An article said that a diet in early childhood that was high in fats, sugars, and processed foods might lower IQ – whereas a healthy diet might do the opposite. The findings drew on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (also known as 'Children of the 90s'), which tracked the long-term health and well-being of around 14,000 children born in 1991 and 1992.
Source: Kate Northstone, Carol Joinson, Pauline Emmett, Andy Ness, and Tomas Paus, 'Are dietary patterns in childhood associated with IQ at 8 years of age? A population-based cohort study', Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 66 Number 7
Links: Abstract | Bristol University press release | SFT press release | Significance magazine report
Date: 2012-Dec
A report presented the local area child poverty strategies created by five groups of young people from deprived neighbourhoods in England.
Source: Rys Farthing, Young People's Thoughts on Child Poverty Policy, Child Poverty Action Group
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Dec
A report said that the circumstances of children and families across Europe had seriously deteriorated during 2012. The worsening trend was evident in access to adequate resources, access to quality services, and children's participation.
Source: Sandy Ruxton (ed.), How the Economic and Financial Crisis Is Affecting Children & Young People in Europe, Eurochild
Links: Report | Eurochild press release
Date: 2012-Dec
A trade union report said that families with two children would be over £1,000 worse off by the end of 2015 as a result of the coalition government's decision to freeze and then cap child benefit.
Source: Child Benefit: A Bad Case of Neglect?, Trades Union Congress
Links: Report | TUC press release | Independent report
Date: 2012-Dec
The coalition government began consultation on proposals to alter the official measure of child poverty. It said that it wanted to look at how a wider measurement could be developed than one based solely on income. Possible dimensions (as well as the existing measures of income and material deprivation) included: worklessness; unmanageable debt; poor housing; parental skill level; access to quality education; family stability; and parental health.
Source: Measuring Child Poverty: A consultation on better measures of child poverty, Cm 8483, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | DWP press release | Speech | Barnardos press release | Childrens Commissioner press release | Childrens Society press release | CPAG press release | Gingerbread press release | JRF press release | Labour Party press release | TUC press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Daily Mail report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Inside Housing report | New Statesman report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Nov
A report examined progress and best practice in implementing child poverty strategies across local authorities in London. Each local authority surveyed indicated that the Child Poverty Act had been useful in directing energy and resources towards child poverty. Those that had developed particularly strong child poverty strategies were characterized by a high-level strategic understanding and commitment to tackling child poverty; a child poverty partnership governed by, or a sub-group of, an existing executive body within the authority; strong support from elected members, with cabinet representatives directly involved in the child poverty partnerships work; and a view of child poverty as a cross-cutting theme across the local authority.
Source: The Implementation of the Child Poverty Act: Examining Child Poverty Strategies in London Local Authorities, Child Poverty Action Group
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Nov
A report presented estimates of the numbers and proportions of pupils who were entitled to receive free school meals (FSM) but who were not claiming them. Around 200,000 pupils (3 per cent of all pupils aged 4–15) appeared to be entitled to, but not claiming, FSM. This meant that 14 per cent of pupils entitled to FSM were not claiming them.
Source: Samaira Iniesta-Martinez and Helen Evans, Pupils Not Claiming Free School Meals, Research Report 235, Department for Education
Links: Report | SFT press release
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined the coalition government's fairness strategy. Although continuing to pay lip service to the goal of ending child poverty, the government was seeking to redefine the problem, away from a narrow focus on relative low income. Far from offering a 'step change' in provision, the coalition would struggle to make any positive progress on tackling poverty and improving the relative life chances of disadvantaged children.
Source: Louise Bamfield, 'Child poverty and social mobility: taking the measure of the coalition's "new approach"', Political Quarterly, Volume 83 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
A report presented estimates of the numbers and proportions of pupils who were entitled to receive free school meals (FSM) but who were not claiming them. Around 200,000 pupils (3 per cent of all pupils aged 4–15) appeared to be entitled to, but not claiming, FSM. This meant that 14 per cent of pupils entitled to FSM were not claiming them.
Source: Samaira Iniesta-Martinez and Helen Evans, Pupils Not Claiming Free School Meals, Research Report 235, Department for Education
Links: Report | SFT press release
Date: 2012-Nov
A report made a set of policy recommendations on child poverty, health, and well-being in Europe, aimed at preventing and tackling child poverty by addressing health promotion and disease in the child population.
Source: Recommendation on Child Poverty, Health and Well-Being, European Public Health Alliance
Links: Report | EPHA press release
Date: 2012-Nov
A report examined progress and best practice in implementing child poverty strategies across local authorities in London. Each local authority surveyed indicated that the Child Poverty Act had been useful in directing energy and resources towards child poverty. Those that had developed particularly strong child poverty strategies were characterized by a high-level strategic understanding and commitment to tackling child poverty; a child poverty partnership governed by, or a sub-group of, an existing executive body within the authority; strong support from elected members, with cabinet representatives directly involved in the child poverty partnerships work; and a view of child poverty as a cross-cutting theme across the local authority.
Source: The Implementation of the Child Poverty Act: Examining Child Poverty Strategies in London Local Authorities, Child Poverty Action Group
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined the coalition government's fairness strategy. Although continuing to pay lip service to the goal of ending child poverty, the government was seeking to redefine the problem, away from a narrow focus on relative low income. Far from offering a 'step change' in provision, the coalition would struggle to make any positive progress on tackling poverty and improving the relative life chances of disadvantaged children.
Source: Louise Bamfield, 'Child poverty and social mobility: taking the measure of the coalition's "new approach"', Political Quarterly, Volume 83 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
A report examined approaches to evaluating the coalition government's Families with Multiple Problems/Troubled Families programme. It said that data systems should be designed or altered so that data could be linked at the level of the individual family member. It should be possible to identify all troubled families targeted for support, the identities of the adult individuals within them, the programmes to which families/individuals were referred, and the programmes to which referred adult individuals were attached.
Source: Stephen Morris, Evaluation of ESF/DWP Families with Multiple Problems/Troubled Families Initiative: A feasibility study, Research Report 816, Department for Work and Pensions
Date: 2012-Nov
The coalition government began consultation on proposals to alter the official measure of child poverty. It said that it wanted to look at how a wider measurement could be developed than one based solely on income. Possible dimensions (as well as the existing measures of income and material deprivation) included: worklessness; unmanageable debt; poor housing; parental skill level; access to quality education; family stability; and parental health.
Source: Measuring Child Poverty: A consultation on better measures of child poverty, Cm 8483, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | DWP press release | Speech | Barnardos press release | Childrens Commissioner press release | Childrens Society press release | CPAG press release | Gingerbread press release | JRF press release | Labour Party press release | TUC press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Daily Mail report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Inside Housing report | New Statesman report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Nov
A report said that the new universal credit scheme would help many – but by no means all – lone parents to escape poverty. But it was likely to leave most with incomes that were too modest to be able to afford a decent minimum standard of living. In many cases, increasing the number of hours worked would make a negligible difference to net household income, removing the incentive for them to progress and take on more work. Moreover, for some families, especially those with high housing or childcare costs, even working long hours would not remove the risk of poverty.
