The Child Poverty Unit
The Child Poverty Unit has closed.
The government has set up the Child poverty taskforce to oversee the development and publication of an ambitious cross-government child poverty strategy to reduce and alleviate child poverty.
The Child Poverty Unit is jointly sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department of Education and HM Treasury.
The unit works to reduce poverty and improve social justice and supports ministers in meeting their child poverty reduction targets by 2020.
Ending child poverty
We are committed to ending child poverty. The Child Poverty Act 2010 sets targets for ending child poverty in 2020. In 2011 we published ‘A new approach to child poverty: tackling the causes of disadvantage and transforming families’ lives’. It shows how we are strengthening families, encouraging responsibility, promoting work and providing support to the most vulnerable.
The next child poverty strategy will be published in 2014.
Measuring child poverty
The Child Poverty Act 2010 uses 4 measures, which are reported using the ‘Households below average income’ survey.
In June 2012 we published ‘Child poverty in the UK: the report on the 2010 target’. It explained why the previous government’s target to halve child poverty by 2010 had been missed and announced that it would consult on better measures of child poverty.
In November 2012 we published ‘Measuring child poverty: a consultation on better measures of child poverty’.
Other child poverty statistics are available from HMRC, the local child poverty proxy measure and the local child poverty basket of indicators.
The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission
The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission was set up to independently monitor the progress of government and others in improving social mobility and reducing child poverty in the United Kingdom.
Tackling child poverty locally
The Child Poverty Act places certain requirements on local authorities (LAs) such as assessing the needs of children living in poverty in their area and producing a child poverty strategy.