New report calls on Welsh Assembly to tackle severe child poverty
A new report calls on the Welsh Assembly government to invest significant cash now to eradicate child poverty in Wales.
Tuesday 11 March 2008
The Children in severe poverty in Wales: an agenda for action report, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government's New Ideas Fund, summarises the key findings of a Save the Children and Bevan Foundation study.
It presents information on the circumstances of children living in severe child poverty in Wales and identifies a number of recommendations and promising policy approaches for the Assembly and its partners to pursue and adopt.
It is estimated that approximately 13% - around 90,000 children - in Wales live in severe poverty. These children live in households with income below 50% of the median and go without two or more goods or services because the family can't afford them. The most common things for children to go without are not physical items, such as sports equipment, but occasions, such as school trips, holidays or inviting friends round for tea.
Responsibility for tackling child poverty is shared between the UK government and Welsh Assembly government. Both share the same target of halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it by 2020 with experts claiming that the UK government needs to invest an additional £4 billion a year if it is to meet its 2010 target.
The agenda for action that Save the Children and Bevan Foundation are calling for centre around:
- Helping households to maximise their income by increasing benefit / tax credit take up, streamlining administration and reducing the financial burden on poor families.
- Helping parents to return to work by making support programmes more family friendly.
- Substantial investment in education and learning for disadvantaged children.
- Making public services deliver for families facing multiple disadvantage - through programme bending and provision of advocacy and better tailored support.