Source: Donald Hirsch, Struggling to Make Ends Meet: Single parents and income adequacy under universal credit, Gingerbread
Links: Report | Gingerbread press release | Labour Party press release | Inside Housing report | Nursery World report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Nov
A report examined approaches to evaluating the coalition government's Families with Multiple Problems/Troubled Families programme. It said that data systems should be designed or altered so that data could be linked at the level of the individual family member. It should be possible to identify all troubled families targeted for support, the identities of the adult individuals within them, the programmes to which families/individuals were referred, and the programmes to which referred adult individuals were attached.
Source: Stephen Morris, Evaluation of ESF/DWP Families with Multiple Problems/Troubled Families Initiative: A feasibility study, Research Report 816, Department for Work and Pensions
Date: 2012-Nov
The Council of the European Union adopted a statement on tackling child poverty. It said that measures should be taken to avoid losing the political momentum on the issue in the wake of the economic and fiscal crisis, which had resulted in a rise in relative and absolute forms of child poverty and social exclusion. Member states should consider treating child poverty/social exclusion/well-being as one of the key issues of the social dimension of the Europe 2020 strategy and of the reinvigorated social 'open method of co-ordination' (OMC). Full use should be made of existing tools to improve monitoring and reporting on child poverty, as well as the evaluation of policies.
Source: Preventing and Tackling Child Poverty and Social Exclusion and Promoting Children's Well-Being, European Union
Links: Statement | European Union press release | Eurochild press release
Date: 2012-Oct
A report examined the impact of public spending decisions on vulnerable children and families. It said that 2 out of 3 of the most vulnerable families were struggling with more severe issues than a year previously: yet by April 2012 only 12 per cent of the planned public spending cuts had taken place. Moreover, with welfare reforms still to be implemented, the situation was 'only going to get worse'.
Source: The Red Book 2012: The annual review of the impact of spending decisions on vulnerable children and families, Action for Children
Links: Report | Action for Children press release | Labour Party press release
Date: 2012-Oct
A background paper examined the situation in relation to child poverty/social exclusion/well-being in the European Union. It outlined the EU policy context and summarized recent developments. It identified a series of key challenges that needed to be addressed in order to make progress on the issue, and outlined the next key steps that could usefully be taken.
Source: Hugh Frazer and Eric Marlier, Current Situation in Relation to Child Poverty and Child Wellbeing: EU policy context, key challenges ahead and ways forward, European Commission
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Oct
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said that parts of the benefits system were promoting 'destructive' behaviours. He highlighted the fact that families on benefits could expect 'never ending amounts of money' for every child, whereas working households had to make tough choices about what they could afford. In a separate radio interview he asked whether there should be some 'limit' on the money that was made available to support the children of out-of-work families.
Source: Speech by Iain Duncan Smith MP (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions), 25 October 2012
Links: Speech | BBC interview (audio) | BASW press release | CPAG press release | Gingerbread press release | Unicef press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report | Nursery World report
Date: 2012-Oct
The children's rights watchdog in Wales published its first child poverty strategy. The strategy outlined a child-centred approach to tackling poverty. Although the watchdog praised the work of schools and community projects supported by the Communities First programme, it raised concerns over the Welsh Government's decision to incorporate action on tackling child poverty into an overarching plan covering children and adults.
Source: Child Poverty Strategy: 2012 Onwards, Children's Commissioner for Wales
Links: Report | CCW press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Oct
An article developed a new, child-centric measure of child poverty using children as informants. Data from two surveys run by the Children s Society are used to create a 10-item deprivation index: children were then asked whether they lacked the items, and if so whether they wanted them or not. It was found that this index explained more of the variation in subjective well-being than parental income poverty. This is partly because there were deprived children living in families which were not income-poor, and non-deprived children living in families which were income-poor. Child material deprivation was found to be more strongly related to low subjective well-being than the absence of deprivation was to high subjective well-being.
Source: Gill Main and Jonathan Bradshaw, 'A child material deprivation index', Child Indicators Research, Volume 5 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Oct
An article examined the background characteristics and attainment profile of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) in England, and of those missing a value for this variable. Although the distinction between take-up and eligibility had been eroded, FSM remained a useful and clear stratifying variable for pupil attainment patterns in school, linked to type of school attended, school mobility, living in care, special needs, first language, and minority-ethnic group. The pupils missing FSM values fall into two groups, one of which formed a deprived – and perhaps super-deprived – group. These should not be omitted, nor assumed to be like non-FSM pupils, as happened in official school performance figures in England in a way that disadvantaged schools with a very deprived intake. Missing FSM pupils in state-funded institutions should be treated in future as a third distinct group. If these issues about missing data were resolved, and other limitations accepted, FSM remained a better indicator of low socio-economic status than the alternatives.
Source: Stephen Gorard, 'Who is eligible for free school meals? Characterising free school meals as a measure of disadvantage in England', British Educational Research Journal, Volume 38 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Oct
A report said that the latest estimate of the costs of meeting the minimum basic needs of a child was £143,000 in total up to age 18. Childcare could add as much as £60,000 to the total cost of childhood. State support failed to ensure that basic physical needs were met, covering only between 73 and 94 per cent (depending on family composition) of basic costs for children – leaving many families lacking sufficient funds for a healthy diet for the whole family, and living in unhealthy housing conditions with problems such as overcrowding and damp. A full-time job at the national minimum wage was not enough to meet minimum costs for children, and child benefit met only 20 per cent of them on average.
Source: Donald Hirsch, Liz Sutton, and Jacqueline Beckhelling, The Cost of a Child in the Twenty-First Century, Child Poverty Action Group
Links: Report | CPAG press release | Left Foot Forward blog post
Date: 2012-Sep
A paper examined the contribution of child benefit 'packages' toward tackling child poverty among working families in Europe. Child benefit packages as a whole had played an important role in narrowing the gap between net income and 60 per cent of median equivalent income: nevertheless, in many countries they failed to protect low-wage earners against poverty. The package for lone parents was more generous in most countries: but how and whether childcare costs were subsidized made a big difference to this group. Comparatively generous packages for low-paid workers were to be found in countries where financial help for families with children was well targeted by means of income-related cash benefits, refundable income-related tax credits, or social assistance top-ups (including in the United Kingdom): but selective benefit systems might be quite ineffective with regard to poverty alleviation due to take-up problems and labour market disincentives. Child benefit packages were also often above average in countries that combined universal cash benefits with income-related cash benefits, housing allowances, or supplementary benefits from social assistance. Whereas during the 1990s child benefit packages had been able to escape welfare erosion, over the most recent decade the value of the package relative to median equivalized income had fallen in more countries than it had increased.
