Half A Million More Children In PRS Poverty Than Ten Years Ago

NHF chief executive Kate Henderson has slammed housing associations having to bid directly against developers “making millions” from luxury properties while 1.3m children live in PRS poverty. That 1.3m figure is revealed in newly released NHF research that shows an increase of 537,325 children (69%) living in poverty in privately rented homes in England since 2008. Urging “more direct” government funding for social housing, Henderson says, nearly half (46%) of all children in privately rented homes in England live in poverty – despite seven in ten (71%) of their families being in work. Read more on the NHF website.

https://www.housingnet.co.uk/pdf/Poverty_and_housing_costs_in_the_private_rented_sector.pdf

Charity Calls For Major Changes To Bedroom Tax

The Liverpool City Region Child Poverty and Life Chances Commission is calling on the government to initiate a major overhaul of the Bedroom Tax. The commission’s chairman, Frank Field, has set out evidence gained by the commission on the impact of the Bedroom Tax on poorer families with children:

·         112 families with children (83% of respondents to the commission’s survey) have cut back on their food budgets

·         96 families with children (71%) have cut back on essential household bills

·         67 families with children (49%) have resorted to payday loans

·         115 families with children (85%) are not currently looking to move home, due to a lack of suitable alternative accommodation into which they could move

Read more on 24housing.

Scotland To Abolish 'Bedroom Tax'

The Scottish government are aiming to abolish the bedroom tax. A new piece of legislation, called the Social Security Bill, will be introduced by the government to combat the effects of welfare policy. Nicola Sturgeon also outlined she would be introducing a bill looking to end Child Poverty, something that has been widely welcomed. However, Scottish Conservatives wanted her to announce a commitment to ensure everyone in Scotland lives in a warm home. Read more on 24dash.

Cuts Will Leave 2.6 Million Children In Poverty

Tory benefit cuts will lead to more than 2.6 million British children living in poverty by 2020, a new study has revealed. The research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) forecasts that another four years of David Cameron’s Government will mean the poorest households, particularly larger families and single parents, will be hardest hit.  The study says “the outlook looks less favourable for low-income households” in coming years and warns that inequality will worsen due to George Osborne’s planned cuts. It predicts that those at the very bottom of society, in the lowest 10% of households, will see no real terms growth in their incomes over the rest of the Parliament. Read more on the Huffington Post website.

Number Of Young People Living In Poverty Up 400,000

The number of young people living in poverty in the UK has rocketed by 400,000 in the last ten years, according to a damning new report. Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) shows that young people are facing worse life chances than their parents, with more people aged 16-24 living in poverty than those aged 65 and over. There are a total of 13million people living in poverty after housing costs, which is roughly unchanged on a decade ago but helped largely by a fall of 600,000 in the number of older people in poverty – the largest fall of any age group. JRF says there have been “fundamental shifts in the causes of poverty”, highlighting a lack in affordable homes and poor opportunities for young people to advance in education or at work. Read more on the Welfare Weekly website.

Legally Binding Child Poverty Targets to Be Scrapped

The Government is to repeal its legally binding child poverty targets, Iain Duncan Smith has announced. The Work and Pensions Secretary said the law was driving government policy to reduce child poverty on an “unsustainable” path. “How we measure things matters because it influences what governments focus on and what we target,” he said. The announcement comes as Mr Duncan Smith prepares to make £12bn welfare cuts that the Government’s own child poverty advisors have said are highly likely to raise child poverty. “The best interests of children were not central to the development of these policies and children's views were not sought,” the UK Children’s Commissioners’ report, handed to the United Nations said. Read more on the Independent website.

Over 25,000 Children in Sheffield Are Living In Poverty

A report to health bosses says almost one-third of children under 10 in the city are defined as living in poverty. It warns problems are likely to increase as a result of the city’s benefit income being cut by £169m through welfare reforms - with some single parent families set to lose over £2,000 per year. The report details the new strategy to tackle child poverty in Sheffield between now and 2018. It said there are now 16 food banks in Sheffield, while city schools have reported having to feed children who have not had breakfast. Read more on the Sheffield Star website.

