​​Eight tests for the child poverty strategy

The majority of support provided by food banks in the Trussell community is for families with children, and so we welcome the UK government’s commitment to an ambitious child poverty strategy, alongside the commitment to end the need for emergency food parcels.  

Our recent research revealed 9.3 million people, including 3 million children, face hunger and hardship and hundreds of thousands more are forecast to be pulled under without further action. The numbers are appalling. No one should be left without enough money to live on. For children, the effects of poverty are scarring.  

Delivering quickly for children facing the deepest forms of poverty

The depth of hunger and hardship we see in our communities is doing untold damage to individual lives, but it is also damaging the chances of economic growth and public service renewal. There can be no doubt that the child poverty strategy, due to be published in spring 2025, must deliver quickly for the children facing the deepest forms of poverty.

The strategy must go a lot further than the steps already outlined. That’s why, as members of the End Child Poverty Coalition, we are setting out eight key areas which we will test the strategy against when it is published. These tests are based on our collective insights from the children and families we work with every day who are living in poverty.

Making investment in social security the bedrock of the child poverty strategy

The government has committed to building ‘a deep understanding of the drivers and experience of poverty in households across the UK’. We know from our research and our work with food banks and the people seeking their support that there are a number of factors that make it more likely someone will need a food bank. The way these issues combine and interact can make someone’s life even harder.  

Managing health conditions, caring responsibilities, insecure and low-paid work, a lack of affordable housing, childcare and transport, social isolation and local services struggling to provide the right support at the right time all need careful attention.  

However, we will hold back the benefits of changes elsewhere – on essential costs, work, housing, access to local services – if we do not address incomes from social security which are simply too low. Social security is an investment in the life chances of children and families, and one that is necessary to deliver the government’s wider goals on opportunity, health and economic growth.  

Scrapping the two-child limit and taking steps towards an Essentials Guarantee

The two-child limit, which means that parents only receive support for up to two children through Universal Credit, should be scrapped. This would mean that 630,000 fewer people could be facing hunger and hardship by 2025/26, including 430,000 children. In other words, it would make a difference to hundreds of thousands of people living well below the poverty line who are most likely to be using a food bank or at high risk of doing so.

The strategy should also include clear steps towards an Essentials Guarantee. This would make sure the basic rate of Universal Credit is sufficient to protect people from going without the essentials we all need, including food, fuel and toiletries. An Essentials Guarantee would ensure over 1.9 million fewer people would be at risk of facing hunger and hardship in 2025/26, including 580,000 children. This is the direction of travel we need from the child poverty strategy, starting with the introduction of a protected minimum floor below which UC’s standard allowance is not permitted to fall - as a low cost, concrete step towards an Essentials Guarantee.  

Our eight tests are clear on what is needed for the child poverty strategy to succeed

We must not let hunger and hardship escalate further; the time to get this right is now.

The child poverty strategy must:

1. Put in place legally binding targets to eradicate child poverty in 20 years.
2. Make the views of children, young people and their families central to both development and implementation.
3. Include specific support for children most likely to experience poverty.
4. Demonstrate leadership and accountability from the top of government.
5. Be able to operate both regionally and locally as well as across the four nations.
6. Make social security the bedrock of change.
7. Ensure new employment support for families is backed by a new approach to job seeking rules.
8. Set out how the government will resource and reform public services to address child poverty.

Read more about the eight tests for the child poverty strategy on the End Child Poverty Coalition's website.