood intervention programme? A randomised controlled trial', Policy & Politics, Volume 41 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
A report said that government policy ignored the role of literacy in tackling inter-generational poverty, and that supporting literacy in disadvantaged communities could reduce the impact of poverty. It recommended: extending the pupil premium to cover children aged 3-4; improving access to literacy resources in deprived areas, through 'pop-up libraries' and literacy shops; and ensuring that all local child poverty strategies included literacy and sought to engage parents and carers in home literacy activities.
Source: Emily McCoy, Lost for Words: Poor literacy, the hidden issue in child poverty, National Literacy Trust
Links: Report | NLT press release
Date: 2013-Jul
The coalition government published a plan of action designed to improve the quality and take-up of school food in England. The plan's authors said that the government should introduce free school meals for all primary school pupils, starting with the most deprived areas.
Source: Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, The School Food Plan, Department for Education
Links: Plan | DE press release | ATL press release | Childrens Society press release | NAHT press release | Newcastle University press release | NUT press release | RSPH press release | BBC report | Daily Mail report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3)
Date: 2013-Jul
A report by an all-party group of MPs said that action was needed to improve the performance of Sure Start children's centres. It said that children's centres should measure and compare outcomes for the children and families they worked with over the longer term, at least until the point that children started school. Local authorities should monitor the relative performance of children's centres in their area, and share information on best practice.
Source: Best Practice for a Sure Start: The way forward for children's centres, All Party Parliamentary Sure Start Group
Links: Report | Action for Children press release | Voice press release
Date: 2013-Jul
A report examined the impact of welfare reforms on local authorities – including the costs to local areas of child poverty – and explored how they and their partner organizations managed the impact of these reforms. A linked analysis said that the total cost of child poverty (in terms of spending on services, tax receipts lost, benefits spent, and loss in private post-tax earnings) had risen from £25 billion in 2008 to £29 billion in 2013.
Source: Rys Farthing, Local Authorities and Child Poverty: Balancing threats and opportunities, Child Poverty Action Group | Donald Hirsch, An Estimate of the Cost of Child Poverty in 2013, Child Poverty Action Group
Links: Report | Analysis | CPAG press release | BBC report
Date: 2013-Jul
A paper said that children from economically deprived families were more likely to be socially excluded as adults. Economic deprivation was also the strongest predictor of emotional problems, poor educational attainment, and engagement in deviant behaviour in adolescence – which themselves increased the chances of social exclusion in adulthood. The effect on educational attainment was the most detrimental to adult social well-being: those children who experienced any form of disadvantage before the age of 10 were less likely than their more affluent peers to do well in school at age 16, and were more likely to engage in deviant behaviour, such as drug abuse. They were also less likely to have higher qualifications by age 30, such as a university degree or diploma.
Source: Agnese Peruzzi, From Childhood Deprivation to Adult Social Exclusion: Evidence from the 1970 British Cohort Study, Working paper 2013/5, Centre for Longitudinal Studies (University of London)
Links: Paper | CLS press release
Date: 2013-Jul
The report of a literature review said that the concept of 'intergenerational poverty' was of doubtful validity, and that the evidence base for it was also weak. The term 'persistent' poverty was a less politicized means of conceptualizing the problems faced by families living in communities affected by poverty over a long time period. There were a range of factors that could support positive outcomes for persistently poor children: it was critical that structural barriers to equality were given at least as much policy attention as the concept of a 'behaviour' of poverty or worklessness.
Source: Julie Nelson, Kerry Martin, and Gill Featherstone, What Works in Supporting Children and Young People to Overcome Persistent Poverty? A review of UK and international literature, National Foundation for Educational Research
Date: 2013-Jul
A report presented findings from the first wave of detailed fieldwork regarding the organization and delivery of children's centre services. This fieldwork aimed to assess: the range of activities and services that centres delivered; partnership working methods; leadership and management; evidence-based practice; and area profiling of centre 'reach'. Children's centres were increasingly targeting services at disadvantaged families, and broadening their geographical reach.