Source: Natascha Van Mechelen and Jonathan Bradshaw, Child Poverty as a Government Priority: Child benefit packages for working families, 1992–2009, Discussion Paper 50, GINI Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Sep
A report said that 100,000 of the poorest working families would be hit hardest when new arrangements for childcare costs came into effect under the proposed universal credit system. These families would lose £23 per week in help with childcare costs, and could lose up to £4,000 per year. This would leave them having to pay as much as seven times more than they did under the existing system. The report called for universal credit to cover 80 per cent of low-income families' childcare costs rather than the planned 70 per cent.
Source: The Parent Trap: Childcare cuts under universal credit, Children's Society
Links: Report | Childrens Society press release
Date: 2012-Sep
A charity published a report highlighting the extent to which poverty was blighting young lives. It said that 1 in 8 of the poorest children went without at least one hot meal a day, and that 1 in 10 of the poorest parents had cut back on food for themselves in order to ensure that their children had enough to eat. It launched its first appeal to help tackle child poverty in the United Kingdom.
Source: Graham Whitham, Child Poverty in 2012: It Shouldn't Happen Here, Save the Children
Links: Report | SCF press release | Labour Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Sep
An article examined children's understanding of family finances and how they perceived this to relate to eating healthily. Children had sophisticated ideas about the interrelationships between diet, cost, and health; and they were acutely aware of how family finances influenced food purchase. Children proposed different strategies to facilitate eating healthily on a budget: but they prioritized state and corporate responsibility in ensuring that eating healthily was affordable. This contrasted with existing health-related policy, which did not address cost as a potential barrier to eating healthily in the home. Children also consistently conflated healthy eating with eating fruit and vegetables, highlighting a need to reinforce other important nutritional messages.
Source: Hannah Fairbrother, Penny Curtis, and Elizabeth Goyder, 'Children's understanding of family financial resources and their impact on eating healthily', Health and Social Care in the Community, Volume 20 Issue 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Sep
An article used panel data from 18 western countries from 1987 to 2007 to test the effect of family policies and other welfare policies on child poverty rates. All three of the main family policies studied – child cash and tax benefits, paid parenting leave, and public support for childcare – correlated significantly with lower child poverty rates. Disability and sickness insurance also correlated significantly with lower child poverty in nearly every model and test.
Source: Daniel Engster, 'Child poverty and family policies across eighteen wealthy western democracies', Journal of Children and Poverty, Volume 18 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Sep
A paper said that family income and conventional income-based measures of poverty were not associated with children's perceptions of life satisfaction. By contrast, life satisfaction in children fell as material deprivation among the adult members of their household rose; and even more so if they themselves were deprived of things other children did enjoy. These findings suggested that new multidimensional measures of child poverty were better suited to track real improvements in children's lives than conventional income-based poverty measures. Those interested in maximizing society's welfare should therefore shift their attention from an emphasis on increasing consumption opportunities for families with children to an emphasis on factors such as increasing social contacts.
Source: Gundi Knies, Life Satisfaction and Material Well-Being of Children in the UK, Working Paper 2012-15, Institute for Social and Economic Research (University of Essex)
Links: Working paper | Abstract
Date: 2012-Aug
A paper examined the association between parental wealth during adolescence and a range of children's outcomes in early adulthood. Parental wealth was positively associated with all outcomes examined (which included educational attainment, employment, earnings, and home-ownership). The estimated associations were found to operate over and above parental education and income and in many cases were stronger than them. For labour market outcomes a small share of the association reflected the indirect effect of parental wealth on children's education, whereas for home-ownership the estimated associations appeared to mainly reflect the effect of parental wealth transfers. Further analysis by wealth component showed that degree attainment was more strongly associated with housing wealth than financial wealth. However, important effects were also estimated for financial wealth, indicating the existence of financial constraints for low-wealth/financial indebted households. For home-ownership and earnings the estimated association were stronger for financial wealth.
Source: Eleni Karagiannaki, The Effect of Parental Wealth on Children's Outcomes in Early Adulthood, CASEpaper 164, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (London School of Economics)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Aug
A paper examined the changing social and fiscal policy mix of child benefit systems in developed (OECD) countries from 1960 to 2005. Child benefit levels had became more similar and generous since the 1960s. However, the composition of child benefit packages varied extensively across countries. The Nordic countries and Ireland had come to rely predominantly on universal child benefits; in a second group (including Germany and the United States) it was instead the tax system that provided the channel for redistribution to families with dependent children; in a third group (including the United Kingdom) the system combined child benefits of both the social and fiscal policy types. Benefit levels tended to be higher among countries that had included universal elements in the composition of the policy package. The average universal child benefit also tended to be more generous than the other benefit types. On this account, the fiscalization of child benefits might not be of greatest benefit for low-income families with children. In addition, the income gradient inherent in child tax credit programmes seemed to be a retreat back to the old forms of targeted approaches to family policy.
Source: Tommy Ferrarini, Kenneth Nelson, and Helena Hoog, The Fiscalization of Child Benefits in OECD Countries, Discussion Paper 38, GINI Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Aug
A High Court judge ruled that the coalition government had acted unlawfully in failing to establish a Child Poverty Commission in sufficient time to advise on its child poverty strategy.
Source: Press release 17 July 2012, Child Poverty Action Group
Links: CPAG press release
Date: 2012-Jul
A report said that the issue of child poverty remained a relatively minor and unaddressed issue in the Europe 2020 process. Most member states' National Reform Programmes (NRPs) did not prioritize it, and very few set targets for its reduction. Even when the issue was a priority the approach was often far too narrow, focusing just on labour market access and educational disadvantage but largely ignoring issues of income support and access to services. There was often little focus on those children most at risk of severe poverty and social exclusion, and policies to tackle educational disadvantage often did not sufficiently focus on those at greatest risk. There was also a lack of systematic links between the NRPs and the National Social Reports (NSRs). The expectation that the NSRs would provide an in-depth underpinning to the coverage of poverty and social exclusion issues in the NRPs had, so far, not been met.
Source: The 2012 National Reform Programmes (NRP) and the National Social Reports (NSR) from a Child Poverty and Well-Being Perspective, Eurochild
Links: Report | Eurochild press release
Date: 2012-Jul
A survey highlighted 'a picture of resilience and creativity' among children's centres – despite significant cuts within local authority budgets and the removal of the dedicated Sure Start grant. Local authorities had seen children's centres as a positive investment and sought to retain them where possible. Nonetheless, the number of children's centres had fallen by 281 (7.7 per cent) between 2010 and 2011, to 3,350.