Benefit Cap Could Drop 40,000 Children into Poverty

Tens of thousands of children face being plunged into poverty by government plans to lower the household benefit cap to £23,000, leaked advice to ministers shows.  An internal government assessment, seen by the Guardian, shows that if parents are unable to find extra work the policy will put 40,000 more children on or below the official poverty line, on top of the 50,000 already affected under the current rate. Marked “sensitive” and sent to the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, two weeks after the general election, the civil service memo forecasts that “around 40,000 more ... children might in the absence of any behaviour change, find themselves in poverty as a result of reducing the cap to £23,000”. Read more on the Guardian website.

Poverty – And Child Poverty In Particular – Is Rising

Poverty in the UK is increasing after two years of heavy welfare cuts have helped to push hundreds of thousands of people below the breadline, according to an independent study of the coalition government’s record. Although middle-earners saw incomes rise marginally after 2013, policies including the bedroom tax and below-inflation benefits rises have reduced incomes for the poorest, pitching an estimated 760,000 into poverty since the last official figures were produced, according to the New Policy Institute (NPI) thinktank.Child poverty showed the biggest increase, with 300,000 youngsters moving into hardship, reversing a fall in the headline figure recorded in the coalition’s first year. NPI estimates 29% of UK children are in poverty after housing costs. Download the report from the npi website.

Child Poverty Strategy 'Ignores Impact of Welfare Reforms'

The Child Poverty Action Group has accused the government of ignoring the impact of its welfare reforms in drawing up its new child poverty strategy. The new strategy has identified supporting families into work, improving living standards and raising educational attainment as the fundamental ways to achieve the long-term goal of ending child poverty by 2020. But the CPAG's chief executive Alison Garnham said the strategy lacked "clear actions, milestones and progress measures" and "ignored" projections suggesting child poverty would see the steepest rise in a generation in the coming years. Read more on the CPAG website.

More Children Live In Poverty Now Than 50 Years Ago

More children grow up in poverty today than 50 years ago, according to a report by the National Children’s Bureau.   The children’s charity’s Greater Expectations report compared the lives of today’s 11-year-olds with historical data. It found that 3.5 million were living in poverty now, compared to two million in 1969. The charity also found that there had been no significant change in the gap between rich and poor children when it came to health or educational outcomes. Read more on the Children & Young People Now website.

Five Things IDS Doesn't Want You to Know About the Benefit Cap

1. An out-of-work family is never better off than an in-work family

2. It will punish large families and increase child poverty

3. It will likely cost more than it saves

4. It will increase homelessness and do nothing to address the housing crisis

5. It will encourage family break-up

Read more on the New Statesman website.

Bishops Urge Peers to Block Welfare Changes

A group of bishops is calling on peers in the House of Lords to amend the Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill to protect children.  In a letter to the Sunday Telegraph the 43 bishops argue the bill will ‘hit the poorest hardest’ and note: ‘About 60 per cent of the savings from the uprating cap will come from the poorest third of households.’  Read the full letter on the Sunday Telegraph website.

Poverty: Children – Parliamentary Written Answer

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the effect of (a) Universal Credit and (b) the Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill on child poverty.

Esther McVey (edited response): In the autumn statement (2012), it was announced that in light of the national economic situation, certain working-age social security benefits and payments, certain elements of tax credits, and child benefit, would be uprated by 1% rather than by prices (as measured by the consumer prices index ('CPI')) for the tax years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. Because the relative poverty income line moves each year in cash terms some families will move below this line over the period.  We estimate that the uprating measures in 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 will result in around an extra 200,000 children being deemed by this measure to be in relative income poverty compared to uprating benefits by CPI.