Source: Jenny Goff, James Hall, Kathy Sylva, Teresa Smith, George Smith, Naomi Eisenstadt, Pam Sammons, Maria Evangelou, Rebecca Smees, and Kityu Chu, Evaluation of Children s Centres in England (ECCE) Strand 3: Delivery of Family Services by Children s Centres, Research Report 297, Department for Education
Links: Report | Brief | Action for Children press release | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2013-Jul
The coalition government announced that its 'Troubled Families' programme in England was to be expanded. In 2015-16 an additional £200 million would be invested in providing intensive help to 400,000 high-risk families – on top of £1 billion already committed to helping 120,000 families over the period 2010-2015. There would be new incentives for local services such as the police, health, and social services to work more closely together in order to reduce costs and improve outcomes for families.
Source: Press release 24 June 2013, HM Treasury/Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: HMT/DCLG press release | 4Children press release | Childrens Commissioner press release | LGA press release | RIP press release | Guardian report | Inside Housing report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jun
A report by an all-party group of MPs said that too many disadvantaged children and young people were not able to fully access their rights and entitlements. Access by children and young people to key services, including education, healthcare, and social care needed to be improved, particularly in terms of identification of need and co-ordination. Positive relationships with family, friends, and professionals could support personal development, which in turn encouraged children and young people to develop aspirations and plan for their future. There was an immediate need to revisit youth policy: it was 'particularly striking' that many young people lacked critical support during the passage to adulthood.
Source: Are Children and Young People Getting the Opportunities they Want?, All Party Parliamentary Group for Children
Links: Report | NCB press release
Date: 2013-Jun
A report said that high levels of child poverty were costing the country at least £29 billion each year – or £1,098 per household. The estimate included the costs of policy interventions required in childhood to correct for the effects of poverty, as well as the longer-term losses to the economy that resulted from poor children's reduced productivity, lower educational attainment, and poorer physical and mental health.
Source: Donald Hirsch, An Estimate of the Cost of Child Poverty in 2013, Child Poverty Action Group
Links: Report | CPAG press release | Loughborough University press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jun
The children's watchdog for England said that over half a million more children would have been forced into poverty by 2015 because of coalition government fiscal policies and tax and benefit changes. The changes would have the greatest negative impact on families with children, who were losing, on average, £41.07 per week. Lone parents and those with disabled children were particularly hard hit, with the former losing 7.8 per cent of their income. The income of families with children had been reduced by over twice as much as similar families without children.
Source: A Child Rights Impact Assessment of Budget Decisions: Including the 2013 Budget, and the cumulative impact of tax-benefit reforms and reductions in spending on public services 2010-2015, Office of the Children's Commissioner | Howard Reed, Diane Elson, and Sue Himmelweit, An Adequate Standard of Living: A child rights based quantitative analysis of budgetary decisions 2010-13, Office of the Children's Commissioner
Links: Report | OCC press release | Research report | Childrens Society press release
Date: 2013-Jun
A paper examined how the interplay between work-family policies and one-parent households affected poverty risk, using a multi-level analysis across 25 European countries. It concluded that work-family policies were not sufficient to reduce the poverty gap between one-parent and two-parent households, or between lone-mother and lone-father households. Some measures (such as improved access to childcare) did reduce households' poverty risk, but the effect on a reduction of the poverty gap was very limited. Paradoxically, higher female labour force participation appeared to raise the poverty risk, probably by pushing the median income upwards.
Source: Elisabeth Ugreninov, Bjorn Hvinden, and Viggo Nordvik, Can Work-Family Policies Reduce the Poverty Gap between One-Parent and Two-Parent Households? A multi-level analysis of child poverty across 25 European countries, Combating Poverty in Europe project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jun
A paper examined the redistributive effect of public support in developed (OECD) countries to families with pre-school children, comparing cash benefits (e.g. child allowances) with 'in-kind' support (e.g. care services such as nurseries). On average, cash and in-kind transfers each constituted 7-8 per cent of the incomes of families with young children, and both instruments were redistributive. Cash transfers reduced child poverty by one-third. When services were accounted for, child poverty fell by one-quarter and poverty among children enrolled in childcare was more than halved.
