UK Alliance for Investing in Children –
Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage
0
The Alliance for Investing in Children (UK) is a project led by Children in Wales, working with our partners across the UK, as part
of a wider Joint Action led by the EU Alliance for Investing in Children coalition to aid the implementation of the European
Commission Recommendation ‘Investing in Children-Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage.’
The EU Alliance for Investing in Children is a temporary initiative developed in the framework of ‘Module 1: Facilitation of joint
actions’ supported by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity - PROGRESS / EU Programme for
Employment and Social Innovation. This programme is implemented by the European Commission. It was established to
financially support the implementation of the objectives of the European Union in the employment, social affairs and equal
opportunities area, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Europe 2020 Strategy goals in these fields. The sevenyear Programme targets all stakeholders who can help shape the development of appropriate and effective employment and
social legislation and policies, across the EU-28, EFTA-EEA and EU candidate and pre-candidate countries.
For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/progress
The views contained in this publication do not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission.
1
Forward
This report outlines the principle legislation, policies and programmes for tackling child poverty
and breaking the cycle of disadvantage in the four nations that comprise the United Kingdom
(UK), namely England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and contextualises them against
the poverty target within the Europe 2020 framework and the European Commission (EC)
Recommendation on Investing in Children: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage. It also provides
some examples of best practice from across the four nations as case studies, so these can be
shared by partners across the UK.
The scope and scale of this exercise has been limited to an observational desk-based process
that cannot meet the criteria associated with a full scale evaluation of four separate policy
domains. Such an exercise would require extensive time and resources. However, it does
provide an overview of key policy, strategy and priorities across the UK and each of the four
nations. It also provides, through identification of good practice case studies, an opportunity to
share good practice and learn from the experiences of others in terms of what works well and
what does not and where the challenges are and how can these be overcome.
Acknowledgements
The Alliance for Investing in Children (UK) would like to extend recognition and thanks to the
partners and members of the UK Alliance Steering Group who helped compile the contents of
this report, namely Children in Scotland, Children in Northern Ireland, Children in Wales and
Children England. We are also grateful to the support of Eurochild throughout the duration of
this project, and to the European Union (EU) for providing the resources for this guide as part of
the wider Joint Action led by the EU Alliance for Investing in Children coalition.
Dr Liz Jones and Sean O’Neill
January 2015
Copyright: Children in Wales (2015)
Copies of this report are available at www.childreninwales.org.uk
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CONTENTS
Introduction
4
European Policy Framework
5
Joint Action towards the Implementation of the
EC Recommendation
10
Child Poverty in Context (UK)
12
United Kingdom Key Policy: Child Poverty
17
Devolved Approaches to Poverty
• Wales
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland
27
46
70
Good Practice Examples/Models: Case Studies
84
Conclusion
117
References
118
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Introduction
The importance of protecting and supporting children in order to optimise their healthy
development and future learning is vital, not only for the children’s own future well-being but
also for the prosperity and security of our communities and society.
Across Europe, it is evident that the economic crisis has brought about increased rates of
poverty. Awareness of the importance of this issue has increased in recent years, supported by
a growing body of research and practice evidence. It is also clear that children are more likely to
be affected by poverty than any other age group in the population.i
“Child poverty is recognised to be a major drain on resources and waste of human
potential. The moral duty on governments to respect and implement children’s rights is
also gaining credence...By withdrawing investment in children and families, we store up
problems for the future.”ii
The pivotal role and responsibility of all levels of government (UK, devolved and local) in
ensuring that resources and services are provided that promote children’s well-being and
minimise risk of adverse outcomes has been unequivocally acknowledged. The role of children
and young people as independent social actors and the need to promote and respect the rights
of children, underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
framework, is of equal importance.
4
European Policy Framework
Europe 2020
Europe 2020 is the European Commission’s flagship strategy to aid member states to emerge
from the impact of the financial and economic crisis. The strategy recognises the need for
Europe and its member states to learn lessons from the past and deliver smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth. This ambitious agenda demands both political will and a coordinated
approach across all member states, alongside dedicated delivery systems to ensure proposals
are achieved. Europe 2020 sets out five interrelated measurable goals for the EU to achieve by
2020 which are to be translated into national country targets and trajectories, in the areas of
employment, research and development, climate change and energy, education, and combating
poverty and social exclusion.
More specifically, the targets are:
1.
Employment
•
2.
Research & Development
•
3.
75% of the 20-64 year olds to be employed
3% of the EU’s GDP to be invested in R&D
Climate change and energy sustainability
•
Greenhouse gas emissions 20% (or even 30%, if the conditions are right) lower
than 1990
•
•
20% of energy from renewables
205 increase in energy efficiency
5
4.
Education
•
•
5.
Reducing the rates of early school leaving below 10%
At least 40% of 30-34 year olds completing third level education
Fighting poverty and social exclusion
 At least 20 million fewer people in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion (a
reduction of 25%)
Europe 2020 has an annual governance cycle and includes specific key priorities for reducing
child poverty and promoting child well-being. The programme requires for member states to
submit annual National Reform Programme (NRP) reports, in April each year, as part of the new
EU surveillance structure, known as the European Semester.
The most recent NRP from the UK, submitted on 30 April 2014, draws upon publicly available
information and sets out the actions that the UK Government is taking to address the structural
reform challenges. This includes outlining future economic prospects and plans; its approach to
delivering the five Europe 2020 targets; and evidence of how the Government has sought to
address the Country Specific Recommendations (CSR) from the EC of the previous year. CSRs
are developed, agreed and published by the EC each year following member state submissions
of NRPs.
EC Recommendation on “Investing in Children: breaking the cycle of
disadvantage”
To aid member states in meeting the expectations and the specific poverty target of Europe
2020, the EC adopted a Recommendation on child poverty “Investing in Children: Breaking the
Cycle of Disadvantage” on 20 February 2013.
In spite of the austerity measures in place in many EU countries, the Recommendation urges
member states to intensify their efforts and investment in children and to devote more resources
towards preventative services. The Recommendation provides guidance to member states on
ways to reduce levels of child poverty and promote children’s well-being through an agreed
European framework.
Through the Recommendation, the EC takes the opportunity to re-emphasise that the role of the
EU is to promote the well-being of its people, to tackle social exclusion and all forms of
discrimination, as well as to protect the rights of the child. By taking a multi-dimensional
approach to addressing child poverty and emphasising the key role of quality universal services,
the EC can identify early intervention and prevention, tackling disadvantage in the early years
and giving consideration to those most vulnerable as the key components, which will enable
children to realise their full potential and aid their resilience. The right of the child to participate
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is also recognised as paramount to promoting social inclusion, and a key cornerstone of the
UNCRC which has been ratified by all EU member states.
The principles outlined in the Recommendation on Investing in Children have been generally
welcomed by NGOs, seeing investment in children as a key priority for the successful
implementation of the Europe 2020 strategyiii. By giving greater visibility to children in the
Europe 2020 processes, this demonstrates the political will at a European level which aids to
advance the need for investment in children’s well-being at a national and local level.
Combatting child poverty must become an integral part of the Europe 2020 strategy and the
Recommendation provides the tool to aid member states to deliver the Commission’s
expectations.
Three Pillar Approach
The Recommendation calls for member states to develop integrated strategies based on three
key pillars:
1.
2.
3.
Access to adequate resources
Access to affordable quality services
Children’s right to participate
1.
Access to Adequate Resources
The first pillar identifies the importance of:


Supporting parents’ participation in the labour market, and
Providing for adequate living standards through a combination of benefits
Support parents’ participation in the labour market
The focus here is on supporting parents’ participation in quality, inclusive employment through
tackling disincentives to work by making work pay, promoting gender equality and supporting
the employability of single parents. There is recognition of the need to promote parental
reintegration into the labour market, and promote in-work support arrangements by, for
example, providing employees with access to parental leave and flexible working arrangements,
as well as access to affordable quality early childhood education and care. Throughout there is
strong recognition of the relationship between parental participation in the labour market and the
living conditions of children as their dependents.
Provide for adequate living standards through a combination of benefits
The second focus is on ensuring adequate living standards through a combination of
complementary income support and benefits in key services. Supporting families through a
range of fiscal benefits are identified, together with the need to help ensure that where
entitlement is met, that take up is facilitated, and outreach services are in place. The risks of
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conditionality are highlighted in the Recommendation, although discretionary use is supported.
Means-tested and targeted benefits should avoid stigmatisation.
2.
Access to Affordable Quality Services
The second pillar identifies the importance of:





Reducing inequality at a young age by investing in early childhood education and care
Improving education systems’ impact on equal opportunities
Improving the responsiveness of health systems to the needs of disadvantaged children
Providing children with a safe, adequate housing and living environment
Enhancing family support and the quality of alternative care settings
Reduce inequality at a young age by investing in early childhood education and care
The overarching message of the first strand is that investment in early childhood education and
care should be recognised as a social investment to tackle exclusion and inequality. Early
childhood education provision should be inclusive, of high quality, which is affordable and which
meets the needs of families. Services which engage and support parents/carers in their role as
principal educators for their children throughout the early years should be available, maintained
and promoted.
Improve education systems’ impact on equal opportunities
Education systems have a key role in tackling the cycle of disadvantage by being inclusive, of
high quality and through delivering provision which promotes social, emotional, physical and
cognitive development. The universal nature of education should be protected with resources
and opportunities targeted at the most disadvantaged as deemed appropriate. Building an
inclusive learning environment should encompass engaging and supporting parents,
recognising the professional role of teachers and removing all barriers to access and
achievement, particularly for those most marginalised or at risk.
Improve the responsiveness of health systems to address the needs of disadvantaged children
All children should have access to quality health care provision, which includes services in
respect of health promotion and disease prevention. Barriers to access by those most
vulnerable should be lifted and programmes which focus on prevention should be holistic.
Particular groups considered most at risk should be provided for.
Provide children with a safe, adequate housing and living environment
The environment in which children live and grow has a profound effect on their learning, health
and developmental needs. To support positive outcomes, children and their families need
access to quality, affordable housing free from overcrowding and fuel poverty. Member states
should protect children from homelessness, unnecessary moves and separation from their
family, providing long-term housing solutions and temporary accommodation as appropriate.
Housing planners should avoid segregation of particular communities and income groups, whilst
ensuring there is adequate access to public transport.
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Enhanced family support and the quality of alternative care settings
Child protection and preventative social care services should be strengthened whilst parents
should be supported to develop the necessary parenting skills. Children removed from their
family should be provided with accommodation appropriate for their needs. Children should not
be removed from parental care because of poverty alone. Tackling material deprivation would
aid some children to remain in or be returned to the care of their parents. Children in alternative
care settings should receive regular placement reviews, be given a voice and have access to a
range of universal and specific services. These should continue as the transition to adulthood
takes place. Quality foster care and community-based settings should be promoted.
3.
Children’s Right to Participate
The third pillar identifies the importance of:


Supporting the participation of all children in play, recreation, sport and cultural activities
Putting in place mechanisms that promote children’s participation in decision making that
affect their lives
Support the participation of all children in play, recreation, sport and cultural activities
This strand recognises the role of children as social actors, with a right to participate in activities
outside of the family home and formal school settings. Member states are called upon to
address prohibitive financial and cultural barriers to play, recreation, sport and cultural activities
and ensure that provision is universally accessible. Children should be able to access safe play
spaces, with families aided to participate in social activities. Community volunteering
opportunities which help break down barriers between generations should be made available,
and local authorities, community partnerships and education settings should have a role in
providing inclusive after-school activities.
Put in place mechanisms that promote children’s participation in decision making that affect
their lives
Children should be supported to express their views and have those views taken into account
when decisions are made which affect them. Children should be routinely consulted by
professionals on relevant policies, using age appropriate mechanisms to capture their voices,
and should be involved in the running of mainstream services. Participation structures should
be inclusive and reach out to children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The child’s right to be
heard should be effectively implemented in judicial proceedings.
With the Recommendation now firmly in place, the attention is now firmly focused on respective
member states to utilise the guidance and to prioritise investing in children. Member states are
expected to adopt national, comprehensive cross-cutting approaches to tackling child poverty
and promoting child well-being firmly within a child rights-based framework. To aid this process,
the EU, through the Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (PROGRESS), provided
financial support for a Joint Action towards the implementation of the EC Recommendation
which will be discussed in the next section.
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Joint Action towards the Implementation of the EC
Recommendation
The aim of the Joint Action is:
‘To ensure effective implementation of the Investing in Children Recommendation by
facilitating stakeholder cooperation at EU and national level and support effective
advocacy and communication activities.’
The objectives of the Joint Action are to:



Secure and retain political will to fight child poverty and promote child well-being
Trigger and support reform in policies and practice, based on what we know works best
for children
Strengthen meaningful engagement of relevant stakeholders in decision making on
public policy and resource allocation for children
The Joint Action operated at two levels.
EU Alliance for Investing in Children
The EU Alliance for Investing in Children brings together over 20 European organisations and
networks committed to ending child poverty and promoting child well-being across Europe. At a
time when over a quarter of children in the EU face poverty and social exclusion, the EU
Alliance pushed for the full implementation of the EC Recommendation by facilitating
cooperation at EU, national and subnational level and supporting common advocacy activities.
Eurochild was the lead organisation and provided secretariat support.
The objectives of the EU Alliance are to:



Secure and retain political will to end child poverty and promote child well-being in
Europe
Trigger and support reforms in policy and practice based on what works best for children
and families
Strengthen meaningful engagement of relevant stakeholders in policy making and
resource allocation for children and build their advocacy capacity
The EU Alliance was established to:



Fight child poverty and promote child well-being in Europe
Promote effective implementation of the EC Recommendation Investing in Children –
Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage
Carry out advocacy activities at EU and national levels
10

Make the most of opportunities offered through EU policies, processes and funding to
reach these goals
The EU Alliance is a temporary initiative operating throughout 2014, supported by the EU
Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity – PROGRESS/EU Programme for
Employment and Social Innovation. Website: http://www.alliance4investinginchildren.eu/
National UK Alliance for Investing in Children
To advocate for the effective implementation of the Recommendation in EU member states, the
EU Alliance initiated two national pilots – Spain and the UK – for the duration of the year.
Co-ordinated by Children in Wales, the UK Alliance for Investing in Children was formed, with
the key objective being:

The implementation of the EC Recommendation on Investing in Children in the context
of the four nations of the UK
To ensure the effective delivery of the project and recognising that the levers to tackle child
poverty rest not with one Government alone, a new and dedicated steering group was created.
The UK Alliance steering group consisted of four UK umbrella organisations who are members
of the Eurochild European National Networks representing each of the four nations - Children in
Wales, Children in Scotland, Children England and Children in Northern Ireland. To ensure
inclusivity, each UK Alliance steering group member was tasked with promoting the project
through their membership base, and engaging appropriately with the broader children’s sector in
their respective country as capacity allowed.
The UK Alliance programme of activities includes:





Developing a UK Alliance through building on existing co-operation structures
Identifying opportunities and plan activities which can be delivered across the four
nations (UK wide) under the UK Alliance banner
Identifying opportunities and planning activities which can be delivered within four nation
countries under the UK Alliance banner
Organising a national event to take place at the end of the year
Engaging with children and young people
The third point is based on the premise that each county would be best placed to identify
opportunities and approaches to influence change in their own countries, given the different
policy leavers, political priorities and Governments of each nation. This key developmental
phase of the project provided an opportunity to understand the situation in each of the four
nations, the political landscape and challenges, the positive/negative developments and any
forthcoming activities or opportunities planned.
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As part of the programme for action, the UK Alliance agreed to produce a four nation’s report
which would examine and compare the approaches taken by Governments to investing in
children (including European investment) in each of the four countries. This segment of the
broader project would help provide a lasting legacy from the project and be a useful resource to
support any post-project future activities in 2015.
Website: http://www.childreninwales.org.uk/our-work/poverty/allianceforinvestinginchildren/
Joint Action towards the Implementation of the European
Commission Recommendation ‘Investing in Children – Breaking the Cycle of
Disadvantage’
This report is one strand of year long programme of activities which took place between January
& December 2014 across the UK. UK Alliance members were involved in lobbying politicians
and policy leads, undertaking engagement events and delivering presentations to a wide range
of stakeholders, in addition to producing written materials and writing articles for various
publications. The UK Alliance also planned and delivered a UK wide national conference on
Child Poverty & Child Wellbeing ‘Investing in Children: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage’ in
December 2014 - http://www.childreninwales.org.uk/news/press-releases/tackling-poverty-eurecommendation-investing-children-discussed-uk-wide-conference-cardiff-121214-w/ as well as
a series of engagement workshops with children and young people across the 4 nations which
lead to the creation of a number of animated films http://www.childreninwales.org.uk/news/newsarchive/launch-child-poverty-animations-wesni/
Child Poverty in Context (UK)
The UK Government’s latest report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
acknowledges that the number of children living in absolute poverty has risen by 300,000 since
2010/11 (page 39) but does not analyse the impact of Government policies on this increase.iv
On 29 May 2014, a joint press statement was released by a number of UK and England
charities challenging the UK Government to assess the impact of its policies on children’s
human rights. Paola Uccellari, Director of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, said:
“Children have a human right to have enough to eat, to safe and stable housing and to a
fair start in life. Yet increasing levels of child poverty, including in families where at least
one parent is working, and cuts to children’s services are having a devastating impact on
some of the country’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. The children’s rights
assessment by the UN presents an opportunity to take stock of how well children in the
UK are fairing. However, the Government’s report to the Committee on the Rights of the
Child shows it is in denial about the devastating impact its policies are having on
children’s human rights. The Government needs to acknowledge evidence about the
12
poor state of children’s rights in the UK and take concerted action if they are going to
make rights real for children.”v
Recent trends in child poverty
The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission Reportvi highlights recent trends in child
poverty as identified by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Department of Work and
Pensions (DWP).
Table 1.1:
Relative
poverty
before
housing
costs
Relative
poverty after
housing costs
Absolute
poverty
before
housing
costs
Absolute
poverty after
housing costs
Low income
and material
deprivation
Severe low
income and
material
deprivation
Recent trends in child poverty
20072008
20082009
20092010
20102011
20112012
20122013
Annual
change
22.6%
21.9%
19.9%
17.6%
17.6%
17.4%
-0.2pp
Five
year
change
-5.2pp
31.5%
30.3%
29.7%
27.4%
27.1%
27.4%
+0.3pp
-4.2pp
21.5%
20.4%
18.0%
17.6%
19.8%
19.5%
-0.3pp
-2.0pp
29.2%
28.0%
27.3%
27.4%
29.5%
30.6%
+1.1pp
+1.3pp
N/A
N/A
N/A
13%
12%
13%
+1pp
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
4%
3%
4%
+1pp
N/A
Sources: IFS, Incomes in the UK, 2014 and DWP, Households below Average Income 2012/13, 2014. Measures in
bold text are the statutory targets under the Child Poverty Act 2010
The impact of growing up in poverty
The State of the Nation: Poverty and Social Exclusion study highlights the challenges of growing
up on a low income. Around 2.5 million children live in damp homes, and around 1.5 million live
in households that cannot afford to heat their home. Lack of money means children are
13
frequently going without; nearly four million children are lacking at least two things they need. A
large number (four million) of both adults and children are poorly fed.vii
Further evidence suggests families are under pressure, for example, food bank use has
increased significantly over the past year. Interpretation of this remains contested (for example,
it could indicate better awareness of food banks and more efficient systems for referral) but over
900,000 people received a three day food package from the Trussell Trust in 2013/14, a 163%
increase in food bank use to the year before.viii
Evidence on debt and savings is also suggestive of financial pressures among low income
families, including:



Nearly three in ten poor families had at least one bill in arrears in 2012/13,ix an increase
from one in four (24%) the year before.x The debt charity StepChange has reported an
82% increase in clients seeking help with pay day loans - the most expensive form of
short-term creditxi
Research for StepChange indicates that parents are often unable to protect children from
the impact of problem debt; nearly six in ten children in families with problem debt say
they are worried about their family’s financial situation, and nine in ten families have cut
back on essentials for children like food, clothing and heating because of the cost of debt
repaymentsxii
In 2012/13, nearly three quarters (73%) of poor families had no savings. One in ten had
less than £1000 in reserve. This compares to 2009/10 when 64% of poor families had no
savings and nearly two in ten had £1000.xiii The number of poor families who had no
savings increased by 10% in 2009/10 and 2012/13, suggesting the slow recovery has
eroded family savings
Regional differences in child poverty: the devolved nations
Child poverty varies significantly across different parts of the United Kingdom, for example:




Wales has the second highest relative child poverty rate of any region of the UK, with 22%
of children in poverty against the headline regional poverty measure, compared to 18% in
the UK as a wholexiv
Scotland has a similar level of poverty to the rest of the UK, with 17% of children in
poverty against the regional measure, but annual data for Scotland suggests that poverty
is rising more rapidly than in the UK as a wholexv
Within England, poverty is higher in northern regions and the West Midlands (with
Yorkshire and the Humber having the highest poverty rate in the UK - 23%) and lower in
the south of the country (with only 13% of children in the east and south east in poverty)xvi
Looking at individual local authorities, against the HMRC Children in Low Income
Families Measure,xvii in England child poverty varies from 6.1% in Hart in Hampshire to
46.1% in Tower Hamlets; in Wales, from 12.5% in Monmouthshire to 29.4% in Blaenau
Gwent; and in Scotland from 6.9% in the Shetland Isles to 32.2% in Glasgow
14

Northern Ireland also shows a bleak picture regarding child poverty. In 2012/13 there
were approximately 89,000 children (20%) in relative poverty before housing costs and
96000 children (22%) in absolute poverty before housing costs. Source: Northern Ireland
Statistics and Research Agency - Northern Ireland Poverty Bulletinxviii
Regional differences in economic recovery
Economic recovery is being experienced differentially across the UK, with implications for
families in different regions. For example:





There are considerable differences in economic prosperity between different parts of the
UK and these widened significantly in the decade before the recessionxix. In 2012, gross
value added per head of residents of London was £33,104 – two thirds higher than the
£19,963 in the rest of the UK and more than double the £15,799 in Wales, the poorest
regionxx
The economic performance of different regions has varied widely since the start of the
recession in 2008.xxi Gross value added of businesses located in London and the south
east increased by 8.4% in nominal terms between 2008 and 2012,xxii compared to 3.7%
in the rest of the UK and only 0.1% in Northern Ireland - the worst performing region
Wide differences in employment performance remain, with the working age employment
rate varying from 69.1% in Wales to 76.7% in the south east and the unemployment rate
varying from 4.4% in the south east and 9.4% in the north eastxxiii
Recent employment growth has been almost twice as fast in the greater south east as
elsewhere in the UK. Since May 2010, London, the south east and the east have seen
employment growth of 8.0% compared to 4.1% elsewhere in the UKxxiv
Median hourly wages vary widely across the country - they are 26% higher in London
and 10% higher in the south east than the UK average.xxv Recent falls in real median
hourly wages since the recession, however, have been bigger in London than elsewhere
– they have fallen by 10.7% since their 2009 peak compared to the UK average of
7.8%xxvi
The Key Challenges (UK)
Meeting the challenges of fiscal consolidation in the UK for the next parliament will be difficult.
The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commissionxxvii notes that delivering a further £3 billion
cuts to public spending over the next Parliament, without damaging social mobility and
worsening child poverty, will be extremely difficult. It recommends the following:

Firstly, there is a need for more honesty about the implications of planned public
spending cuts from all the political parties. Each party needs to set out clear and specific
plans about what they will cut and what they will protect to avoid negative impacts on
social mobility and child poverty. By 2017, public spending is expected to be at lower
levels in the UK than even the United States, with current spending on public services
15
and administration lower than at any time since the Second World War. Benefit cuts
penciled-in by the current Chancellor imply total cuts to benefit and tax credit spending
on children and working-age adults between 2010/11 and 2018/19 of up to one third if
pensioner benefits continue to be protected. The political debate needs to move beyond
talking about spending numbers in the abstract, without acknowledgement of the
inevitable impacts on the scope and quality of public services the State will be able to
provide

Secondly, the next UK government will need to stop exempting pensioners from
austerity. It is not fair that the burden of adjustments falls disproportionately on the
shoulders of children and working-age adults. There is an understanding of the political
expediency of not doing so, but the Commission highlights that all the political parties
need to remember two key facts – first, overall this is the wealthiest generation of
pensioners the country has ever had; and second, pensioners are only half as likely to
be in poverty after housing costs as children are. Claiming there is no choice but to
reduce support for the poorest children in society, while protecting benefits for wealthy
pensioners, is not credible

