Use of child poverty statistics in
government policy
Kate Sturdy, Head of Policy, Child Poverty Unit
Royal Statistical Society, 10 February 2015
1
Understanding Child Poverty
1:
The Child
Poverty Act
2010
2:
Using data to
understand
and tackle
child poverty
3:
Going forward
2
The Child Poverty Act 2010
• The Child Poverty Act 2010 came about as a result of Gordon
Brown’s commitment in 2008 to legislate to “eradicate child poverty
in the UK by 2020”.
• The Child Poverty Act places a duty on the UK Government to meet
four income-based poverty targets by 2020/21
• The Act requires the UK government to publish a regular child
poverty strategy. The devolved administrations also have a
requirement to publish their own strategies.
• Part 2 of the Act requires local authorities and partner organisations
to:
– collaborate and cooperate in tackling child poverty in their local area
– produce a Child Poverty Needs Assessment
– publish a local Child Poverty Strategy.
3
Who is involved in achieving the goals set in the
Child Poverty Act?
.
Child Poverty Unit
Social
Mobility and
Child
Poverty
Commission
Child
Poverty
Act
(2010)
Local
Authorities
Devolved
Administrations
4
Understanding Child Poverty
1:
The Child
Poverty Act
2010
2:
Using data to
understand
and tackle
child poverty
3:
Going forward
5
What are the latest official figures on child poverty?
Measure
Definition (all on a ‘before housing costs’ basis)
Target
Latest data
(2012/13)
Relative
poverty
the proportion of children living in households where
income is less than 60% of median income
Less than
10%
17%
Absolute
poverty
the proportion of children living in households where
income is less than 60% of median income in 2010/11,
adjusted for prices.
Less than
5%
19%
Combined low
income and
material
deprivation
the proportion of children who experience material
deprivation and live in households where income is less
that 70% of median income.
Less than
5%
13%
Persistent
poverty
the proportion of children living in households in relative
poverty in at least three out of the four previous years
Less than
7%
12% (based
on 2005-2008
data)
6
Where do our national child poverty statistics come
from?
• Data on 3 of the 4 child poverty target measures comes from the
Households Below Average Income (HBAI) National Statistics
publication – sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS).
• FRS is a survey of family incomes from around 20,000 households,
allowing for national and regional poverty estimates. However, not
enough data is collected for more local figures to be produced
robustly.
• We also make use of external data sources to measure child
poverty, for example using the British Household Panel
Survey/Understanding Society survey to measure persistent
poverty.
7
How do we measure child poverty locally?
CPU use two measures to monitor levels of child poverty
locally:
1. Children in Low-Income Families Local Measure –
This measures children living in families who are
either: a) in receipt of out-of-work benefits or b) in
receipt of tax credits and in relative low income.
2. Local child poverty proxy measure – This
measures the number and proportion of children who
live in households where someone claims an out-ofwork benefit.
8
9
Child poverty basket of local indicators
• Last updated by CPU last year, this brings together a
basket of 41 existing government statistics at the local
authority level for England.
• Includes information on income, health, education,
unemployment and other factors.
• These are produced to support local authorities with their
understanding of child poverty in their area.
10
Child poverty strategy
The strategy sets out Government action to:
• Tackle poverty now through supporting families into
work and to increase their earnings;
• Support living standards through raising incomes (via
work for the vast majority) and decreasing costs for low
income families; and
• Prevent poor children becoming poor adults through
raising their educational attainment.
11
Key drivers of intergenerational child poverty
Within context of
education system
Childhood
poverty
FUTURE
Low parental
qualifications
Parental ill health
Low child
education
outcomes
Bad employment
outcomes in
adulthood
Future low
income
Poor home
environment
Child ill health
Low non-cognitive
skills (child)
12
Example 1: Low child education outcomes
• Extensive data on Free School Meals demonstrates
significant attainment gap
• Government has invested in Pupil Premium (£2.5 billion
a year) and Early Years Pupil Premium (£50 million a
year from 2015) to address this
• Data shows the attainment of FSM pupils has increased.
• Local authorities and school are also using data to drive
up attainment and optimise their use of FSM funding:
– E.g. London Borough of Lambeth is closing
attainment gap through School Improvement Advisor
Service
13
Example 2: Low non-cognitive skills
• Low non-cognitive skills were identified as a driver of
intergenerational child poverty in our Child Poverty
Evidence Review.
• Government has invested resources into tackling this:
– Supporting schools in the different ways they choose
to develop and build character, including by removing
requirements which limit the length of the school day
– £5 million to teach soft skills to schoolchildren such as
punctuality, team work, and basic communication
14
Understanding Child Poverty
1:
The Child
Poverty Act
2010
2:
Using data to
understand
and tackle
child poverty
3:
Going
forward
15
Questions going forward…
• How to incorporate new data/evidence into policymaking
process? And how to disaggregate the effects of
different policies on child poverty levels both nationally
and locally?
• How can data better capture the real lived experience of
children living in poverty in the UK in different areas?
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