Source: Michael Forster and Gerlinde Verbist, Money or Kindergarten? Distributive effects of cash versus in-kind family transfers for young children, ImPRovE Discussion Paper 13/04, Centre for Social Policy (Antwerp University)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jun
An interim report examined the experiences of households with children claiming housing benefit, and their awareness of the impact of national policy changes on their incomes. It said that there was a lack of awareness about the new universal credit system, and confusion over the distinction between it and the benefit cap. There was also a high level of confusion surrounding changes to benefit entitlements. All participants were worried about any potential reductions in their housing benefit entitlement: but most felt unable to say in practical terms how they would cope with any reduction. Those affected by a reduction in local housing allowance felt that there was little they could do until they were evicted by their landlord or taken to court for rent arrears. Reductions in benefit entitlements were perceived by some as an additional incentive to find work, but not as a 'trigger'.
Source: Natalie Cass, The Experiences of Families Claiming Housing Benefit During a Time of Cuts and Changes to Benefits: An interim report, Shelter
Links: Report
Date: 2013-May
A report compared early years and childhood experiences in Scotland and England. It considered social and material circumstances; dysfunctional households; maternal and child health; and parenting. Little evidence was found of differences that could explain the relatively poor health status of people in Scotland.
Source: Martin Taulbut and David Walsh, Poverty, Parenting and Poor Health: Comparing early years experiences in Scotland, England and three city regions, Glasgow Centre for Population Health
Links: Report
Date: 2013-May
The second edition was published of a handbook of comparative social policy, examining key concepts and issues such as globalization, crime, diversity, housing, child poverty, gender inequality, and social policy regimes.
Source: Patricia Kennett (ed.), A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy (Second Edition), Edward Elgar Publishing
Links: Summary
Notes: Individual chapters included:
Julia O Connor, 'Gender, citizenship and welfare state regimes in the early 21st century: "incomplete revolution" and/or gender equality "lost in translation"
Norman Ginsburg, 'Structured diversity: a framework for critically comparing welfare states?'
James Midgley, 'Social development and social welfare: implications for comparative social policy'
Jonathan Bradshaw, 'Child poverty and child well-being in comparative perspective'
Ray Forrest, 'The contours of the housing question'
Date: 2013-May
A report reviewed progress on improving children's health and well-being since 1999. Although progress had been made, some coalition government policies (for example cuts to social security benefits and social care) could reverse these improvements by hitting the most vulnerable groups hardest: this would exacerbate child poverty and widen social inequalities. Intervention to improve children's prospects needed to begin before birth, including: parenting classes for at-risk families (for example, those in poor housing or where there was a threat of domestic abuse); targeting children who would be born into households with unhealthy lifestyles (for example smoking, illegal drug use, alcohol misuse, or poor nutrition); and improving maternal nutrition, leading to healthier pregnancies and babies.
Source: Growing up in the UK: Ensuring a healthy future for our children, British Medical Association
Links: Report | BMA press release | Action for Children press release | RCM press release | RCOG press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Nursery World report
Date: 2013-May
An article examined the extent to which the state covered the additional cost of having children, for both non-working and low-earning families. It found that the existing system had come close to covering this cost for some low-income families, but had started to withdraw from this position. The author considered the advantages and pitfalls for countries of adopting targeted forms of support for children focused on income adequacy. Such support could help working as well as non-working families escape poverty: but it also made them heavily dependent on state transfers to make ends meet.
