Local Authorities and Child Poverty: Balancing Threats and Opportunities

Some 3.5 million children – over a quarter of all children –  currently live below the poverty line in the UK. And this has a devastating impact on their lives. Children growing up in poor homes are more likely to die at birth or in infancy than children born into richer families. They are more likely to be left behind in education. By the age of three, poorer children are estimated to be, on average, nine months behind children from more wealthy backgrounds. They are almost twice as likely to live in bad housing.

Children in poverty also miss out on experiences that most of us regard as normal and just part of growing up. They don’t go on school trips; can’t invite friends round for tea; and can’t afford a holiday away from home.

Troublingly, children in low-income families are being hit hard by the government’s tax and benefits changes. The Institute of Fiscal Studies predicts that between 2010
and 2020, rather than ending child poverty, the government’s welfare reform programme will mean that some 1.1 million more children live in poverty.

And local authorities will have to bear the brunt of many of these reforms; from having to directly implement some poverty producing policies (like council tax benefit reforms) to picking up the pieces where things go wrong (through managing a localised social fund replacement scheme). Local authorities are going to be critical in supporting families through the genuine hardship to come.

At the same time however, shrinking settlements and decreasing tax revenues are placing extra pressure on many local authorities’ capacity to help families. This means that too many local authorities are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to meeting the needs of families in their community.

This is why Child Poverty Action Group have produced this report, looking at the impact of Welfare Reforms on Child Poverty levels locally, and exploring from their own perspectives, what local authorities can do to reduce and mitigate the effects of child poverty in a difficult climate.