Source: Sure Start Children s Centres Census 2012: Developments, trends and analysis of Sure Start children s centres over the last year and the implications for the future, 4Children
Links: Report | 4Children press release | Labour Party press release | Nursery World report
Date: 2012-Jul
A report said that 'children's zones', drawing on a model in Harlem (New York), offered a way to improve outcomes for children living in the most disadvantaged areas. Children's zones would bring together local service providers in a coherent way, and were a potentially powerful way of improving children's lives without requiring extra resources.
Source: Alan Dyson, Kirstin Kerr, Carlo Raffo, and Michael Wigelsworth (with Chris Wellings), Developing Children's Zones for England, Save the Children
Links: Report | Technical paper
Date: 2012-Jul
A paper said that peer-group participation had a substantial role in overcoming barriers to the take-up of free school meals. A 10 percentage point rise in peer-group take-up was shown to reduce non-participation by almost one-quarter.
Source: Angus Holford, Take-up of Free School Meals: Price effects and peer effects, Working Paper 2012-12, Institute for Social and Economic Research (University of Essex)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2012-Jul
The first report was published from a six-year study designed to evaluate children s centres in England. 40 per cent of centres reported that cuts had been made in Session 2010–11.
Source: Emily Tanner, Maya Agur, David Hussey, and James Hall (with Pam Sammons, Kathy Sylva, Teresa Smith, Maria Evangelou, and A Flint), Evaluation of Children s Centres in England (ECCE) Strand 1: First Survey of Children s Centre Leaders in the Most Deprived Areas, Research Report RR230, Department for Education
Date: 2012-Jul
An evaluation report examined the impact, delivery, and value for money of a two-year pilot that tested two different approaches to extending access to free school meals. The 'universal' pilot approach (under which all primary school children were offered free school meals) was very successful in increasing the take-up of school meals: in contrast, the 'extended entitlement' pilot (entitlement extended to cover pupils whose families were claiming working tax credit, and whose annual income did not exceed specified amounts) did not succeed in significantly increasing take-up among entitled pupils.
Source: Nilufer Rahim, Mehul Kotecha, Meg Callanan, Clarissa White, and Emily Tanner, Implementing the Free School Meals Pilot, Research Report RR228, Department for Education
Links: Report | Brief | Impact report | Impact report (appendices) | IFS press release | SFT press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Jul
The coalition government's official adviser on social mobility said that there was 'a snowball's chance in hell' of the meeting the statutory target of ending child poverty by 2020. He said that £19 billion would have to be spent to achieve the goal – requiring the biggest redistribution of income in UK history. Existing trends indicated that the earliest the goal could be achieved would be 2027.
Source: Oral evidence by Alan Milburn to House of Commons Education Select Committee, 10 July 2012
Links: BBC report | Public Finance report | Guardian report | NPI blog post
Date: 2012-Jul
A report identified the most important outcomes that children s centres should be striving for in order to give all children positive early years experiences. It called for a renewed focus on parenting and improving parents lives.
Source: Anne Pordes Bowers and Jason Strelitz (with Jessica Allen and Angela Donkin), An Equal Start: Improving outcomes in children s centres – An evidence review, UCL Institute of Health Equity
Links: Report | Summary | IHE press release | 4Children press release | NLT press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Jul
A report by an official adviser highlighted the 'chaotic' personal histories of the kinds of families targeted as part of the coalition government's commitment to turn around the lives of 120,000 'troubled' families in England by 2015. Key recurring themes included: 'dysfunctional' and unstable family structures; history repeating itself within families and between generations; extended family and anti-social networks within communities that reinforced destructive behaviour; and the need for one assertive family worker who offered practical help and support – but also sanction – in dealing with families. The report suggested that a whole-family approach was often best for dealing with multiple and inter-linked problems – rather than approaches that dealt with single problems or single individuals within a household.
Source: Louise Casey, Listening to Troubled Families, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report | DCLG press release | Action for Children press release | Addaction press release | Adfam press release | Barnardos press release | BASW press release | Catch22 press release | Childrens Society press release | EVAW press release | Family Action press release | Family Lives press release | PSE 2011 comment | ResPublica press release | St Mungos press release | Victim Support press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report (1) | Inside Housing report (2) | New Statesman report | Telegraph report (1) | Telegraph report (2)
Date: 2012-Jul
A report warned that the number of children living in vulnerable families would rise markedly to over 1 million by 2015, unless critical action were taken urgently. The most vulnerable families with children would be disproportionately affected by tax and benefit changes, and significantly affected by other cuts in spending: overall by 2015 vulnerable families would be £3,000 worse off each year as a result of these measures. A large number of families were struggling with problems such as unemployment, depression, poor quality housing, and poverty – far more than government estimates suggested. Particularly worrying was the projected increase in the number of children living in extremely vulnerable families: although currently fewer than 50,000, the number of children living in these families was set to almost double by 2015, to 96,000.
Source: Howard Reed, In the Eye of the Storm: Britain s forgotten children and families, Children s Society/Action for Children/NSPCC
Links: Report | Summary | Methodology note | Childrens Society press release | BASW press release | Labour Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Jul
An article examined the financial impact of the birth of a child in 10 European countries (including the United Kingdom), and linked this outcome to specific family policies. The results indicated important differences between the countries studied.
Source: Sally Bould, Isabella Crespi, and Gunther Schmaus, 'The cost of a child, mother's employment behavior and economic insecurity in Europe', International Review of Sociology, Volume 22 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jul
An article examined the associations between income poverty, family instability, and cognitive development in early childhood. The findings suggested that the experience of persistent economic hardship as well as very early poverty undermined cognitive functioning at 5 years of age. But family instability showed no significant association with cognitive functioning after controlling for family poverty, family demographics, and other variables.
Source: Ingrid Schoon, Elizabeth Jones, Helen Cheng, and Barbara Maughan, 'Family hardship, family instability, and cognitive development', Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 66 Number 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jul
A coalition government minister set out plans to change the main official measure of child poverty. Previous government spending had failed to have the intended impact. There had been an excessive focus on relative measures of poverty, on an 'arbitrary' poverty line, and on treating the symptoms of poverty rather than its causes. The government remained committed to the targets set out in the Child Poverty Act: but it was 'increasingly clear' that poverty was not about income alone, and that a better method was needed for measuring changes to children s life chances.
Source: Speech by Iain Duncan Smith MP (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions), 14 June 2012
Links: Speech | Childrens Commissioner press release | Family Action press release | 4Children press release | IES blog post | IFS statement | Labour Party press release | Unicef press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Guardian report (4) | Guardian report (5) | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Jun
A report highlighted the importance of continuing to focus on the relative income measure of child poverty and the role of income more generally. It also considered some of the ways in which the relative income measure was misrepresented by critics. It said that:
• Income mattered because it was central to the experience of poverty. The correlation between living in a low-income household and poor outcomes for children was strong.