Source: Donald Hirsch, 'Paying for children: the state's changing role and income adequacy', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 42 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-May
An article examined the relationship between family income and child health, using a very large sample of children. There was no correlation between income and child general health at ages 0 1, but the gradient emerged around age 2 and was constant from age 2 to age 17. The gradient in general health reflected a greater prevalence of chronic conditions among low-income children and a greater severity of these conditions. Taken together, the findings suggested that income did matter for child health, and might play a role in the inter-generational transmission of socio-economic status.
Source: Benedicte Apouey and Pierre-Yves Geoffard, 'Family income and child health in the UK', Journal of Health Economics, Volume 32 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-May
A report provided findings from a survey of families who were using Sure Start children's centres when their child was 9-18 months of age (as part of a larger evaluation of children's centres in England). Satisfaction with services and activities was generally very high: just under half of parents (49 per cent) said that they were 'very satisfied' and a further 29 per cent said that they were 'fairly satisfied'. For each of the 22 service categories, the majority of users considered them to be 'very helpful'; and the proportion of users who rated them as 'very' or 'fairly helpful' ranged from 88 per cent to 100 per cent.
Source: Ruth Maisey, Svetlana Speight, and Sarah Haywood, with James Hall, Pamela Sammons, David Hussey, Jenny Goff, Maria Evangelou, and Kathy Sylva, Evaluation of Children s Centres in England (ECCE) Strand 2: Baseline Survey of Families Using Children s Centres in the Most Disadvantaged Areas, Research Report 260, Department for Education
Date: 2013-Apr
A report examined child poverty in a European context, its causes, and how it affected the lives of children and their families. The report challenged a range of myths and stereotypes relating to child poverty, and highlighted effective policy solutions that could help to fight child poverty – particularly in times of austerity and public spending cuts.
Source: Hugh Frazer, Towards Children's Well-Being in Europe: Explainer on child poverty in the EU, European Anti-Poverty Network/Eurochild
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Apr
An article examined the intra-generational and inter-generational redistributional consequences of early intervention programmes aimed at improving children's health and well-being. It was found that the parents' generation lost whenever such programmes were implemented. Furthermore, the rich part of the children's generation always benefited. Despite the expectation that early intervention put poor descendants in a better position, they might be even worse off if the effect of early intervention on their productivity was not large enough.
Source: Tim Lohse, Peter Lutz, and Christian Thomann, 'Redistributional consequences of early childhood intervention', European Journal of Health Economics, Volume 14 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Apr
A paper examined how welfare state policies were related to households' relative incomes for a range of European and north American countries between 1985 and 2005. It considered how two of the central factors that might be driving income inequality at the individual or household level – parental educational level and family structure – might be related to a household's relative income. Well established policy effects at the household or individual level did not necessarily translate into higher incomes for families with children relative to the overall distribution. Although family allowances might reduce the risk of poverty, they did not alter the financial realities of households with children relative to the overall income distribution. Households might have higher incomes, but family allowances did not noticeably alter where households with children fell in the overall income distribution.
Source: Stephanie Moller, Joya Misra, Elizabeth Wemlinger, and Eiko Strader, The Implications of Cross-National Policies for the Relative Incomes of Families with Children by Family Structure and Parental Education, Working Paper 588, Luxembourg Income Study
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Apr
A survey found that 51 per cent of parents in low-income groups could not afford to organize birthday parties for their children.
Source: Birthdays on the Breadline, Family Action
Links: Report | Family Action press release
Date: 2013-Apr
An official advisory body published its response to a coalition government proposal to change the way child poverty was measured. It said that it welcomed parts of the government's proposals: a multi-dimensional approach could give useful insight into how problems accumulated in children's lives, and help identify different kinds of poverty. However, any new measure needed to supplement, not replace, the existing framework of the Child Poverty Act, whose relative income measures enabled international comparison and drove clear accountability. It also expressed concern that, in their initial form, the different dimensions set out in the consultation risked conflating the causes and existing experience of poverty in a way that was confusing.
