Up-to-date news on the campaign to end child poverty. http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk   Research commissioned from the Institute for Fiscal Studies by the End Child Poverty campaign (1) shows that the Coalition’s emergency budget hit families with children hardest, and that the poorest families are set to lose most. The research contradicts the Chancellor’s claim that the budget measures were progressive (2), and calls into question commitments to ‘fairness’. Unlike the Treasury’s own modelling, the analysis takes into account the impact of all the budget’s changes up to 2014; analyses the June 2010 Budget changes separately from those announced previously; and includes changes to Housing Benefit and Disability Living Allowance. It shows that: “The measures announced in the June 2010 budget are regressive as they hit the poorest more than the seventh, eighth and ninth deciles in cash, let alone percentage, terms.” Families with children lose more than pensioners or other household types in all except the top three income groups (3). The poorest families with children lose more than any other group. As a result of the changes announced in the June Budget, families in the bottom income decile are set to lose over 5 per cent of their income, compared to less than one per cent for non-pensioner households without children in the top decile. Fiona Weir, a spokesperson for the End Child Poverty campaign, said: “The coalition has committed to ending child poverty by 2020, but its cuts are hitting the poorest families hardest. It’s not fair that children should have to pay for the cuts and shocking that the poorest families are bearing the brunt of them. The coalition must re-consider its cuts, including changes to Housing Benefit and uprating benefits. The spending review will need to show clearly how the Government will  deliver on the commitment to ending child poverty, ensuring that cuts fall on those most able to pay.” Notes to editors: (1) The research ’The distributional effect of tax and benefit reforms to be introduced between June 2010 and April 2014: a revised assessment’,  by James Browne and Peter Levell, was commissioned from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and is published today on their website at www.ifs.ac.uk (2) The coalition has repeatedly made commitments to fairness: George Osborne, Budget Statement: “Overall, everyone will pay something, but the people at the bottom of the income scale will pay proportionately less than the people at the top. It is a progressive budget.” The Coalition: our programme for government: "We will introduce arrangements that will protect those on low incomes from the effect of public sector pay constraints and other spending constraints." (p.15) Danny Alexander (Observer comment piece, 27 June 2010): "Fairness is a key coalition principle and has been applied to the most difficult budget for 60 years. We have ensured the measures' impact is progressive. Whether as a share of income or spending, the best off will pay most... The budget has no negative impact on measured child poverty." Danny Alexander (letter to the Observer, 4 July 2010): "The budget is progressive because the burden falls most heavily on the wealthier in our society."   (3) The effect of tax and benefit reforms announced in the June 2010 Budget to be introduced by April 2014 by income decile and household type   Note: Income decile groups are derived by dividing all households into 10 equal-sized groups according to income adjusted for household size using the McClements equivalence scale. Decile group 1 contains the poorest tenth of the population, decile group 2 the second poorest, and so on up to decile group 10, which contains the richest tenth. Assumes increases in employer NICs are passed on to employees in the form of lower wages. Sources: IFS calculations using TAXBEN. (4) 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. Contact: Tim Nichols (020 7812 5216 or 07812 5216); or Kate Bell (020 7428 5414 or 07823 770425) http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/news.php?id=23&nid=184 Commenting on today's Emergency Budget, Shan Nicholas, spokesperson for End Child Poverty and Chief Executive of host organisation Child Poverty Action Group, said: “The Budget promised that no more children would be in poverty, but it does not go far enough to pass the fairness test. An important increase in Child Tax Credit may just keep a child poverty rise in check, but the numbers growing up in poverty certainly won’t fall. With nearly 4 million children living below the poverty line, maintaining the status quo will not do. “The VAT rise, the freeze on Child Benefit and cuts to benefit uprating are all regressive measures. While they will be offset by tax threshold and tax credit changes, the Government should have used progressive taxation for greater fairness. “Each Budget that goes by without progress on the child poverty targets, time runs out and the promised improvements to children’s lives get left in limbo. “Ending child poverty is not only of moral importance, we must cut the annual cost to Britain of £25 billion from the social and economic problems that result for a sustained economic recovery.” Notes to Editors ECP backs the 'Fairness Test' call on the Government to have a transparent process for ensuring that decisions on deficit reduction do not increase inequality - and hence poverty - so that  fairness is hardwired into decision making. ECP is a coalition of over 150 member organisations campaigning for public and political commitment to ensure the goals of halving child poverty by 2010 and ending child poverty by 2020 are met. http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/news.php?id=24&nid=183 Press release   Date 24/3/10   Immediate release     Nothing in budget for children living in poverty today     In response to today’s Budget, End Child Poverty expresses its disappointment at the lack of any immediate help for low income families facing poverty. The campaign does, however, welcome the universal access to bank accounts and support for the international bank levy.     Sam Hyde, Director of the campaign said:   “The failure to prioritise children means that Government will continue to fall far short of the important milestone of halving child poverty, and is a serious set back on the road to ending child poverty by 2020. It’s a missed opportunity to improve the lives of thousands of children, who will today be growing up with a poorer future.”   “The recession and the deficit are no excuse. The children of today are the workers who will pay off the national debt tomorrow and we cannot afford to see their life chances slip away. We’ve seen government find money for what it thinks are priorities and we are disappointed that it doesn’t consider important its commitments to the Child Poverty Bill, which will gain Royal Assent this week.”      Notes to editors:   End Child Poverty acknowledges and welcomes the £4 a week increase in child tax credits for 1 and 2 year olds in 2012, but this measure is too far away and will have little impact, given that in 2012, £4 will not have equivalent value.   Members of the Campaign to End Child Poverty met with Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Timms, to discuss what the Campaign members agree is needed from the Budget. In a subsequent letter sent by the campaign to follow up the meeting, the following asks for the Budget were made to Treasury ministers:   ·        Increase in support for childcare costs An increase in the childcare element of working tax credit from 80% to 100% would help ensure that parents are better off in work and help families stay out of debt. It would cost the Government around £420 million but would have a much lower net cost as it would help parents to access employment.   ·        Help with costs of school (school clothing grants) A school clothing grant for families without work will help keep many out of debt when extra costs arise. An annual payment of £50 for pupils on free school meals (aged 5-16) would cost £54 million.   ·        Increase funding and access to Social Fund More families during the recession have been turning to the home credit companies and the worst kind of lenders as a result of financial exclusion and lack of access to mainstream banking services. We urge the Government to increase the funding for grants and affordable credit. Even if on a temporary basis for increased demand because of the recession, it would help families in times of crisis and prevent increasing spirals of debt.         http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/news.php?id=23&nid=182 PRESS NOTICE: LONDON’S CHILD POVERTY CHAMPIONS   Parliamentary Event to Launch “Child Poverty Champions - 4in10: The End Child Poverty London Project’s Guide to Good Practice”   Location: Strangers’ Dining Room, Houses of Parliament Time: 16.00-18.00, Wednesday 24th March   The Rt. Hon. Stephen Timms MP will be hosting a parliamentary reception to celebrate the work of the voluntary sector in tackling child poverty. The celebration will also mark the launch of “Child Poverty Champions - 4in10: The End Child Poverty London Project’s (4in10) Guide to Good Practice”, which will feature 16 of the best examples of good practice towards tackling child poverty in London.   The event will feature speeches from: §                     Rt. Hon. Stephen Timms MP (Financial Secretary to the Treasury) §                     Andrew Selous MP (Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions) §                     Dianne Bell, a parent from Westminster who will give a personal account of living in London on a low income   Over 100 representatives will attend the event, including individuals from: §                     London borough authorities §                     Central government §                     Statutory organisations §                     London voluntary sector organisations   Samantha Hyde, Director of End Child Poverty said: “In a city as rich as ours, it is unacceptable that four in ten London children live in poverty. But voluntary and community organisations working across the capital have refused to accept this shocking injustice. The organisations featured in our good practice guide have each shown tremendous foresight and have identified imaginative and creative ideas to support children across the capital to get the possible start in life. For this they truly are child poverty champions.”  http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/news.php?id=23&nid=178   Monday 22nd March 2010   Pre - Budget Letter to the Guardian     This budget week, a Bill that could turn around the lives of the UK’s 4 million children living in poverty will receive Royal Assent. The Child Poverty Act enshrines in legislation the most courageous promises made by the Labour Government in 1999– to end child poverty by 2020.   A promise to halve child poverty by 2010 was made too, resulting in half a million fewer children living in poverty than a decade ago. But the Government remains woefully short of this target.   We call on Alistair Darling to use his last opportunity before the election to move closer to fulfilling the pledge his government made to halve child poverty ensuring the 2020 target remains credible. Amid the difficult choices needed to sustain the economic recovery, with limited resources at the Chancellors disposal, it is vital he does not forget the families who need his help the most. Their economic inclusion is essential to Britain’s future economic success.   Practical measures are needed to help jobless parents back into the workplace and to prevent families getting into deeper, crippling debt. Increasing state support from 80% to 100% of childcare costs could make work pay for thousands of parents on working tax credits, boosting not only their income, but increasing revenues to the Exchequer.   For families with no savings in an emergency, like a broken boiler, the Social Fund is their only hope of avoiding crippling debt. It needs more resources to cope with the growth in demand due to the recession so that families in crisis can be helped right now.   Finally, some of our membership would continue to urge the Chancellor to announce a Robin Hood Tax on international financial transactions. Not only would it deliver the sort of sums needed to significantly reduce the need for cuts to public services and tax rises, it would provide the £4bn investment needed to halve child poverty this year.   While the most vocal response to the Budget will be from the City, the most important impact will be on those whose views are too rarely sought, the hundreds of thousands of families his government promised would be taken out of poverty this year. The Chancellor must recognise the sustained benefit to the economy of providing the help they desperately need at this time to stay afloat.     Samantha Hyde, Director of End Chid Poverty   Gareth Jenkins, Save the Children UK Head of Campaigns and External Affairs   Kate Bell, Gingerbread Director of Policy, Advice and Communications   Neera Sharma, Barnardo’s Assistant Director, Policy     Sent on behalf of the above by Sam Hyde, Director of End Child Poverty http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/news.php?id=23&nid=181