• More needed to be understood about the extent of the impact income had on children's life-chances: but there was a clear causal link between low income and educational attainment. There was a danger that the impact of life-chances interventions would be weakened if families were becoming poorer and poorer.
• Considerable progress had been made in reducing child poverty over the previous 12 years, with almost 1 million children lifted out of poverty (a fall of 26 per cent). It was wrong to say, as some had, that recent efforts to reduce child poverty had been a failure.
• Child poverty was expected to increase considerably by 2020, returning to 1999 levels. Nonetheless, the target to reduce child poverty to 10 per cent or less of all children by 2020 remained achievable.
Source: Graham Whitham, Ending Child Poverty: The importance of income in measuring and tackling child poverty, Save the Children
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Jun
A paper analyzed the relationship between income, demographic structure, and subjective assessments of financial well-being drawn from the 1991-2008 British Household Panel Survey. The results suggested the existence of large-scale economies within marital/cohabiting couples, but substantial diseconomies from the addition of children and/or further adults. This pattern contrasted sharply with commonly used equivalence scales, and was consistent with explanations in terms of the capital requirements associated with additions to the core couple.
Source: Christopher Bollinger, Cheti Nicoletti, and Stephen Pudney, Two Can Live As Cheaply As One But Three's a Crowd, Working Paper 2012-10, Institute for Social and Economic Research (University of Essex)
Links: Working paper | Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
A campaign group published a collection of articles analyzing progress towards the official target of ending child poverty by 2020. It said that the child poverty approach pursued between 1998 and 2010 had been broad-based, made a significant and long-lasting difference to families with children, and reduced child poverty on a scale and at a pace unmatched by other industrial nations during the period. But it warned that the coalition government's policies risked wiping out all the gains made.
Source: Lindsay Judge (ed.), Ending Child Poverty by 2020: Progress made and lessons learned, Child Poverty Action Group
Links: Report | CPAG press release | Labour Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Jun
Researchers examined the impact of Sure Start local programmes on child and family functioning over time, by following up over 5,000 7-year-olds and their families who had initially been studied when the children were aged 9 months, 3 years, and 5 years. The results provided 'some support' for the view that government efforts to support children/families via the original area-based approach to Sure Start paid off to some degree in terms of parent outcomes, though not with regard to child outcomes. Children's centres had been found to be immensely popular with parents, and had been successful in reaching the parents who were likely to be the most disadvantaged. The beneficial effects for parents persisted at least two years after their last contact with Sure Start programmes.
Source: National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS) Team, The Impact of Sure Start Local Programmes on Seven Year Olds and their Families, Research Report RR220, Department for Education
Date: 2012-Jun
The coalition government published guidance on how to support families, parents, and children to tackle the causes and consequences of disadvantage and poverty. It suggested how local authorities and their statutory and non-statutory partners, including the voluntary, community, and independent sectors could work together effectively to achieve better outcomes. The guidance was based on evaluation evidence from the child poverty pilots 2009-2011, and included materials developed by practitioners delivering the pilot activities.
Source: ICF GHK, Helping Families Thrive: Lessons learned from the Child Poverty Pilot Programme, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Guidance
Date: 2012-Jun
A report by an all-party group of MPs summarized the findings of a series of seminars that examined the impact of the recession on children and young people. It said that it was imperative that:
• Early intervention initiatives were well funded, widely promoted, and embedded in practice.
• Government and service providers took into account the views of children and young people, and provided support in the way that they wanted it.
• National and local governments had robust strategies for reducing child poverty and its effects on well-being, including both measures to increase family income and to tackle the root causes of poverty.
• Local and national government ensured that policies and budgetary decisions did not further harm the physical, social, and economic well-being of children and young people.
Source: Children and Recession, All Party Parliamentary Group for Children
Links: Report | NCB press release
Date: 2012-Jun
A paper examined the impact of persistent poverty on young children's cognitive development. It was found that children aged 7 who had lived in poverty since infancy performed substantially worse in a range of ability tests than those who had never been poor – even when family circumstances and parenting skills were taken into consideration. On a scale from 0 to 100, a child who had been in persistent poverty would rank 10 levels below an otherwise similar child who had no early experience of poverty.
Source: Andy Dickerson and Gurleen Popli, Persistent Poverty and Children's Cognitive Development: Evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, Working paper 2012/2, Centre for Longitudinal Studies (University of London)
Links: Paper | IOE press release | Sheffield University press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Jun
The coalition government published a report (as required by the Child Poverty Act 2010) on whether or not the target to halve child poverty by 2010 had been met. It confirmed that the target had not been met: the number of children living in relative income poverty in 2010-11 had been reduced to 2.3 million (before housing costs), which was 600,000 short of the number required to meet the target. The government confirmed plans to develop measures of child poverty that included income but provided a 'more accurate picture' of the reality of child poverty. It would carry out a consultation in autumn 2012.
Source: Child Poverty in the UK: The report on the 2010 target, Department for Work and Pensions/Department for Education, TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Jun
A paper examined approaches to linking results from the Family Resources Survey with Department for Work and Pensions administrative data.
Source: Stephen McKay, Evaluating Approaches to Family Resources Survey Data Linking, Working Paper 110, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Working paper
Date: 2012-Jun
A report examined key developments and policy drivers relating to child poverty and social exclusion in Europe, and made suggestions for policy principles, an indicators-based monitoring framework, and governance, implementation, and monitoring arrangements by the European Commission.
Source: Tackling and Preventing Child Poverty, Promoting Child Well-Being, Social Protection Committee/European Commission
Date: 2012-Jun
A report examined young people's experiences of free school meals (FSM). Young people felt strongly that FSM should be made available to all young people growing up in low-income households, and not just those whose parents were on out-of-work benefits. 1 in 7 young people in receipt of FSM said that the allowance did not allow them to buy a full meal. 1 in 4 complained about their school's delivery system, wanting to access their lunch without the embarrassment of peers knowing that they were in receipt of FSM. Stigma was reduced when schools used electronic cards and fingerprint-based systems: but electronic systems did not guarantee confidentiality, and the way schools used them could undermine confidentiality completely.
Source: Rys Farthing, Going Hungry? Young people s experiences of free school meals, British Youth Council/Child Poverty Action Group
Links: Report | BYC press release | SFT press release
Date: 2012-Jun
The Supreme Court ruled (in a case involving separated parents) that the system of paying child tax credit to the person having 'main responsibility' for the child – usually the mother – indirectly discriminated against men under the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights: but that the discrimination was objectively justified in the light of the policy behind the child tax credit (the reduction of child poverty).