Source: Response to 'Measuring Child Poverty: A consultation on better measures of child poverty', Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission
Links: Response | Commission press release | APPG press release | Labour Party press release | Independent report
Notes: Consultation document (November 2012)
Date: 2013-Apr
A report summarized the results of a research project that examined changes in social cohesion and social capital in the United States of America and United Kingdom, with a focus on family life. It investigated what drove social change, how it related to the well-being of members of society, and the implications for policy-makers. Large-scale programmes of welfare reform in the UK had meaningfully improved the opportunities of children in a way that had not been seen in the USA since the 1960s. The USA was a 'cautionary tale' for free marketers who would remove the social supports from low-income mothers and their children.
Source: Bruce Western and Edward Fieldhouse (eds), Inequality, Instability & Mobility in Family Life: The United Kingdom and the United States, Social Change: A Harvard–Manchester Initiative (SCHMi)
Links: Report
Notes: Individual chapters included:
'Changing structure of the home – fragile families in the US and UK' (based on research by Kathleen Kiernan, Sara McLanahan, John Holmes, and Melanie Wright)
'Moving up or getting stuck – intergenerational mobility in Britain and the USA' (based on research by Yaojun Li, Paul Gregg, and Lindsey Macmillan)
'Shifting sands – volatility and inequality of family incomes in the US and UK' (based on research by Lindsey Macmillan, Christopher Muller, and Bruce Western)
Date: 2013-Apr
A small-scale study examined the lived experience of families against a backdrop of austerity; the various impacts of austerity on family life; and what mattered to families and supported them under conditions of austerity, with a particular focus on family finances and well-being. Borrowing from family and friends or using high-cost credit (payday and doorstep loan companies) was a common strategy in the 11 families studied. Despite valuing formal childcare highly, families commonly found it unaffordable and inflexible.
Source: Suzanne Hall and Chris Perry, Family Matters: Understanding families in an age of austerity, Family and Childcare Trust (formerly Family and Parenting Institute/Daycare Trust)
Links: Report | FCT press release | Ipsos MORI press release | Nursery World report
Date: 2013-Apr
A paper examined the causal effect of family income on child health in the United Kingdom. There was evidence that income had a small but significant causal effect on subjective child health. Parental health did not drive a spurious relationship between family income and child health, as some had argued. No significant effects were found of family income on chronic indicators of child health.
Source: Daniel Kuehnle, The Causal Effect of Family Income on Child Health: A re-examination using an instrumental variables approach, Discussion Paper 133, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Apr
A report compared child well-being in the world's richest countries. It puts the United Kingdom in 16th position out of 29 countries – an improvement since 2007, when it had been placed last out of 21 countries for overall child well-being. Teenage pregnancy rates in the UK continued to be high, as did the numbers of young people under 19 not in education, employment or training. The UK also had one of the highest alcohol abuse rates among young people aged 11-15. The report was based on data up to 2010, the last year of the former Labour governments (1997 2010).
Source: Peter Adamson, Child Well-Being in Rich Countries: A comparative overview, Innocenti Report Card 11, UNICEF
Links: Report | UNICEF UK press release | Childrens Society press release | CPAG press release | NAHT press release | YoungMinds press release | BBC report | Guardian report
See also background papers:
Luisa Natali and Chris de Neubourg, Child Well-Being in Advanced Economies in the Late 2000s, Working Paper 2013-01, UNICEF
Bruno Martorano, Chris de Neubourg, Luisa Natali, and Jonathan Bradshaw, Child Well-Being in Economically Rich Countries: Changes in the first decade of the 21st century, Working Paper 2013-02, UNICEF
Jonathan Bradshaw, Bruno Martorano, Luisa Natali, and Chris de Neubourg, Children's Subjective Well-Being in Rich Countries, Working Paper 2013-03, UNICEF (also the basis for: Jonathan Bradshaw, Bruno Martorano, Luisa Natali, and Chris de Neubourg, 'Children s subjective well-being in rich countries', Child Indicators Research, Online first)
Date: 2013-Apr
An article examined how pre-school practitioners working in the poorest region of England had responded to assumptions concerning their role within the policy discussions and debates about child poverty. It identified challenges that might prevent them from addressing the effects of child poverty and ensuring that the coalition government's vision of social justice was realized.
