The government will fail to hit its child poverty goals has emerged in a report showing 3.5 million children are expected to be in absolute poverty in Britain in 2020 – almost five times as many as the target.
The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission said the absolute child poverty goal was "simply unattainable" and that this was on course to be the first decade since records began in 1961 not to see a fall in absolute child poverty.
Under the Child Poverty Act 2010, passed by Labour just before it left office, the government is committed to getting relative child poverty (the proportion of children living in households on below 60% median income) below 10% by 2020 and absolute child poverty (the proportion living in households below what 60% of median income was in 2010-11, uprated for inflation) below 5%.
The commission says "ending poverty mainly through the labour market does not look remotely realistic by 2020". In too many cases it simply moves children from low income workless households to low income working households. The reality is that too many parents get stuck in working poverty, unable to command sufficient earnings to escape low income and cycling in and out of insecure, short-term and low-paid employment with limited prospects."
To hit the relative child poverty target, parental employment rates would have to reach almost 100% – "far beyond what has ever been achieved anywhere in the world". Hours being worked would have to increase substantially. Current policies would not enable this to happen. Even if parental employment reached almost 100%, the absolute poverty target would be unattainable because of the way earnings fell relative to inflation from 2010 to 2013.
The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission said the absolute child poverty goal was "simply unattainable" and that this was on course to be the first decade since records began in 1961 not to see a fall in absolute child poverty.
Under the Child Poverty Act 2010, passed by Labour just before it left office, the government is committed to getting relative child poverty (the proportion of children living in households on below 60% median income) below 10% by 2020 and absolute child poverty (the proportion living in households below what 60% of median income was in 2010-11, uprated for inflation) below 5%.
The commission says "ending poverty mainly through the labour market does not look remotely realistic by 2020". In too many cases it simply moves children from low income workless households to low income working households. The reality is that too many parents get stuck in working poverty, unable to command sufficient earnings to escape low income and cycling in and out of insecure, short-term and low-paid employment with limited prospects."
To hit the relative child poverty target, parental employment rates would have to reach almost 100% – "far beyond what has ever been achieved anywhere in the world". Hours being worked would have to increase substantially. Current policies would not enable this to happen. Even if parental employment reached almost 100%, the absolute poverty target would be unattainable because of the way earnings fell relative to inflation from 2010 to 2013.
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