Thirdly, there is a need to develop stronger institutional arrangements to ensure child
poverty and social mobility goals are at the heart of decision-making processes. The
Office for Budget Responsibility should be given a new role in independently reporting,
on Budget Day, on the social mobility and child poverty impacts of Budgets and
Spending Reviews, including publishing analysis about the distributional effects of policy
changes on different household types, producing forecasts of child poverty rates and
undertaking cumulative impact assessments. Transparency of this sort is desperately
needed to expose the political consensus
The Social Mobility & Child Poverty Commission reportxxviii indicates that there has been
progress on employment, and progress on raising the attainment of poor children. There has
been less success in translating achievements in getting more parents into work with higher
living standards for those at the bottom of the labour market. Real wages have continued to fall
and too many parents end up stuck in low paid, insecure work with limited hours. They get
limited income gains from more work because of high effective marginal tax rates.
All trends suggest that poverty is set to rise as limited gains from higher employment are
outpaced by cuts to social security. Recent research for the Commission shows that even worldbeating rises in employment and wages will not enable the 2020 targets to end child poverty to
be reached. The Commission suggests that radical reform is needed as the market with its
current pay and progression structures cannot do all the work alone.
16
UK Key Policy: Child Poverty
All of the policies covered in this section apply in England and to the other three nations where the UK Government
retains control and responsibility. The policy areas that are exclusively devolved are covered in the other three
sections for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Child Poverty Act 2010
The Child Poverty Act 2010 sets out UK-wide targets towards the eradication of child poverty by
2020. These targets relate to levels of child poverty in terms of relative low income, combined
low income and material deprivation, absolute low income and persistent poverty.
Broadly stated, the UK-wide child poverty targetsxxix provided for in the Child Poverty Act are
the:




Relative low income target – that less than 10% of children live in households that
have a household income of less than 60% of median household income
Combined low income and material deprivation target – that less than 5% of children
live in households that have a household income of less than 70% of median household
income and experience material deprivation
Absolute low income target – that less than 5% of children live in households that
have a household income of less than 60% of the median household income for the
financial year starting on 1 April 2010xxx
The persistent poverty target – to reduce the proportion of children that experience
long periods of relative poverty (that is to reduce the percentage of children who live in
households that have a household income of less than 60% of the median household
income for three years out a four-year period) with the specific target percentage to be
set at a later datexxxi
The Child Poverty Act 2010 requires the UK Government to produce a Child Poverty Strategy
every three years and to monitor progress. Each of the devolved administrations is responsible
for producing and monitoring their own Poverty Strategy. Local Authorities are also required by
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the Act to assess the needs of children in poverty in their area and to produce strategies to
address those needs.
Child Poverty Strategy 2011-14
The first UK Child Poverty Strategy (2011-14) was issued for consultation and published soon
after. This is a Strategy founded on the understanding that poverty is more than income alone.
It recognises the need to end inter-generational poverty, remove barriers to progression and to
invest early. Based on the principles of fairness and social justice, the strategy is focused on the
key pillars of strengthening families, encouraging responsibility and promoting work,
guaranteeing fairness and providing support to the most vulnerable.xxxii
The UK Government’s priorities within the Strategy are presented under the following
interrelated headings:





A New Approach – focuses on the current problems and the drivers of child poverty
with emphasis on improving life chances, making work pay and to ensure services are
tailored towards local need
Supporting Families to Achieve Financial Independence – outlines the benefits of
work and the proposed reforms to remove financial disincentives to work, the support
for parent to access work and avoid financial difficulties within a work-centred approach
Supporting Family Life and Children’s Life Chances – considers the non-income
dimensions, including the family and home environment, housing, early years,
education and health. It recognises the need for targeted support and the specific
barriers faced by the most vulnerable
Role of Place and Transforming Lives – sets out the Governments reforms around
localism, ‘Big Society’ and community approaches to tackling poverty
Translating our Vision into Reality – outlines how progress will be tracked, how
engagement with external partners will be achieved, as well as the interface between
the UK Strategy with local strategies in England and the devolved administrations
Actions set out in the Strategy are in the short to medium-term, but there is also a recognition
that this is a long-term approach in relation to developing sustainable approaches to tackle intergenerational cycles of deprivation.
Child Poverty Strategy 2014-17
In February 2014, the UK Government published a new draft Child Poverty Strategy for
consultation, which was published in June the same year. The revised Strategyxxxiii sets out the
action to be taken from 2014-17 to tackle child poverty, and builds on the 2011-14 Strategy,
through:

Supporting families into work and increasing their earnings
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

Improving living standards and increasing their earnings
Preventing poor children becoming poor adults, through raising their educational
attainment
Support through the 2014-17 Child Poverty Strategy focuses on the following four key areas and
firmly commits to tackling the root causes of poverty and to transform lives.
1.
2.
3.
Work
Living standards
Education
4.
Working with others
1.
Work
Work is viewed as one of the most effective ways out of poverty. The 2014-17 Strategy
highlights worklessness and low earnings as a root cause of families being in poverty. In 201417, the UK Government aims to support families into work and increase earnings by:

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
Creating jobs - helping businesses to grow by enabling small and medium sized
companies to access credit, investing in infrastructure and reducing National Insurance
contributions from some businesses
Supporting families into work - help for those out of work through the Work
Programme, Help to Work Scheme and flexible support through Jobcentre Plus,
supporting families with multiple problems through the Troubled Families Programme
Making work play - having clearer work incentives through introducing Universal Credit,
reforming the welfare system, increasing the subsidy for childcare and providing free
school meals to all infant school children
Tackling low pay - raising the minimum wage and the personal tax allowance,
continuing to lift low-income families out of the tax system
Helping people move on to better jobs that pay more - improving qualifications,
reviewing zero-hour contracts and providing additional support to move into better jobs
Improving the qualifications of parents - through adult apprenticeships, investing in
English and mathematics and helping parents through National Careers Service
Helping poor parents with health conditions into work - by providing tailored support
as set out in the Disability and Health Employment Strategy which puts in place
clearer and more flexible benefit rules, support for employers to employ parents with
health conditions and help for parents who experience mental health issues
2.
Supporting Living Standards
In 2014-17 the UK Government aims to support the living standards of low-income families
by:

Reducing the typical energy bill - by around £50 on average in 2014/15. Giving some
low-income families money off their bills each year through extending the Warm Home
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