Source: Donald Simpson, 'Remediating child poverty via preschool: exploring practitioners' perspectives in England', International Journal of Early Years Education, Volume 21 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
An analysis found that child poverty was likely to increase by 600,000 children between 2010 and 2015, based on the coalition government's tax and benefit policies (including universal credit). The response to a linked freedom of information request revealed that the Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill (which capped annual increases in many benefits) would push 200,000 children into absolute poverty.
Source: Landman Economics, Impact of Coalition Tax/Benefit Changes on Number of Children in Poverty, Child Poverty Action Group | Letter from Department for Work and Pensions, 13 March 2013
Links: Report (spreadsheet) | DWP letter | CPAG press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Mar
A trade union report examined the impact of various tax/benefit changes, together with real wage growth since 2010, on the incomes of different households and family types. The cumulative impact meant that 690,000 more children would be living below the minimum income standard by 2015.
Source: Landman Economics, A Bleak Future for Families: Falling living standards under the coalition government, Trades Union Congress
Links: Report | TUC press release | Family Action press release | Nursery World report
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined the understanding and interpretation of evidence-based practice among children's centre managers. Much practice in children's centres was rooted in a tradition that valued tacit knowledge, experiential learning, and (with Sure Start specifically) community-led approaches. Policy-makers needed to appreciate that many Sure Start managers (and other frontline professionals) might not share their understanding and views of evidence-based practice.
Source: Jason Strelitz, '"It sounds good but ": Children s centre managers' views of evidence-based practice', Journal of Children's Services, Volume 8 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
A report examined the effect of fuel poverty on families and children. It said that fuel poverty could have severe and life-long effects on children. Long-term exposure to a cold home could affect weight gain in babies and young children, increase hospital admission rates for children, and increase the severity and frequency of asthmatic symptoms. Children in cold homes were more than twice as likely to suffer from breathing problems, and those in damp and mouldy homes were up to three times more likely to suffer from coughing, wheezing, and respiratory illness, compared with those with warm, dry homes.
Source: Pedro Guertler and Sarah Royston, Fact-File: Families and Fuel Poverty, Association for the Conservation of Energy
Links: Report | Summary | ERB press release
Date: 2013-Feb
A report called on the coalition government to urgently review its approach to reducing child poverty by drawing on lessons from abroad, including: making childcare more affordable for working mothers; offering cash incentives for families to promote children's health and well-being; introducing neighbourhood anti-poverty zones; and establishing a ministerial child poverty board to drive forward action across government.
Source: Becky Fauth, Zoe Renton, and Enver Solomon, Tackling Child Poverty and Promoting Children's Well-Being: Lessons from abroad, National Children s Bureau
Links: Report | NCB press release
Date: 2013-Feb
The European Commission called on member states to prioritize social investment and to modernize their welfare states. It said that this meant improving the performance of active inclusion strategies, and a more effective use of social budgets. The social investment package included a Commission recommendation against child poverty, calling for an integrated approach to child-friendly social investment. A series of linked working documents examined the related issues of active inclusion policies, homelessness, long-term care, and investment in health.
Source: Towards Social Investment for Growth and Cohesion: Including implementing the European Social Fund 2014–2020, European Commission | Investing in Children: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage, European Commission
Links: Communication | Child poverty recommendation | Working documents (links) | European Commission press release | EAPN press release | EPHA press release | ETUC press release | Eurochild press release
Date: 2013-Feb
A think-tank report said that nearly 1 in 5 children (2.3 million) were living materially deprived lives who were not included in the government's headline measure of relative income poverty. It recommended a new statutory measure that took into account 'social poverty' as well as household income. Social poverty included factors such as whether: a child was themself a parent; the quality of housing was poor, or a family was living in temporary accommodation; a family was experiencing an unsustainable level of debt; a child had been taken into care in their lifetime; a child or their parents had had criminal convictions; and a child had low educational attainment.