Source: Humphreys v The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, UKSC 18 (2012), United Kingdom Supreme Court
Links: Judgement | Supreme Court press release
Date: 2012-May
A report said that over one-half of all top-tier local authorities in England had not yet produced a child poverty strategy, as required under the Child Poverty Act 2010.
Source: Child Poverty: Where Are We Now?, 4Children
Links: Report
Date: 2012-May
An article used data from the Millennium Cohort Study to explore the association between a father's involvement and young children's emotional and behavioural adjustment. Early involvement by the father was negatively associated with later emotional symptoms, but no other problem behaviour. It also dampened the effect of socio-economic disadvantage – but not adverse life events – on emotional symptoms.
Source: Eirini Flouri and Lars-Erik Malmberg, 'Father involvement, family poverty and adversity, and young children s behaviour in intact two-parent families', Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, Volume 3 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
A report examined progress made by the world's wealthiest countries in reducing child poverty and deprivation. Even though the United Kingdom had missed its own targets to reduce child poverty to 1.7 million children in 2010, it still had one of the largest reductions in child poverty after government intervention. But the report warned that coalition government policies since 2010 to reduce public spending meant that this progress would be reversed, and that more children would grow up in poverty.
Source: Peter Adamson, Measuring Child Poverty: New league tables of child poverty in the world s rich countries, UNICEF
Links: Report | UNICEF UK press release | OCC press release | Childrens Society press release | Labour Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-May
A think-tank report said that the existing measure of child poverty was inadequate, because it failed to acknowledge that poverty was about much more than a lack of income. As a result it had driven short-term, narrow, and expensive policy responses. An 'arbitrary' line to measure child poverty said 'almost nothing' about the suffocating nature of child deprivation, as well as failing to assess the opportunities a child had to break free from it. The poverty measure should instead focus on the main drivers of poverty – family breakdown, educational failure, economic dependency and worklessness, addiction, and serious personal debt – thereby promoting policies that transformed lives, and rather than merely maintaining people on marginally higher incomes.
Source: Rethinking Child Poverty, Centre for Social Justice
Links: Report | Summary | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-May
A report examined the relationship between the distribution of families with disabled children in Wales and child poverty. It found a complex picture, with the highest density of families with disabled children living in the most deprived areas: but with large numbers living across Wales in the least deprived areas.
Source: Keith Bowen and Clare Kassa, Reaching Families in Wales: Mapping families with disabled children, Family Fund/Contact a Family Wales
Links: Report
Date: 2012-May
The coalition government published a discussion paper on increasing parental and community involvement in Sure Start children's centres.
Source: Increasing Parental and Community Involvement in Sure Start Children s Centres, Department for Education
Links: Paper | 4Children press release
Date: 2012-May
A briefing paper said that plans by the coalition government to withdraw child benefit from households with a higher-rate taxpayer were flawed and risked being an 'operational disaster'. It highlighted a range of potential problems with the plans, from possible breaches in confidentiality to the prospect of making half a million additional people fill in self-assessment forms. The plans also undermined the principle of individual taxation, since they involved clawing back from one person a benefit paid to another.
Source: High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge (HICBC), Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
Links: Briefing | ICAEW press release | Labour Party press release | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-May
A survey found that children's centres had a key role in empowering communities to meet their own needs. They provided a 'space' in areas of social deprivation for children, young people, and their families to reflect on their own mental health and well-being without judgement. All children's centres were located in areas of high deprivation and were well placed to meet the needs of the communities. Recent investment had ensured that there were sites (often purpose-built buildings) located in areas of need. Instead of wasting this valuable resource, there was an opportunity to use it to deliver early interventions by people who understood local needs. However, the quality of actual early intervention programmes varied widely: although every centre surveyed was involved in delivering programmes, only 13 per cent of these programmes were evidence-based.
Source: Louise Jackson, Securing Standards, Sustaining Success: Report on early intervention, National Education Trust
Links: Report | Nursery World report
Date: 2012-Apr
An analysis showed that asylum support levels for children and families fell 'alarmingly below' mainstream benefit levels, leaving around 10,000 children in severe poverty for long periods of time.
Source: Press release 9 April 2012, Children s Society
Links: Childrens Society press release | Briefing | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Apr
A new book examined the scale and nature of child poverty across the globe. It included chapters on the methodology of measuring child poverty and deprivation, child poverty in the European Union, and child poverty in the United Kingdom.
Source: Alberto Minujin and Shailen Nandy (eds.), Global Child Poverty and Well-Being: Measurement, concepts, policy and action, Policy Press
Links: Text of book | Summary
Notes: Individual chapters included: David Gordon and Shailen Nandy, 'Measurement and methodologies: measuring child poverty and deprivation' | Isabelle Engsted-Maquet, 'Enhancing the fight against child poverty in the European Union: an EU benchmarking exercise' | Ruth Levitas, 'Utopia calling: eradicating child poverty in the United Kingdom and beyond'.
Date: 2012-Apr
A report said that about one-third of school-aged children in England who were living in poverty were not entitled to receive free school meals – around 700,000. Although entitled, a further 500,000 did not take up their meals. This meant that more than half (around 1.2 million) of all school-aged children living in poverty did not receive free school meals. The main reason for lack of entitlement was the fact that their parents were in work. The report called on the government to ensure that all children in poverty were entitled to receive free school meals, and to promote work incentives by extending entitlement to school children in families in receipt of universal credit. All local authorities and school providers should introduce cashless systems in order to de-stigmatize the receipt of free school meals. The government should review the extent to which maintained schools and academies were adhering to the nutritional standards for school food, and whether secondary school pupils who took up free school meals were receiving enough to buy a full and nutritious meal, with a range of choices available within budget.
Source: Sam Royston, Laura Rodrigues, and David Hounsell, Fair and Square: A policy report on the future of free school meals, Children s Society
Links: Report | Childrens Society press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Apr
The children's rights watchdog in Northern Ireland published two reports that examined the impact of forthcoming welfare reform proposals (by the United Kingdom coalition government) on children in Northern Ireland, and the potential for the Northern Ireland Executive to adapt them in order to protect children's best interests. The watchdog said that child poverty could increase if the planned changes were pushed through the Northern Ireland Assembly. Children were particularly vulnerable to poverty and were unable themselves to influence their economic circumstances. The inequalities already experienced by many children in living in poverty could worsen considerably as a result of the welfare reform legislation, if action were not taken.
Source: Goretti Horgan and Marina Monteith, A Child Rights Impact Assessment of the Impact of Welfare Reform on Children in Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People | Barry Fitzpatrick and Noreen Burrows, An Examination of Parity Principles in Welfare and Wider Social Policy, Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | NICCY press release | NIE press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Apr
An article examined the associations between deprivation and rates of childhood overweight and obesity in England, from 2007 to 2010. Childhood obesity rates in England were found to be strongly associated with deprivation. Given the enormous public health implications of overweight and obesity in the population, a significant effort was required to tackle unhealthy weight in children in all local authorities, and this should be a priority in areas with high levels of deprivation.