Discount to 2015/16, and reducing the amount of fuel they need to pay for by making
their home more energy efficient
Reducing water costs - by capping the bills of low-income families, with three or more
children, on a water meter and promoting social tariffs that provide cheaper water for
low-income families
Providing Healthy Start Vouchers - for young children in low-income families, free
school meals for all infant school pupils, breakfast clubs in deprived areas, and free fruit
and vegetables at school for children aged four to six
Reducing transport costs for low-income families - through free home-to-school
transport, limiting rail fare increases, introducing more flexible rail tickets, and keeping
the price of petrol down by freezing fuel duty since 2011
Tackling rising housing costs - by increasing the supply of new housing
Increasing access to affordable credit - through investing up to £38 million in
expanding credit unions
Tackling problem debt - through working with the Money Advice Service, which coordinates and funds debt advice, and safeguards the transition to Universal Credit by
offering support to manage the changes via the Local Support Service Framework
Fuel
Fuel prices make up a disproportionate amount of household spend for low income families.
The UK Government has committed to:





Changes announced in the Autumn Statement 2013, which are expected to reduce
typical energy bills, in 2014/15 by around £50 on average
Achieving further savings on fuel bills from 2016 onwards through the zero carbon
homes commitment
Giving eligible low-income families money off their bills through extending the Warm
Home Discount 2015/16 (in 2014/15 the discount is £140)
Helping low-income families insulate their homes to make them more energy efficient to
reduce their bills and help ensure that children live in warm homes (this is provided
through the Energy Company Obligation)
Reforming energy markets to increase competition and making it easier for families to
shop around to get better deals
In addition, the UK Government have made changes to the law which will set a new target to
tackle fuel poverty and further action, including help for poor families, will be announced through
the Fuel Poverty Strategy.
Water
The UK Government has encouraged water companies to reduce water prices for low-income
families by:

Enabling water companies to reduce bills of low-income customers by creating Social
Tariffs
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
Capping bills under the Water Sure Scheme, so that low income families on a water
meter who have three or more children are not hit with bills they cannot afford
Food
From 2014-17 the UK Government aims to help with the costs of food for low-income families
by:




Providing Healthy Start Vouchers to help low income families with young children
Extending free school meals to all infant school pupils in England from September 2014
Investing just over £1 million from 2013 to 2015 to help schools in the poorest areas
establish breakfast clubs
Giving school children aged four to six access to free fruit and vegetables through the
School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme
Transport
There is a recognition in the 2014-17 Strategy that high transport costs make it harder for
people to get to work and to stay in work. Support for parents to get to work and children to get
to school will be available through:


Provision of free home-to-school transport for those who live beyond the statutory
walking distances or have Special Educational Needs and disabilities. In addition, Local
Authorities are funded (£148.3 million 2011/12-2014/15) to provide additional transport
support to low-income families to widen their choice of schools
Providing a Job Centre Plus travel Discount Card for eligible claimants of certain benefits
to help parents with the costs of bus or train fares when seeking work or undertaking
training.
3.
Education
In 2014-17 the UK Government aims to break the cycle of poor children going on to be poor
adults by:




Increasing the number of poor children in high quality pre-school education with
15 hours free childcare in England for all three and four year olds and for two year
olds from low-income families, getting better qualified staff in pre-school and having
simpler early years curriculum
Introducing Early Years Pupil Premium in England
Ensuring poor children do better at school by giving disadvantaged pupils an
additional £14,000 throughout their school career through the Pupil Premium in
England
Supporting poor children to stay in education post-16
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4.
Working with others
There is a commitment from Government to work with partners across local areas, in business
and across the voluntary and community sector. Employers have a key role to play, for
example, in paying decent wages, supporting flexible working hours, offering recognised training
and qualifications and helping their staff progress at work.
Social Security (UK)
The UK operates a comprehensive system of social security, administered through the DWP to
provide income for those who are disabled, have been made redundant, suffer ill health, are
retired or are unemployed for other reasons. A key function of the DWP is also to provide
practical support to help people transfer from unemployment into the labour market.
The Welfare Reform Act (2012)xxxiv saw the introduction of two new key packages of financial
assistance:

A new Universal Credit - a means-tested benefit that provides financial support for
those both in and out of work. Once fully implemented, it will replace a complex range of
currently existing benefits, including Job Seekers Allowance, Income Support, Working
Tax Credits, Child Tax Credits and Housing Benefit. Instead of families receiving multiple
payments for different elements of entitlement on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, one
monthly payment will be made. Financial assistance is also available for those who enter
work in order to assist with the transition from benefits and to assist those on low
incomes

The UK has operated a system of ‘in work’ benefits to supplement low incomes for
nearly 30 years. Family Credit (FC; 1986-1999) was replaced by Working Families
Tax Credit (WFTC; 1999-2003), which was in turn replaced by the current Working Tax
Credit (WTC). Child Benefit (UK) has been a universal UK non-means-tested benefit
since the 1940’s (formerly Family Allowance). From 2013, however, higher-rate tax
payers are no longer eligible for this benefit
Employability, transition to labour market and policies to reduce
families’ expenses
Increasing the ‘employability’ of the population and removing barriers that prevent the transition
from education, unemployment or parenthood to the labour market have also been addressed
by the UK administration.
Job Centre Plus
Delivered by the DWP, the remit of Job Centre Plus is to directly support job seekers and
increase their flow into the labour market. Whilst supporting the efficient application and receipt
of benefits amongst its client group, it also provides one-to-one and group support to help
individuals become work-ready, find employment and remain in employment. Its most recent
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annual report outlines progress in meeting specific targets including supporting lone parents in
to work.
New Deal Plus for Lone Parents
The exact nature of this programme has changed over time as conditions associated with social
security eligibility have evolved, and as the programme has passed through different pilot and
extension phases. Overall, it offers a programme of support for lone parents, aimed at removing
barriers to employment and incentivising work through, for example, work-focused interviews
(one-to-one and group support) and in-work credit (financial support).
Tax credits (childcare element)
Lone parents and couples with children, who are working, are eligible to apply for support with
childcare costs. To qualify applicants must be working 16 hours or more and the child be
attending a registered childcare provider. A maximum of 70% of childcare costs will be awarded,
up to a maximum of £122.50 for one child and £210 per week for two or more children. Some
employers provide childcare vouchers in return for tax and National Insurance exemptions.
Reducing Debt and Improving Access to Affordable Credit
From 2014-17 the UK Government plans to take action to improve access to affordable credit
by:

Protecting consumers - the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has introduced tough new
rules for regulating payday lending. This requires lenders to carry out robust affordability
checks, limits the number of times a pay day loan can be rolled over to two, places tough
restrictions on lenders’ use of continuous payment authorities (CPAs), and requires all
payday lending adverts to include a risk warning and information about where to get free
debt advice. In order to protect consumers from unfair costs, the Government has
legislated to require the FCA to introduce a cap on the cost of payday loans which will be
implemented no later than 2 January 2015