Source: Matthew Oakley and Matthew Tinsley, Outcomes, Not Just Incomes: Improving Britain s understanding and measurement of child poverty, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Feb
An article used longitudinal data on early childhood to examine the developmental contexts and outcomes of persistently poor children, and to establish contexts that might promote resilience. Persistently poor children had more disadvantageous developmental contexts than children in poverty for shorter periods, and they had worse developmental outcomes. Resilience might be promoted by improving parenting behaviours and attitudes, and improving maternal mental health.
Source: John Holmes and Kathleen Kiernan, 'Persistent poverty and children's development in the early years of childhood', Policy & Politics, Volume 41 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
A paper examined the distributional implications (within and between countries) of an illustrative child basic income (CBI) operated and funded at European Union level. A universal payment of 50 per month per child aged under 6 could take 800,000 children in this age group (and their families) out of poverty and would close the poverty gap of those remaining below the threshold by 6 per cent. Most member states and virtually all families with children aged under 6 would be net gainers.
Source: Horacio Levy, Manos Matsaganis, and Holly Sutherland, The Distributive and Cross Country Effects of a Child Basic Income for the European Union, Research Note 2/2012, Social Situation Observatory (European Commission)
Links: Research Note
Date: 2013-Feb
A paper examined policies in developed countries that focused on families with the aim of reducing overall poverty rates and family poverty in particular.
Source: Dominic Richardson and Jonathan Bradshaw, 'Family-oriented anti-poverty policies in developed countries', in Family-Oriented Policies for Poverty Reduction, Work-Family Balance and Intergenerational Solidarity, United Nations
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Feb
A report provided a child poverty map of the United Kingdom, showing child poverty rates by parliamentary constituency, local authority, and ward. It highlighted the wide disparity in poverty rates across the country and within regions. The east London constituency of Poplar and Limehouse had a child poverty rate of 41 per cent, compared with just 7 per cent in Richmond in west London. In the north west region of England, 38 per cent of children in Manchester were poor, compared with just 7 per cent in nearby Ribble Valley.
Source: Matt Padley and Donald Hirsch, Child Poverty Map of the UK, End Child Poverty
Links: Report | Data | Map | ECP press release | Barnardos press release | Childrens Society press release | Family Action press release | NCT press release | NPI blog post | TUC press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Feb
The coalition government set out the fiscal analysis that had informed its decision to invest a further £448 million in turning around the lives of 120,000 of the most 'troubled' families in England. It said that, over the period 2010–2015, £1 billion would be spent 'proactively' addressing the problems of troubled families, and £8 billion on reacting to them.
Source: The Fiscal Case for Working with Troubled Families: Analysis and evidence on the costs of troubled families to government, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Feb
A report examined evidence on approaches to child poverty in Denmark, the United States of America, and Scotland. It looked at how each country had conceptualized the problem of child poverty, and the strategies that they had used to prevent or reduce it.
Source: Becky Fauth, Rachel Blades, and Chloe Gill, Child Poverty Outcomes Models: An international review, National Children s Bureau
Links: Report | Scotland case study
Date: 2013-Feb
A survey examined young families' experiences of housing. More than one quarter (27 per cent) of young mothers were living in inadequate housing. The vast majority (94 per cent) of families who were living in a rented property wanted to own their own home but were not able to. The report warned of the impact that housing issues were having on the daily lives of parents and on the healthy development of children. With 220,000 children set to be affected by changes to housing benefits in the next few years, urgent intervention was needed to stop this situation from deteriorating.