Source: David Conrad and Simon Capewell, 'Associations between deprivation and rates of childhood overweight and obesity in England, 2007-2010: An ecological study', British Medical Journal Open, Volume 2 Issue 2
Links: Article
Date: 2012-Apr
A series of changes to tax credits (originally announced in the 2010 Budget and Spending Review) came into effect from 6 April 2012. They included an increase, from 16 to 24, in the number of hours that most couples with children would need to work each week (between them) in order to qualify for working tax credit. The 2012 Budget statement indicated that this measure would cut public spending by around £550 million in 2012-13 – equivalent to an average annual loss of £2,600 for the 212,000 families affected. An updated think-tank analysis suggested that the combined effect of the tax and benefit changes effective from April 2012 would be an average loss of £511 per year for households with children.
Source: Tax Credits: Effect of Budget Changes from 6 April 2012, HM Revenue & Customs | Robert Joyce, Tax and Benefit Changes, Excluding Those Affecting Mainly the Very Rich, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: HMRC guidance | HMRC leaflet | HOC research brief | IFS analysis | Letter of representation | Barnardos press release | CPAG press release | LITG press release | Labour Party press release | Resolution Foundation press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Guardian report (4) | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Apr
A paper said that the focusing of the coalition government's social justice strategy on 120,000 'troubled' families was 'deeply flawed'. The figure was a 'factoid' that was being used to support policies that in no way followed from the research on which the figure was based. The paper documented the way the government had misused research into families with multiple disadvantages, using it to blame them for a wide range of social problems. The term 'troubled families' discursively collapsed 'families with troubles' and 'troublesome families', while simultaneously implying that they were dysfunctional as families. This discursive strategy was successful in feeding vindictive attitudes to the poor.
Source: Ruth Levitas, There May Be Trouble Ahead: What we know about those 120,000 troubled families , Working Paper 3, Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK
Date: 2012-Apr
The coalition government's expert adviser on behaviour in schools in England called for a crackdown on primary school absence to make sure that it was not a problem later on in life. He called for the government to publish data on attendance in reception classes along with local and national averages; for primary schools to identify at an early stage those children who were developing a pattern of absence; and for primary schools to support parents in nursery and reception classes who were failing to get their children to school. He said that the parents of children who persistently truanted should have their child benefit cut.
Source: Charlie Taylor (Government s Expert Adviser on Behaviour), Improving Attendance at School, Department for Education
Links: Report | DE press release | ATL press release | Barnardos press release | Family Lives press release | Labour Party press release | NAHT press release | NUT press release | Voice press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Apr
A paper examined the impact of child benefits on the poverty risk of lone mothers in 15 European countries. Child benefits played a major role in complementing the household income of lone mothers: but the poverty-reducing impact differed greatly between countries, depending on the generosity and the design of the benefit system. Designing a system that was friendly to lone mothers did not necessarily come at a great cost. A well designed child benefit system had the potential to play a crucial role in strengthening women's autonomy.
Source: Wim Van Lancker, Joris Ghysels, and Bea Cantillon, An International Comparison of the Impact of Child Benefits on Poverty Outcomes for Single Mothers, Working Paper 12/03, Centre for Social Research (Antwerp University)
Date: 2012-Apr
An article examined which family policies in developed countries were most effective at directly reducing poverty among families with children, and whether these policies indirectly reduced poverty through supporting mothers' employment. Significant effects were found of family allowances, generous parental leave, and childcare provision, with more powerful effects for lone mothers. Parental leave and childcare operated through boosting mothers' employment, illustrating that work-family policies were useful for reducing poverty by enhancing mothers' employment.
Source: Joya Misra, Stephanie Moller, Eiko Strader, and Elizabeth Wemlinger, 'Family policies, employment and poverty among partnered and single mothers', Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Volume 30 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Apr
An article drew on the Luxembourg Income Study to examine child poverty across a diverse group of countries, as of 2004-2006. It synthesized past LIS-based research on child poverty, focusing on studies that aimed to explain cross-national variation in child poverty rates. It then looked at child poverty in 20 high- and middle-income countries. It assessed poverty among all households and among those with children, and using multiple poverty measures (relative and absolute, pre- and post-taxes and transfers). It investigated the effects of factors such as family structure, educational attainment, and labour market attachment – considering how the effects of these factors varied across counties. It then analyzed the extent to which cross-national variation in child poverty was explained by families' characteristics and/or by the effects of (or returns to) those characteristics.
Source: Janet Gornick and Markus Jantti, 'Child poverty in cross-national perspective: Lessons from the Luxembourg Income Study', Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 34 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Apr
A report provided a statistical snapshot of child poverty in a range of local areas in Scotland, with a specific focus on income and education.
Source: Child Poverty in Scotland: A local snapshot, Save the Children
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Apr
An article examined the approach of children's centre managers to preventive interventions. It said that there was 'considerable divergence' in their views, and highlighted the implications of this for higher-need families.
Source: Michael Sheppard, 'Preventive orientations in children's centres: a study of centre managers', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 42 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Mar
A report examined research evidence relating to parenting on a low income. It identified a range of improvements that would help parents to manage resources, balance work and care, and access services, including: affordable and appropriate childcare; holistic and family-oriented services; accessible and affordable facilities; co-ordinated and flexible support; support in accessing benefits; help with employability skills; job flexibility; and more involvement of parents in service planning.
Source: Karen Mountney, Parenting on a Low Income, About Families
Date: 2012-Mar
A study examined the existing state of knowledge on child poverty, and the specific dimensions of the problem within London – focusing on child poverty on Peabody estates. It considered ways in which Peabody might deploy its own resources, and work jointly with other agencies and with the people it housed, to tackle child poverty – both in its own housing and in the neighbourhoods in which it worked.
Source: Nicholas Pleace, David Rhodes, and Deborah Quilgars, Understanding and Tackling Child Poverty on Peabody Estates, Peabody
Notes: Peabody was established in 1862 by an American philanthropist to deal with slum living conditions and poverty across London: it now manages more than 19,000 homes across the city.
Date: 2012-Mar
The 2012 Budget statement set out proposals to:
• Increase the income tax personal allowance by £1,100 in April 2013, to £9,205 per year. The basic rate limit (the range of income subject to income tax at the basic rate of 20 per cent) would be cut by £2,215 to £32,245 per year from the same date.
• Freeze the age-related personal tax allowance for those aged 65 and over from April 2013 at 2012-13 levels until it was aligned with the allowance for those aged under 65. From April 2013, the age-related allowance would be restricted to those eligible at that point.
• Cut the 50 per cent top rate of income tax to 45 per cent from April 2013.
