'Work isn’t the simple route out of poverty that it’s often made out to be.'

4.3 million children live in poverty in the UK, 700,000 more than in 2010, equating to nine in every classroom.

Labour has promised to reduce child poverty and has introduced a new taskforce responsible for ‘developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty.’

But anti-poverty and children’s charities are urging for more to be done.

The Resolution Foundation is calling on the government to provide greater support to fulfil its promise of reducing child poverty. The charity points out that during the last Labour government, relative child poverty fell by 600,000 children between 1998 and 2008, largely due to increased parental employment. The number of single parents in work rose from 52 percent in the mid-2000s to 66 percent by 2022.

However, the Resolution Foundation argues that the current landscape of employment and poverty has changed, requiring a new approach. While the number of families in poverty where no-one works decreased from 50 percent in 2000 to 30 percent in 2022, many of these families face significant barriers to employment. For example, three-quarters have primary school-aged children, half have children under five, nearly half have an adult with a disability or chronic health condition, and 30% have a child with a disability.

Practical challenges, such as the lack of affordable childcare, most notably outside of school hours and during term-time, and inadequate local transport options, must be addressed. The report also notes that the government’s labour market reforms, aimed at strengthening workers’ rights and curbing exploitative zero-hour contracts, could help reduce the risks parents face when switching jobs, enabling them to secure more hours or higher wages.

The charity highlights the need for targeted support to help these families enter the workforce, rather than simply expecting them to find employment as their children get older, especially when health issues affect either the parents or their children.

Additionally, the report stresses that any effective child poverty strategy must focus on helping working families increase their earnings. The challenge will also require action on housing and benefits. Recent research from the Resolution Foundation shows that high housing costs are pushing half of families in private rented accommodation below the poverty line.

Mike Brewer, interim chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, noted how getting more parents into work played a major role in reducing child poverty during the last Labour government.

“But Britain today is very different – most families in poverty have at least one person in work, with those that are still workless facing significant barriers to employment.

“The government’s new child poverty strategy will need to confront these challenges, which require action across a broad front. As well as the obvious moves, like boosting childcare support – particularly for primary-school-aged children – and making it easier to commute between workplaces, schools and nurseries, strengthening workers’ rights should help reduce the risks involved in changing jobs.

“With many of the ‘easy gains’ on poverty reduction achieved, the government will need deep pockets, and action on multiple fronts across employment, housing and benefits, to lift significantly more children out of poverty.”

Action for Children also warns that “work isn’t the simple route out of poverty that it’s often made out to be.”

The children’s charity is calling for clear, measurable targets to eradicate child poverty within a generation, including the removal of the two-child limit and benefit cap. They also call for a strong social security system that supports people when they most need it, and an end to the punitive “any job” mentality that often pushes people further away from work.

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