AllChild's Response to the Government's Child Poverty Strategy
Today’s publication of the Child Poverty Strategy marks an important national focus on the conditions that shape the life chances and childhood experiences of the millions of children and young people currently living in economic disadvantage across the country.
Important steps forward
We welcome the Strategy’s important acknowledgement that the challenge of child poverty has fundamentally changed over the last decade. While the national debate has focused on changes to the welfare system, we have been ignoring the stark reality that “almost three quarters of children growing up in poverty have at least one parent in work”. The Strategy also highlights that resources are being diverted away from education, with “one third of primary schools now running food banks” and many school staff providing for families out of their own pocket.
Many of the measures set out in the Strategy, though previously announced, have the potential, if implemented fully, to ease financial pressure on many families and strengthen the systems around them.
The decision to end the two-child limit is a particularly significant step. As AllChild’s CEO Louisa Mitchell said at the time “the government’s decision to scrap the two-child benefit cap matters enormously and will certainly help ease daily pressure for many of the families we work with. Pressure that we have seen can have a very detrimental impact on children and young people's social and emotional wellbeing, school attendance, engagement with learning and academic attainment.”
Alongside other developments, including changes to childcare eligibility, free breakfast clubs, limits on branded school uniforms and expanded free school meals, we hope families across the country will feel a meaningful reduction in daily pressures.
We also welcome the new legal duty for councils to notify schools when a child is placed in temporary accommodation. In many cases, our Link Workers are the first to know when a family is at risk of, or has moved into, temporary accommodation, thanks to the trusted relationships they build with children and their families. While this early insight allows us to let the school know and respond quickly with appropriate support, ensuring that schools are formally notified by councils will be an important step forward. It means schools will have the information they need quickly, better enabling everyone working with a family to coordinate and deliver timely, joined-up support for every child experiencing homelessness.
Strengthening local support for families
The Strategy has an important focus on strengthening local support for families. While programmes such as the expansion of Best Start Family Hubs and the Pride in Place Programme have been previously announced, it is encouraging to see a dedicated chapter of the Strategy emphasising local context, coordinated public services, and stronger local partnerships with civil society and communities.
As the Strategy notes, “place is fundamental to child poverty” and the schools, services, relationships and networks around a child shape both their daily experience and their future outcomes.
The government’s stated commitment to improving coordination across services, shifting towards prevention and “resetting the relationship with local and community groups” is notable and encouraging in principle. The importance of place, and of joined-up services, has long been acknowledged by policymakers, yet changes to practice and progress on the ground remains limited. At AllChild, building strong local partnerships rooted in trust, shared data and aligned outcomes, has been central to our work for years. Our partnerships are a proven way to mitigate the long-term impacts of socioeconomic disadvantage on children, demonstrating how local coordination can be achieved in practice. We hope this commitment can finally be made a reality by drawing on innovative practice that is already driving change for children and families in communities across the country.
The Better Futures Fund
One important measure within the Strategy’s chapter on local support is the Better Futures Fund.
We were privileged to welcome the Chancellor in July for the launch of the new £500 million Better Futures Fund, the world’s largest social outcomes fund for children and families. The Strategy confirms that this Fund will play a central role in reducing the impacts of child poverty and breaking cycles of economic disadvantage.
We welcome the Fund’s inclusion in the Strategy, alongside an emphasis on strong local partnerships across the public, private and civil society sectors. We believe the Fund has the potential to be a catalyst for a new way of investing in children’s futures and could provide an opportunity for communities to come together locally, listen to children and families, and co-design solutions that break down barriers so every child and young person can flourish.
Looking ahead
Our hope is that today’s Strategy becomes a platform for a wider, long-term programme of reform - one that strengthens local services, invests in children’s futures and empowers communities to shape the opportunities around them. We also hope to see further incentives and immediate action to mitigate the impacts of poverty on children, including through building the skills and relationships that help them flourish. We remain committed to building a movement for a new way of investing in children’s futures, led by the lived experience and leadership of young people themselves.