• Cut corporation tax by an extra 1 per cent from April 2012, to 24 per cent. Together with cuts already announced, corporation tax would fall to 22 per cent in April 2014.
• Withdraw child benefit from households in which someone had an annual income of over £50,000 per year (rather than households with a higher-rate taxpayer as previously announced). The withdrawal of child benefit would be implemented in steps for households in which someone had an income of between £50,000 and £60,000.
• Introduce a new stamp duty rate of 7 per cent on residential property worth over £2 million.
• Issue to all taxpayers, from 2014-15, a new 'Personal Tax Statement' detailing the income tax and national insurance contributions that they had paid, their average tax rates, and how this contributed to public spending on different areas.
• Cut total public spending on 'welfare' by an additional £10 billion by 2016.
Source: Budget 2012, HC 1853, HM Treasury, TSO
Links: Report | Finance Bill | Hansard | HMT press release | Policy costings | Exchequer effect of 50 per cent tax rate | OBR press release | HOC research brief (1) | HOC research brief (2) | Age UK press release | Barnardos press release | CBI press release | Childrens Society press release | CIPD press release | CPAG press release | CPS press release | EDCM press release | Fawcett Society press release | Gingerbread press release | LGA press release | LITG press release | Mencap press release | NCB press release | NIESR press release | Resolution Foundation analysis | TUC press release | WBG press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Mar
A study examined the suitability of a range of possible national measures for a 'payment by results' trial for children's centres.
Source: Ivana La Valle, Jennifer Gibb, Bernadetta Brzyska, Ben Durbin, Caroline Sharp, Helen Aston, and Simon Rutt, Feasibility Study for the Trials of Payment by Results for Children's Centres, National Children s Bureau/National Foundation for Educational Research
Links: Report | NCB press release
Date: 2012-Mar
A paper examined child deprivation in Europe. It estimated the degree to which deprivation was experienced by children in 29 countries, using a child-specific scale. There were considerable differences between the countries involved. The (non-)overlap between child deprivation and child monetary poverty was considerable but limited. The results indicated where policy interventions could produce improvements.
Source: Chris de Neubourg, Jonathan Bradshaw, Yekaterina Chzhen, Gill Main, Bruno Martorano, and Leonardo Menchini, Child Deprivation, Multidimensional Poverty and Monetary Poverty in Europe, Working Paper 2012-02, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (Florence)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Mar
A survey examined what parents spent their child benefit on, and how much they valued it. The top three main areas that parents of all social classes spent child benefit on were clothes and shoes (51 per cent), food (26 per cent), and education-related items (16 per cent). Parents expressed a sense of dread about the effects on their family incomes of the coalition government's proposed changes to the benefit.
Source: Rys Farthing, Save Child Benefit, Child Poverty Action Group
Links: Briefing
Date: 2012-Mar
A report said that the potentially positive impact of the new universal credit (due to replace many tax credits and benefits from 2013) on supporting parents into work and reducing child poverty could be undermined because of problems in three areas: insufficient earnings disregards for working mothers; a lack of support for childcare costs; and universal credit payments being withdrawn too quickly.
Source: Graham Whitham, Ending Child Poverty: Ensuring universal credit supports working mums, Save the Children
Links: Report | Save the Children press release | Labour Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Mar
A report set out the findings from a project that used the 'sustainable livelihoods' approach to map the lives of two large, extended families experiencing poverty. Exploring the interaction between different assets – and who had access to them within a household – enabled better targeting of support to individual family members.
Source: This Is My Life: Improving support for families in poverty with the sustainable livelihoods approach, ATD Fourth World
Notes: The sustainable livelihoods approach is a way of looking at poverty that focuses on the strengths, capabilities, and other assets of people living in poverty, and the strategies they use to get by through drawing on them.
Date: 2012-Mar
A paper said that more than 1 in 4 children were growing up in families facing multiple challenges, such as parental depression and financial hardship, that could have a damaging effect on their development.
Source: Ricardo Sabates and Shirley Dex, Multiple Risk Factors in Young Children's Development, Working Paper 2012/1, Centre for Longitudinal Studies (University of London)
Links: Paper | CLS press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Feb
A study found that the median income of families with children was projected to fall between 2010 and 2015 by 4.2 per cent. For a couple with two children this equated to £1,250 less each year by 2015. Families with children aged under the age of 5, families with more than two children, and lone parent families not in paid work would suffer the biggest losses of income over the period examined.
Source: James Browne, The Impact of Austerity Measures on Households with Children, Family and Parenting Institute
Links: Report | FPI press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Jan
A briefing paper examined the obligations placed on government departments in Northern Ireland by the Child Poverty Act 2010 (which committed the United Kingdom government to eradicate child poverty by 2020).
Source: Jane Campbell, The Child Poverty Act 2010 and Northern Ireland s Role, Briefing Note 02/12, Northern Ireland Assembly
Links: Briefing
Date: 2012-Jan
The children's watchdog for England published its first 'child rights impact assessment' of draft legislation. It highlighted a series of concerns regarding the potential effects of the Welfare Reform Bill on children s rights – in particular an increase in child poverty as a result of housing benefit cuts..
Source: A Child Rights Impact Assessment of the Welfare Reform Bill, Office of the Children's Commissioner
Links: Report | OCC press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Jan
A report provided a child poverty 'map' of the United Kingdom, broken down by parliamentary constituency, local authority, and ward.
Source: Donald Hirsch and Jacqueline Beckhelling, Child Poverty Map of the UK, End Child Poverty
Links: Report | ECP press release | Childrens Society press release | Gingerbread press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Jan
An article used Sure Start as a case study to explore the reasons why large-scale, complex, national initiatives often failed to adequately evidence the impact of their work. It explored a range of structural, cultural, methodological, and practical factors that had acted to inhibit effective evaluation of the impact of the initiative.
Source: Nigel Lloyd and Louise Harrington, 'The challenges to effective outcome evaluation of a national, multi-agency initiative: the experience of Sure Start', Evaluation: The International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, Volume 18 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jan
A briefing paper used the findings from a survey of parents with children under the age of 16 to examine how the cost of energy affected family budgets. Almost one-half (45 per cent) of parents said that they were considering cutting back on food in order to pay their energy bills during the 2011-2012 winter.
Source: Rising Energy Costs: The Impact on Low-Income Families, Save the Children
Links: Briefing
Date: 2012-Jan
The United Kingdom's four children's commissioners issued a statement expressing 'deep concern' at the serious negative impact on children of proposals in the Welfare Reform Bill. It urged the coalition government to reconsider its plans, specifically the £26,000 annual benefit cap to be imposed on families. It said that many more families and their children would be pushed into absolute poverty over the coming years if the proposed changes went ahead.
Source: Press release 31 January 2012, Children's Commissioners for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Links: CC press release
Date: 2012-Jan