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Child poverty
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10/03/2014
Child poverty strategy for Scotland
Plans to tackle child poverty in Scotland have been published by the Scottish Government. The new strategy, which covers the period 2014 to 2017, is aimed at tackling the causes of poverty by addressing them early.
The Scottish Government said that although child poverty in Scotland has fallen in recent years, it is set to increase to levels last seen in 2003-04 due to the impact of benefits reforms introduced by the coalition government in London.
Category: Reports -
07/03/2014
Impact of fuel poverty on children
More than half of all children in poverty are missing out on crucial help that could keep them warm, a new analysis by the Children’s Society has revealed. The report highlights the extent of fuel poverty in the UK, and says many children living in poverty are also living in inadequately heated homes.
Category: Reports -
27/02/2014
Child poverty – draft strategy launched
The coalition government has reiterated its commitment to end child poverty in the UK by 2020 through tackling what it calls the underlying causes of deprivation. Plans to offer a revised measure of child poverty appear to have been shelved.
Category: Reports -
14/02/2014
Plans to change child poverty measurement ‘shelved’
Plans by the coalition government to change how child poverty is officially measured have had to be shelved due to deadlock in a row between the Treasury and the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, according to a report in the Guardian newspaper.
Duncan Smith outlined the plans in a consultation document in November 2012. The document said that although income mattered, a new multi-dimensional approach was needed to tackle the problem of child poverty. It suggested criteria for measuring child poverty that included: living in a workless household; living in a family with problem debt; living in poor housing or a troubled area; living in an unstable family environment; attending a failing school; having parents without the skills they need to get on; or having parents who are in poor health. The coalition government subsequently produced polling evidence that it said showed popular support for the measures.
Category: News stories -
03/02/2014
Benefit cap hits vulnerable children
Families in England with vulnerable children who face homelessness are being forced to move far away because the coalition government's benefits cap means they can no longer pay the rent, according to a report from the Action for Children charity.
For working-age households where no one is in work, benefits have since September 2013 been limited to a total of £500 a week (£350 a week in the case of single people).
Category: Reports -
02/02/2014
Child poverty in Scotland
Child poverty in Scotland fell by 10 percentage points in the 10 years to 2011-12 – about twice the fall in England – according to a new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Further reductions in child poverty, it says, hinge on tackling poverty among workless families, where poverty levels remain very high.
Category: Reports -
21/01/2014
Basic income scheme for children in Europe
A Europe-wide universal child benefit programme could reduce child poverty and the poverty gap throughout Europe, according to a briefing paper produced by UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children. Moreover, it says, significant reductions in child poverty could be achieved without disproportionate cost.
Category: Reports -
15/01/2014
Income poverty – new projections to 2021
Newly updated projections of income poverty among children and working-age adults have been published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The projections cover every year to 2017-18, and 2020-21, taking into account knowledge about tax and benefit policy and current forecasts for the macroeconomy.
Although produced for the Northern Ireland Executive, the projections cover the whole of the UK as well as including detailed figures for England and Wales (combined), Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Category: Reports -
07/01/2014
Free school meals extended in Scotland
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has announced a significant expansion of free school meals and childcare provision. As part of a £114 million package for young people over two years, every child in Scotland in the first three years of primary school will have the option of a free meal in school from January 2015.
Speaking during a parliamentary debate on poverty and the early years, Salmond also announced that free early education provision would be expanded to every child aged two from a workless household in Scotland – around 8,400 children or 15 per cent of all children aged two – by August this year. By August 2015, free early education would be extended further, reaching 15,400 children – 27 per cent of all children aged two – by widening entitlement to families that received certain benefits such as jobseeker’s allowance.
Category: News stories -
13/11/2013
‘Breadwinner’ families worst for child poverty
Families with a traditional ‘breadwinner’ model – where one parent (usually the father) goes out to work while the other stays at home to care for children – are now the largest group of households with children living in poverty, according to research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Category: Reports
