How Will IDS Tackle Child Poverty?
Posted: 25/02/2014 | Author: The Political Idealist | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Child poverty, deprivation, Families, foodbanks, housing, IDS, Inequality, living wage, poverty, social justice, society |Leave a comment »Later this week, the Work and Pensions secretary and the Schools minister will outline their the Government’s programme it will use to meet its own target to eliminate child poverty by 2020. Iain Duncan Smith (IDS) has been associated with some of the worst spending cuts imposed by the Coalition, so will be keen to demonstrate his more caring side in the universally popular cause of helping impoverished children.
Yet he has been accused of political manoeuvring following his plan to redefine the “child poverty”. Presently, the figure shows the number of children living in households on less than 60% of median income- admittedly a blunt but effective measure of poverty relative to the entire population. (Incidently, the Living Wage is approximately 60% of median pay, suggesting that the general rule for policymakers is to reduce inequality to the point that everybody is on at least 60% of median income). Yet IDS wants other measures incorporated, such as being part of “stable family” and having access to a good education. It would be ambitious statistical engineering to quantify some of those factors, though I’ve no doubt that IDS has good intentions in proposing it. Nevertheless, they would allow his successors to point out that several contributory factors to child poverty are outside of government control, and therefore shrug off responsibility for existing targets.
Besides, some of the ideas sketched out are ill-defined. What is a “stable family”? Will a child be considered impoverished simply for having separated parents? Or, on the other hand, does a child belonging to a nuclear family have to be more financially deprived than her neighbour from a “broken home” (as the Daily Mail would so open-mindedly term it) to count as living in poverty? Furthermore, any more tampering with statistics by the government will render them untrustworthy. It is interpretive that we have neutral, trusted statistics at the heart of policy debate.
Such is the argument deployed by the Treasury against redefining child poverty. I think there is room for compromise: the Office for National Statistics could be asked to compile figures on material child poverty (the existing definition) and holistic child poverty, along the lines of IDS’ proposals. Government would remain committed to existing material child poverty targets, but could also tackle the holistic figures in time.
After we’ve agreed how we are measuring the problem, we have to turn our attention to devising solutions. I can’t say that the Government line sounds particularly encouraging; referencing the £50 energy bill imposed last month; restrictions on water cost inflation; and food vouchers.
I’m curious as to the last one. The last thing the UK needs is to import the American invention of food stamps. We’re doing a good line in foodbanks already: bit by bit, we’re stripping the poor of dignity and independence. I’ve said before that the universal subsidy of basic foodstuffs would be a fairer way of controlling living costs. It will be interesting to see the scope of the proposed voucher system, given the limited resources available to ministers.
Short of a multibillion investment in food vouchers, there are no measures proposed by the Coalition that will make a significant reduction in child poverty, material or holistic. No wonder Britain is set to have 2,000,000 children still living in poverty by the time it is supposed to be eliminated. That’s because inequality can only be reduced with a combination of skill, determination and resources. I wonder which of these the Coalition is prepared to use.
