Child Poverty in the North East and Easington
Blog / December 14, 2011 / Comment now
Figures from the North East Child Poverty Commission show that the Coalition Government is struggling to meet the 2020 Child Poverty eradication target, especially in areas of high deprivation such as the North East and Easington.
Nationally 2.8 million children are living in poverty, around 21 percent of all children in the UK. In the North East the figures show that 132,000 children are in poverty, nearly one in four of all children in our region. While places such as Hexham (9%) and Berwick (14%) are below the regional and national average, inner city and de-industrialised parts of the North East struggle to reduce child poverty and it is accepted that without significant Government intervention the 2020 child poverty target will be missed.
Easington constituency headline child poverty rate is 28 per cent, however, there are great variations within the constituency with the Eden Hill ward (49%) and Deneside (38%) suffering high levels of deprivation compared to Hutton Henry (9%) and Seaham North (12%) which have considerably lower levels of child poverty[1].
The measure of poverty that is used by most governments around the world, including the UK is “those households whose income falls below 60% of the median income”. The Government’s figures show that a couple with two children aged 5 and 14 would need a weekly household income of below £379 before housing cost (BHC), or £346 after housing cost (AHC), to be defined as living in poverty. A single person with two children aged 5 and 14 would be classified as living in poverty if their income was below £297 BHC and £256 AHC[2]. In 2009/10, 16 per cent of working-age adults (5.7 million) were in households in the UK with incomes below 60 per cent of median household income BHC and 22 per cent (7.9 million) AHC[3]. Most worryingly, around 55% of children living in poverty are in households where at least one parent works. The Government have been promising to “make work pay” but all their efforts have been directed at cutting and withdrawing benefits. They have done nothing to address working poverty and poverty pay. Labour’s national minimum wage was an important first step to addressing poverty pay; however, it is time to move beyond a minimum wage to a living wage. If the Government are to “make work pay” they need to support a living wage to end poverty for working families. In London employers who commit to paying a Living Wage have lifted more than 10,000 families out of working poverty. Employers also repeat the benefits of enhanced quality of work from staff, a fall in absenteeism, and improved recruitment and staff retention.
The new OECD report Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising finds that inequality has risen faster in the UK than in any other rich country since 1975.
Inequality exploded under the Thatcher Government, and while progress was made in the early years of the Blair Government, inequality has started to rise again. The gap between the richest and the poorest in society does matter, especially when it comes to the life chances of children.
The inequality gap is back on the political agenda, especially in a time of austerity. There is growing public concern according to OCED report author Michael Förster, “In almost all countries apart from the US and Japan, more than 50% of people say that inequality is too high. In the UK, it is 65% so I think everyone agrees it is a problem”
The Labour Party acknowledged the significant problem of child poverty after 18 years of a Tory Government. Labour lifted 600,000 children out of poverty, and introduced the commitment to end child poverty by 2020. A target supported by both Coalition partners when in opposition. David Cameron insists that the government’s cuts will not increase child poverty; however, evidence is mounting of yet another broken promise. The Institute of Fiscal Studies report Child and Working-Age Poverty from 2010 to 2020, has found that child poverty will continue to rise and the 2020 target will be missed.
Alan Milburn, the Coalition Governments adviser on social mobility has stated that:
“Progress on child poverty is stalling”
“Worse than that, it has almost certainly started to reverse”.
“Child poverty is set to rise and, if things go on as they are, it is likely to go on rising for many years to come”.
The previous Conservative Government took child poverty in the UK from 13 per cent in 1979, to 29 per cent when they left office in 1997. As child poverty begins to rise again the Government’s only answer is to question the internationally recognised method for calculating poverty, actions condemned by the Family Action Group described as “another nail in the coffin of the life chances of a generation of children” adding “moving the goalpost on income poverty might help the Government balance the books but it will send the life chances of children into the red”
Child poverty can have a devastating effect on a child’s health, wellbeing and life chances.
Infants in the poorest families have an almost 10 times higher chance of dying suddenly in infancy than those in the highest income group.[4]
The impact on children’s lives of chronic illnesses, such as asthma and diabetes, seems to be greater among poor children. Acute illnesses are more likely to affect poor children and they are more likely to experience hospital admission.[5]
There is an ‘attainment gap’ between pupils who receive Free School Meals and those pupils that don’t receive FSM. 15% of boys receiving FSM did not get 5 GCSEs in 2010, whereas only 5% of boys that didn’t get FSM failed to get 5 GCSEs.[6]
Children who live in poverty are twice as likely to live in bad housing and this means that they are a third more likely to suffer respiratory problems such as chest problems, breathing difficulties, asthma and bronchitis than other children. Overcrowding and spells living in temporary accommodation are also factors that affect children growing up in poverty.[7]
There is a strong stigma attached to living in poverty and poor children are often bullied at school. Not wanting to appear poor means that a lot of children who are entitled to Free School Meals don’t actually take them and poor families will often go without other items to protect their children from this stigma[8]. This issue was covered in a BBC animated film called ‘The Wrong Trainers’[9]
Only one in nine children from low income backgrounds will reach the top 25% of earners as adults[10]. The UK has very low ‘social mobility’ which is sometimes expressed as ‘poor children grow up to be poor adults’.
It is estimated that child poverty costs the UK approximately £25 billion per year, including around £17 billion that would go back to the government (through increased taxes and reduced benefit payments) if child poverty were eradicated[11].
The Government are failing to meet their child poverty obligation judging by the standards outlined by David Cameron – “the right test for our policies is how they help the most disadvantaged in society”. A test he will fail if he continues to ignore child poverty.
End.
[1] End Child Poverty, Poverty In Your Area: Available at http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/why-end-child-poverty/poverty-in-your-area#northEast
[2] Households Below Average Income: An analysis of the income distribution 1994/95 – 2009/10, DWP 2011. Available at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hbai/hbai2010/pdf_files/full_hbai11.pdf
[3] Households Below Average Income, DWP 2011. Available at: http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=hbai
[4] Health Consequences of Poverty for Children, End Child Poverty, 2008
[5] Ibid
[6] National Pupil Database. 2009/10
[7] Health Consequences of Poverty for Children, End Child Poverty, 2008
[8] Poor pupils prefer hunger to stigma of free meals, Times Educational Supplement, 2011. Accessed at: http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6070031
[9] http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p005d74f
[10] Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers: A Strategy for Social Mobility, Cabinet Office, 2011
[11] Estimating the costs of child poverty, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2008
