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I would love to work, but childcare costs are too expensive, and even when my children are older I’m concerned about how I’ll manage during the school holidays. Unless I can find a job in a school I can’t see how I’ll be able to manage.

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'Benefiting from work' - Save the Children 2010

Campaign News

Spending Review Makes Children Pay Today to Protect the Wealthy - 20th of Oct, 2010

SPENDING REVIEW MAKES CHILDREN PAY TODAY TO PROTECT WEALTHY TOMORROW

Commenting on the Spending Review, Rhian Beynon, spokesperson for the End Child Poverty Campaign of more than 150 member organisations, said:

“The compensating measures don’t go nearly far enough to stop this being a dark day for any family struggling to stay out of poverty, or deep in it already and fearing things will get worse still. With a Child Tax Credit increase worth just 58p more a week next year, the poorest children have less than the price of a loaf of bread to compensate.

“The cuts to benefits now total over £18 billion, with the main part focussed on cuts to support for families. Cuts to support for childcare costs and a freeze for Sure Start services will harm families too and make it harder for them to get and keep paid work.

“We accept the importance of reducing the deficit, but we don’t accept the approach chosen. Claims that the wealthiest carry the biggest burden and measured child poverty will not increase did not stand up to independent scrutiny in the emergency budget and we do not accept the claims to survive scrutiny this time either .The Spending Review will almost certainly increase child poverty and increase the economic costs faced by any society with high levels of poverty, inequality and social exclusion.

“The promise of fairness has not been met. While unprecedented cuts to essential support and services are rushed through, the review fails the challenge of saving the tens of billions lost on tax evasion and does not ask the wealthiest to make a full and fair tax contribution. A fairer ratio of cuts to tax rises along with a reduction timetable recognising the risks to jobs and growth in our fragile recovering economy would have met the fairness test. The resulting message is: ‘children must pay today to protect the wealthy tomorrow’.”

Notes to Editors

The Chancellor’s phrase “measured child poverty” applies to estimates made using the Treasury’s tax and benefit microsimulation model based on 2007-08 Family Resource Survey Data projected to 2011/12 and 2012/13. No further explanation is given than this, but it does not take into account Housing Benefit cuts and expected public sector job losses. It is also not clear if this applies to all four of the ways in which government measures child poverty (relative low income, absolute low income, persistent low income and material deprivation combined with relative low income). We would expect an increase in particular in material deprivation. We would also expect a measurable impact on families on out of work benefits that are below the poverty line moving below it even further. And we would expect that for a period longer than 2 years child poverty will worsen from the cuts on the headline measure of relative income.
The Government refused to reveal details of its methodology for determining the Spending Review is fair and even rejected a freedom of information request asking for its methodology.
The National Fraud Authority estimates that at least £40 billion is lost to tax avoidance, but it admits this is a cautious estimate and other estimates suggest the tax gap may be as high as £120 billion.
Despite repeated requests from campaigners, no evidence is published alongside the Spending Review of how it allows scope for the child poverty strategy to be published next spring.
The Child Tax Credit increase is worth just 58p per week per child in 2011 and 96p per week per child in 2012. An Asda white sliced loaf costs 74p.
The cut from 80% to 70% of childcare cost contributions for Working Tax Credit recipients will cost more per week for many families than they will be getting per year in the small Child Tax Credit increase.
The freeze on Sure Start centres and announcement of refocusing its activitities suggest that some current activities of the centres will be cut.
The End Child Poverty campaign made up of more than 150 organisations from civic society including children’s charities, child welfare organisations, social justice groups, faith groups, trade unions and others, united in our vision of a UK free of child poverty. For a full list of members, visit www.endchildpoverty.org.uk

We campaign to achieve our vision by:

Ensuring the voices of families facing economic disadvantage are heard;
Increasing understanding of the causes and impacts of child poverty and mobilising public support and action;
Promoting to politicians and government the case for ending child poverty by 2020, the actions that will achieve it and holding them to account on the requirements of the Child Poverty Act.

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