Has Child Poverty been Completely Eradicated from Britain - Essay Example

?Social Problems and Social Issues: Has child poverty been completely eradicated from Britain? “Children are 20 per cent of the population but 100 per cent of the future” Gordon Brown, (Chancellor) 2005 ‘‘Our historic aim will be for ours to be the first generation to end child poverty.’’ Tony Blair, Beveridge Lecture, 1999 Introduction: Poverty is a highly critical issue which negatively affects people across all ages however children being one of the most vulnerable groups in the society are affected disproportionately. It almost invariably translates into reduced opportunities and loss of valuable human resources required for economic growth and development of any nation. In case of child poverty the case is even more critical since the future of the entire nation is at stake. Child poverty is a serious issue in Britain which is apparent from the wide range of policies initiated by various governments over the years aimed at eradicating the social evil and ensuring a better and positive future for the children. According to available statistics almost half of children in one parliamentary constituency in the UK live in poverty and deprivation (BBC News, 2013). The statistics reveal the state of the ‘child poverty eradication program’ launched by the Blair government indicating a need to review the policies and ensure effective outcomes in the coming years. Child poverty not only affects those affected directly by it but also endangers the future of the country’s overall growth and progress. Poverty deprives the children of an opportunity to have equitable access to social and economic resources thus curtailing their ability to contribute to the growth and development of the nation. This essay aims at analysing and examining the current state of child poverty in Britain and assesses the effectiveness of various policies launched over the years to eradicate child poverty. Child poverty: Meaning, Definitions, and General Overview The UK government defines child poverty as "children living in households with needs adjusted ('equvalised') incomes below 60 per cent of the median income... Income is adjusted for different need (so called 'equivalisation') on the principle that the same income will stretch further in a smaller family than a larger one" (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2013). According to the definition it was declared that children living in households with incomes below 60 per cent of the median income. However this measure of poverty was eventually proved to be ineffective and was revised in the year 2010. The new definition sought to revise the previous measures used to calculate the number of children living in poverty. According to this revised local child poverty measure child poverty was proposed to be calculated as “The proportion of children in poverty is calculated as the number of children in families in receipt of either out of work benefits, or tax credits where their reported income is less than 60 per cent median income divided by the total number of children in the area.” This definition was a part of the revised Child Poverty Act of 2010 (HM Revenue & Customs, 2013). However this definition failed to provide an accurate account of child poverty and proved to be highly misguiding since despite positive indicators implying improvement in the level and status of child poverty in the UK there was no significant change in the living conditions of the children identified as poor. According to statistics related to child poverty for the period 2010-11 there was a significant reduction in number of children living in poverty with as many as 300,000 children elevated from the poverty status over a period of three years from 2009 to 2011. It was however observed that the fall in child poverty figures was a response to the overall reduction in the national median income which resulted in a simultaneous reduction in the relative poverty line. The lives of these children however continued to remain disadvantaged and were found to be living in more or less similar living conditions prior to the results (HM Government Report, 2012). This is indicated in the following graph whereby indicating the change in trends in relative poverty threshold and the number of children living in relative poverty in the UK during the period 2009 - 2011 Fig. 1: Change in number of children living in relative poverty for the period 2009-2011 The fall in child poverty rates from 2.6 million children in the year 2009-10 to 2.3. million children in the year 2010-2011 indicates the fall in relative poverty and was largely attributed to the overall reduction in the national poverty line rather than an improvement in the living conditions of the target group (HM Government, 2012: p. 6). The fallacies and loopholes in the previous definition was highlighted in various studies and available statistics indicating a sharp and clear fall in number of children living in poverty and at the same time having little or no impact on their lives overall. In order to address this situation various efforts were undertaken by the government to redefine and review the definition of poverty. Revision in the definition of Child Poverty was proposed in the year 2012 to include a range of other factors including family breakdown, drug addiction, debt and education results as factors considered as significant for measuring child poverty in the UK (BBC News, 2012). Current Scenario: It has been over a decade since the speech by the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, announcing the administration’s ambitious plan to eradicate child poverty in Britain and revolutionize the welfare state of the country. A series of welfare reforms were initiated by the administration including introducing working families’ tax credit, minimum wage plans, as well as other benefits aimed at eradicating child poverty over a period of twenty years. However despite the radical reform measures announced a decade ago, child poverty still remains a serious and ever present challenge faced by the UK government. In 1999 when the first initiatives to eradicate child poverty were announced by the Labour Party the child poverty rates in UK were higher than any other Western European nation (The Guardian, 2009). Current statistics suggest that approximately 3.6 million children i.e. more than one in four children in the UK live in poverty today. The figures are even more critical at local levels where there is high concentration of children living in poverty. About 50 - 70 per cent of children in over 100 local wards across the country are believed to be growing up in poverty (Child Poverty Action Group, 2013). Although the Labour government managed to reduce the number of children living in poverty from 3.4 million children under the Thatcher government to 2.8 million through a decade long struggle, the pace has slowed down considerably since the past year as is apparent from the available data. The previous government missed its target by a considerable margin and a review of the current policies indicate a further rise in child poverty from 2.4 million in 2013 to 3.4 million by 2020 (The Guardian, 2013). Considering the current scenario highlighted by a drastic rise in child poverty from the previous year, and consistent failure of the government to meet the desired targets eradication of child poverty by the year 2020 seem to be an extremely difficult task. Given the alarming fact that about one in five children in the UK today live in poverty and deprivation, in order to achieve the objectives set for the year 2020 it would have to take drastic measures to ensure a steep fall in the figures during the year 2013-14. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) forecasts related to the impact of UK government initiates for poverty eradication through fiscal policies for the year 2020 can be described in the following table: Year Impact of Reforms on child poverty 2011-12 Negligible 2012-13 Increase in absolute / relative child poverty by approx. 200,000 / 100,000 children 2013-14 Increase absolute / relative poverty by approx. 300,000 / 200,000 children In conclusion it can be stated that the concept of child poverty has mostly been defined on income based factors, which explains the lack of improvement in standards of living among poor children despite statistics stating otherwise. Employment alone as a means of measuring poverty can hence prove to be a highly misguided approach. According to the Child Poverty Action Group almost two-thirds i.e. 62 per cent of the children growing up in poverty were known to be living in households with at least one earning member. In an industrialized nation like UK child poverty is not merely attributed to common factors such as lack of income but extends much beyond that to include lack of efficient parenting, family breakdown, alcohol dependency, and /or a culture of worklessness (CPAG, 2013). Policy initiatives and implications: The aim of the child poverty eradication program launched in the year 1999 was to achieve an interim target of half of the figures which were one-quarter lower than those in 1998-99 by the year 2004-05 and for the second interim target: to achieve half of its level in 1998-99 by the year 2010-11. In both the cases the targets were narrowly missed (IFS, 2012). New revised targets were set in the year 2010 was set under the Child Poverty Act of 2010. According to this act it was proposed to reduce the number of children living in poverty to 1.7 million children or fewer during the financial year 2010-11 by bringing them within the desired income range as laid down in section 3 of the Act (Legislation UK, 2010). The Institute for Fiscal Studies has predicted a sharp rise in child poverty by 300,000 more children by the year 2015-16 eventually rising to 4.2 million by the year 2020. However despite such strong predictions the Coalition government has launched and proposed various favourable policies aimed at achieving its target of complete eradication of child poverty in the country by the year 2020. Some of the measures initiated by the government include reinforcing work as a measure of poverty eradication i.e. reducing relative income poverty; eliminating and/or reducing debts; strengthening families; initiating early intervention measures to provide support to poor children; addressing poor health issues among poor children; and replacing the Child Poverty Commission with a new Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (Centre for Economic & Social Inclusion, 2013). Conclusion: Child poverty is a serious issue in the UK and needs to be resolved by introducing stringent policies and through strict adherence to the regulations laid down by the government in order to achieve the desired targets. Failure to do so may result in drastic negative consequences for the society and for the nation as a whole. Child poverty extends beyond childhood and results in extreme negative repercussions on the growth and development of a nation. It deprives the children of an opportunity for equitable access to resources and on the other hand deprives the society of the critical human resources required for its overall growth and development. References: BBC News (2013). Campaign reveals 'wide disparity' in UK child poverty [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21511583 [Accessed: May 27, 2013] BBC News (2012). Child poverty: Definition could include family breakdown [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20334619 [Accessed: May 28, 2013] Child Poverty Action Group (2013). Child poverty facts and figures [Online] Available at: http://www.cpag.org.uk/child-poverty-facts-and-figures [Accessed: May 27, 2013] HM Revenue & Customs (2013). Revised local child poverty measure [Online] Available at: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/child-poverty-stats.htm [Accessed: May 28, 2013] HM Government Report (2012). Measuring child poverty: A consultation on better measures of child poverty [Online] Available at: http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm84/8483/8483.pdf [Accessed: May 27, 2013] Institute for Fiscal Studies (2012). Measuring and addressing child poverty [Online] Available at: http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/6194 [Accessed: May 27, 2013] Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2013). Child poverty definition [Online] Available at: http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/poverty-definitions.pdf [Accessed: May 27, 2013] Legislation.gov.uk (2010). Child Poverty Act 2010 [Online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/9/section/1 [Accessed: May 28, 2013] The Independent (1999). Pledge by PM to end child poverty [Online] Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/pledge-by-pm-to-end-child-poverty-1081256.html [Accessed: May 27, 2013] The Guardian (2005). Labour targets 'school-gate mums' [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/apr/15/childrensservices.politics [Accessed: May 27, 2013] The Guardian (2013). Rising child poverty in the UK makes us all poorer [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/08/rising-child-poverty-uk-poorer [Accessed: May 28, 2013] Appendix: Fig. 1: Child poverty and average UK income Source: BBC News (2012) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20334619 Fig 2. Constituencies with highest child poverty rates Local authorities Figures in % Tower Hamlets 42 Manchester 38 Middlesbrough 37 Derry 35 Belfast 34 Islington 34 Glasgow City 33 Liverpool 33 Newcastle upon Tyne 33 Hartlepool 33 Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21511583 Fig. 3: Child poverty targets for the year 2010-11 Source: Institute for Fiscal Studies http://www.ifs.org.uk/conferences/hbai12_rj.pdf Read More