‘Double Lockout Bill’ Cuts Support For Workers and Jobseekers

A new report reveals that the government’s welfare benefit uprating legislation is based on bogus claims and is a poverty-producing bill that will further exclude the poorest workers, jobseekers, carers and disabled people from the mainstream of society. The report finds that:

· The bill is poverty-producing and means that both absolute and relative child poverty will increase

 · Contrary to arguments made by Ministers, welfare spending on workless families has been falling and most Jobseekers Allowance claimants find new jobs within months

· Contrary to popular perception, benefit fraud is at its lowest ever recorded level and the ‘scrounger’ stereotype is grossly inaccurate

 · The government must focus on the root causes of social security and tax credit demand and prioritise progress on full employment, living wages, affordable housing and affordable childcare

Download a copy of the report from the CPAG website.

Poverty Definition Should Include Housing

A leading think tank has called on the government to adopt a much broader definition of poverty that includes factors such as housing.  Demos has launched a new model for assessing poverty based on an 18-month research project, Poverty in perspective, and analysed data from a survey of 40,000 households. The model consists of 20 indicators including heating, neighbourhood deprivation, neighbourhood support, household composition, tenure, and overcrowding.  The researchers applied this model to low-income households to gain a better understanding of the factors driving child poverty, resulting in five social groups.  Download a copy of the report from the Demos website.

Councils Remain Unprepared For Fallout of Housing Benefit Cap

Local authorities appear largely unprepared for the safeguarding, childcare and gang-related problems that are likely to result from the imposition of the housing benefit cap in January. Plans to reduce housing benefit are expected to lead to families being forced to move to cheaper areas. But despite a London Councils report published this month, which outlined a series of expected implications of the cap, only two of 17 authorities in London and the home counties contacted by CYP Now have any sort of plans in place. A combination of uncertainty over the degree of impact, and a dearth of resources to deal with the situation, were among the reasons cited for the lack of action. The report estimates that the cap could affect 133,000 families in London, although areas outside London are likely to be affected too. A report discussed by Leeds Council this month estimated 9,500 privately rented households in the authority will be affected. In areas where families decide to stay in their accommodation and take the hit of the housing allowance reduction, child poverty could be an issue. Read more on the Child Poverty Action Group website.

Pickles Warns Cameron of Rise in Homeless Families Risk

David Cameron has been warned by one of his most trusted cabinet ministers that his welfare policies risk making 40,000 families homeless. The extraordinary claim, in a letter to the prime minister from the office of Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, exposes deep splits at the heart of government over plans to cap benefit at £500 a week per family. The letter, leaked to the Observer, reveals Pickles's belief that the cap – announced with great fanfare at last year's Tory conference – will increase the burden on taxpayers, because thousands of families will be unable to pay their rent and will have to seek local government help. It blows apart the government's public insistence that a limit on benefit payments will have little impact on homelessness and child poverty. Written by Nico Heslop, Pickles's private secretary, at the clear instigation of the minister, the letter lays bare fears of mass homelessness "disproportionately impacting on families". It says:
■ 40,000 families will be made homeless by the welfare reforms, putting further strain on services already "seeing increased pressures".
■ An estimated £270m saving from the benefits cap will be wiped out by the need to divert resources to help the newly homeless and is likely to "generate a net cost".
■ Half of the 56,000 affordable homes the government expects to be constructed by 2015 will not be built because developers will realise they will not be able to recoup even 80% of market rates from tenants.
The leak is the first time that disagreements over welfare cuts have surfaced within the Tory high command. Read the full letter on the Guardian website.

Benefit Cuts Will Aid Social Mobility, Government Claims

The government has unveiled a new child poverty strategy which claims reforms to housing benefit and social housing will increase social mobility. The strategy named cuts to housing benefit and reforms to social housing as key steps towards encouraging social mobility. It said: ‘A key focus of these reforms is to remove the barrier to work that has been created by families being able to live in more expensive properties when claiming benefit than they would otherwise be able to afford.’ It also said that the government plans to outline its overall housing strategy in the summer. The document said this would include ‘how we are supporting an increase in the supply and quality of new private and social housing to help those seeking a home of their own, whether to rent or buy.’ Read more on Inside Housing.