Source: The Housing Trap: How overcrowded housing is threatening our children, 4Children
Date: 2013-Jan
A report said that high childcare costs made it impossible for some of the poorest families to strive their way out of poverty. Many parents earned nothing extra from working extra hours, or even effectively paid for the privilege of doing so. The report called on the coalition government to increase the proportion of childcare costs covered under the new universal credit system, and to examine an extension of the free early years entitlement from 15 hours to 20 (or more) for disadvantaged children.
Source: Paying to Work: Childcare and child poverty, Barnardo's
Links: Report | Barnardos press release | BBC report
Date: 2013-Jan
A think-tank note said that a scheme (taking effect from 8 January 2013) to withdraw child benefit from families containing someone earning more than £50,000 per year would create 'incoherence' in the benefits system. The new arrangements created a 'series of administrative complexities', including the need for half a million more individuals to complete a self-assessment tax form. Alongside the child elements of universal credit, the coalition government had created two parallel and 'completely different' systems of income-related support for families with children.
Source: Robert Joyce, Withdrawal Symptoms: The new 'high income child benefit charge', Observation January 2013, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Observation | CARE press release | IEA blog post | Labour Party press release (1) | Labour Party press release (2) | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Daily Mail report (1) | Daily Mail report (2) | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jan
The coalition government said that its policy of capping the uprating of benefits would result in around an extra 200,000 children being in relative income poverty by 2015-16.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 15 January 2013, columns 715-717WS, House of Commons Hansard, TSO
Links: Hansard | Barnardos press release | CPAG press release | Gingerbread press release | Labour Party press release | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Jan
A report compared income tax burdens for one-earner families (married couples and single parents with two children) across developed (OECD) countries. United Kingdom income tax, as a percentage of gross wages, was greater than the OECD average at all income points considered. Furthermore, the disparity was greatest for low-income families.
Source: Alistair Pearson and David Binder, The Taxation of Families – International Comparisons 2011, CARE
Links: Report | CARE press release
Date: 2013-Jan
A report provided an overview of child poverty in each local authority area in Wales. In one area of south Wales, 29 per cent of children and young people aged 0-19 lived in relative income poverty.
Source: Ross Chamberlain and Ruth Mullineux (with Helen Cocco and Sara Drysdale), Child Poverty Snapshots: The local picture in Wales, Save the Children
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jan
An article examined how the health of children in different family types varied, and the extent to which any differences might be explained by poverty. Poor physical and mental health was slightly more prevalent in children living in lone-parent or reconstituted families. Poverty reduction might help to reduce these differences, especially for children living with lone parents: however, alternative mechanisms should be also explored, particularly for children living in reconstituted families.
Source: Anna Pearce, Hannah Lewis, and Catherine Law, 'The role of poverty in explaining health variations in 7-year-old children from different family structures: findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study', Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 67 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jan
The coalition government published the results of a survey of what the general public thought was important in deciding whether someone was growing up in child poverty. 79 per cent identified 'A child s family not having enough income' as being either important or very important, whereas 90 per cent identified 'A child having parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol'.
Source: Public Views on Child Poverty: Results from the first polling undertaken as part of the Measuring Child Poverty consultation, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Speech (Minister) | Childrens Society press release | CPAG press release | Demos blog post | Family Action press release | JRF blog post | BBC report | Daily Mail report | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Jan
The coalition government said that 'huge savings' could be made for the taxpayer from turning around troubled families. On a national basis it was estimated that 'the 120,000 troubled families' cost the taxpayer £9 billion per year, £8 billion of which was spent purely reacting to their problems and the problems they caused, such as truancy, youth crime, and anti-social behaviour.
Source: The Cost of Troubled Families, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report | DCLG press release | Action for Children press release | LGA press release | Daily Mail report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Jan
A report examined how child poverty was being tackled locally across Scotland. Fewer than half of local council officers felt that child poverty was a political priority in their authority.
Source: John McKendrick and Stephen Sinclair, Local Action to Tackle Child Poverty in Scotland, Save the Children
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jan