Increasing access to affordable credit - by investing up to £38 million in expanding credit
unions, with the aim of saving low-income consumers up to £1 billion in loan interest
(compared to pay-day lenders)
To help low-income families to manage their money and prevent serious debt problems there
are plans from 2014-17 to:

Help people manage their debts and improve their financial capability through the Money
Advice Service (MAS). The MAS co-ordinates and funds debt advice and offers free and
impartial information and advice on money matters to help parents better manage their
money and plan ahead
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
Provide additional budgeting help for those families who need it most, during the move to
Universal Credit via the Local Support Services Framework
Children’s Rights
There is no legislation in place, equivalent to Wales and Scotland that requires UK Ministers to
take account of children’s rights when carrying out their functions in respect of UK or Englandonly matters. The UK Government has introduced the Children and Families Act 2014 which
puts the best interests of children at the heart of the family justice and alternative care systems,
and in arrangements to support children with special educational needs.
Meanwhile, the United Nations recommended that the UK Government develop a British Bill of
Rights which incorporated the UNCRCs principles and provisions. This recommendation was
not accepted, but a Commission was created to investigate a UK Bill of Rights. The
Commission’s report was submitted with the Government accepting the central conclusion that
the time was not right to proceed.
European Structural and Investment funds
European Social Fund
The European Social Fund (ESF), created in 1957, is the EU’s main financial instrument for
investing in people. It supports employment and helps people enhance their education and
skills, thus improving their job prospects. There are five priorities of ESF funding:





Helping workers and enterprises adapt to changing circumstances in the economy
Enhancing access to employment and participation in the workforce
Improving training and skills, both for individuals, and through better education and
training systems
Promoting partnerships between actors such as employers, trade unions and nongovernmental organisations, for reform in the fields of employment and inclusion in the
labour market
Reinforcing the social inclusion of disadvantaged people and combating discrimination in
the labour market
Member states and regions devise their own ESF Operational Programmes in order to respond
to the real needs ‘on the ground.’ During the period 2007-2013, the ESF spent over 10 billion
euros per year across all member states, representing more than 10% of the EU’s total budget.
The ESF was set up to:


Improve employment opportunities in the EU and help raise standards of living
Help people to get better skills and better job prospects
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
Help equip the workforce with the skills needed by business in a competitive global
economy
Read more about ESF at the European level on the European Commission ESF website.
There are separate ESF programmes for each of the four UK nations.
ESF in England
The 2007 to 2013, England’s ESF programmexxxv invested a total of £2.5 billion of European
funding in jobs and skills. Priority groups for support include:




Young people not in education, employment or training
Families with multiple problems
Offenders
People with low skill levels
By the end of November 2013, there had been over four million participants on the programme
and over:



384,000 unemployed or inactive participants had been helped into jobs, with over
150,000 participants having gained basic skills
438,000 participants gaining qualifications at level two or above
418,000 disadvantaged young people having been helped to enter employment,
education or training
Some projects funded under the 2007 to 2013 England ESF programme will continue to operate
until mid-2015.
In May 2014, the UK Government issued guidancexxxvi which outlined plans for managing and
operating ESF in England from 2014-2020.
The new programme will support three overarching objectives:



Promoting sustainable and quality employment and supporting labour mobility:
focusing on access to employment, including young people who are not in employment
or training
Promoting social inclusion, combating poverty and any discrimination: improving
the employability of those most disadvantaged and furthest away from the job market
Investing in education, training and vocational training for skills and lifelong
learning
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Rural Development Programme (RDP) in England
The Rural Development Programme for Englandxxxvii provides money for projects to improve
agriculture, the environment and rural life. Funding in 2007-13 went to schemes to:



Improve rural life and businesses
Promote environmentally friendly ways of managing land
Sustain existing and create new areas of woodlands
The 2014-2020 RDP in England will help improve the environment, support business or promote
growth in the local economy. Investment of £3.5bn will be made in England over the seven
years from 2014-2020.
The new schemes will start in 2015 following full consideration by the EC and the new
programme will support three main areas:



Managing the environment
Increasing farming and forestry productivity
Growing the rural economy
There are separate RDP programmes for each of the four nations.
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Devolved Approaches to Poverty
Wales
The Welsh Government (WG) is a devolved administration within the UK. As such, while the
WG controls some of the policy areas required to tackle poverty effectively, several important
levers are held by the UK Government. This both limits the actions the WG can take to tackle
child poverty, and means that the UK Government may take actions that might have both a
positive or negative impact on child poverty levels in Wales.
The UK Government retains key policy responsibility for welfare, social security and fiscal and
macro-economic policy. The WG has responsibility over the following policy areas most relevant
to the tackling poverty agenda:











Culture
Economic development
Education and training
Environment
Food
Health and health services
Highways and transport
Housing
Local government
Social welfare
Sport and recreationxxxviii
Eradicating child poverty by 2020 is a fundamental priority for the WG. Wales has a higher
proportion of children living in poverty than England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and a
higher proportion than any English region outside London. Wales also has a high proportion of
children in workless households (again much higher than Scotland and most of England).
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Programme for Government 2011-16
The overarching framework for this term of the WG is the ‘Programme for Government.’xxxix
Published in 2011, this document outlines the high level aims and priority actions across all
areas of policy for which the WG has responsibility and control for. Chapter 9 ‘Tackling Poverty’
includes a range of actions under the following three pillars:



Poverty and Material Deprivation
Tackling Worklessness and Raising Household Income
Improving the Skills of Young people and Families
To support the delivery of these three pillars, a number of indicators are presented to enable the
WG to measure progress. The programme is updated annually with progress against key
milestones and targets made public.
Child Poverty Strategy 2005
The first Child Poverty Strategy 2005 for Wales sought to remedy the high levels of poverty in
Wales, building on the core values of the UNCRC and published in support of the UK-wide
commitment to eradicate child poverty by 2020. The Strategy, supported by an action plan
containing specific targets and milestones to measure achievement, was presented under three
pillars:



Income Poverty – increasing access to employment and promote financial inclusion
Participation Poverty – programmes which enable the inclusion of disadvantaged
children as well as ways in which children’s voices can be heard
Service Poverty – programmes which support the Early Years, Housing, Integrated
Family Centers and Free School Breakfasts scheme
The Strategy was much heralded, and showcased the political will of the WG to address child
poverty despite the limited powers at its disposal. However, the Strategy’s publication coincided
with a slow-down in the economy across the UK. While the recession did not arrive until 2008,
2005 was actually the year unemployment was at its lowest. After that economic conditions
were much less favorable.
Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010
The Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 places a statutory duty on a wide range of
public bodies, including the NHS and local authorities, as well as Welsh Ministers, to develop
and implement Child Poverty Strategies. As well as outlining statutory duties in respect of
tackling child poverty, it also includes duties in relation to Play and Child Participation. It aimed
to provide clarity about the contribution that the WG could make to reducing child poverty, as
well as to set the direction for effective local delivery arrangements.
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Child Poverty Strategy 2011-14
The WG’s statutory Child Poverty Strategyxl set out three strategic objectives:



Reduce the number of families living in workless households
Improve the skills of parents/carers and young people living in low income households
so they can secure well-paid employment
Reduce inequalities that exist in health, education and economic outcomes and families
by improving the outcomes of the poorest
The Child Poverty Strategy defines poverty as:
“A long-term state of not having sufficient resources to afford food, reasonable living
conditions or amenities or to participate in activities (such as access to attractive
neighbourhoods and open spaces) that are taken for granted by others in their society.”xli
To support the delivery of the Strategy, the WG developed a dedicated internal team and
developed links with departments across all portfolio areas which recognised the cross-cutting
nature of poverty. External engagement and support was secured through the Child Poverty
Expert Group (CPEG) and the Child Poverty Solutions project which provided Local
Authorities and public bodies with training, support and a dedicated website.
Tackling Poverty Action Plan
The Tackling Poverty Action Plan (TPAP) was published in June 2012 and is subject to annual
review and reporting against key milestones and targets. This plan complimented the delivery of
the statutory Child Poverty Strategy and takes a more holistic approach to poverty, of which
child poverty is a key part. The TPAP reinforces the three objectives of the Child Poverty
Strategy by stating that action to tackle poverty should have the following aims:



Preventing poverty - and making it less likely over the long term, by offering support
earlier and sustain that support until families become resilient and self-sufficient. This
includes raising aspirations, improving standards of education, increasing skills levels
and reducing inequalities in health and well-being
Helping people into work - and out of poverty to take up job opportunities and earn an
income by working with partners to identify and address the causes of the gender,
ethnicity and disability pay and employment differences
Mitigating the impact of poverty - by taking action to mitigate the impact of poverty
here and now, by offering support to improve the lived experience of poverty. This
includes access to financial advice services, benefit take-up advice, support for sources
of affordable credit, support to prevent fuel poverty, transport, affordable access to the
internet, and the provision of inexpensive leisure, sport and play facilities
29
A fourth, cross-cutting aim, was further introduced:

Joining up in communities and across Government - through the regeneration
programme, Communities First, as a primary means of ensuring the action plan
succeeds in the most disadvantaged places
Preventing poverty
Preventing poverty in the next generation is about ‘investment in giving children the best
possible start in life. From conception through to early adulthood, the WG’s aim is to reduce
inequality at the earliest possible stage and break the link between socio-economic
disadvantage, educational under achievement and the impaired life chances that flow from
these.”xlii
This first aim is supported by three headline targets:

By 2016, increase the proportion of three year olds receiving Flying Start services (Early
Years) that have achieved or exceeded their developmental milestones by 5% points (to
69%). We have implemented a new monitoring system and will further strengthen our
targeting once that system is embedded. 64% of children in the Flying Start programme
reached or exceeded their developmental milestones at age three in 2012/13

To narrow the gap in education attainment levels between learners aged seven eligible
for free school meals, and those that are not eligible for free school meals, who achieve
the expected levels at the end of the Foundation Phase, as measured by the Foundation
Phase Indicator, by 10% by 2017. The difference between e-FSM and non-FSM
attainment in 2012 was 18.3%

To improve the overall education attainment levels of students eligible for free school
meals, measured as the proportion of learners eligible for free school meals at age 15
who achieve Level Two inclusive at Key Stage 4 (GCSE grade C or above in English or
Welsh and Mathematics or equivalent), to 37% by 2017. In 2012, it was 23.4%
Helping people into work
This second aim is supported by five headline targets:



To offer 5,000 opportunities to adults in workless households to find sustainable training
or employment by the end of the calendar year 2017 (six pilot projects in Communities
First areas out of 52 clusters)
To invest at least 20% of our 2014-2020 European Social Fund programmes in tackling
poverty and social inclusion through helping people to find and maintain sustainable
employment
To reduce the number of young people who are not in education or training aged 16-18
to 9% by 2017. At the end of 2011, the figure was 12.1%
30


To reduce the proportion of young people who are not in education or training aged 1924 in Wales relative to the UK as a whole by 2017
To increase the percentage of care leavers in education, training or employment to 51%
by 2017. It was 47% in 2011/12
Mitigating the impact of poverty
This third aim is supported by a series of eight headline targets:








To close the life expectancy gap between each fifth by an average of 2.5% by 2020
To reduce the number of babies born under 2500g in the most deprived fifth of the
population by 19% by 2020
To improve the dental health of five and 12 year olds in the most deprived fifth of the
population to that found in the middle fifth by 2020
To achieve 7,500 additional affordable homes (social and intermediate) by 2016
To increase the number of empty houses brought back into use by 5,000 by 2016
143,000 Credit Union members across Wales and £75 million in assets by 2020. As at
March 2013, total membership including junior savers was estimated at more than
68,400. Assets of Welsh Credit Unions were estimated to be £32 million
To generate £8 million in additional confirmed benefits for individuals per year through
advice services
By 2015 to increase digital inclusion in Wales
Each of the key priorities outlined above, and in the Plan, is also supported by a series of
Milestones and Indicators to measure progress.
As well as there being a mandate on public bodies requiring them to priorities child poverty
related goals within their local planning arrangements and action plans, the WG has asked all
22 Local Authorities to appoint Anti-Poverty Champions - senior strategic leads to mobilise
cross-local government action to help the poorest in society and protect those most at risk of
poverty and exclusion.xliii Current external support and engagement is achieved through the
publically appointed Tackling Poverty External Advisory Group (TPEAG) and through regular
meetings between Ministers, officials and the End Child Poverty Network Cymru. Finally, in
2013, Wales became the first part of the UK to appoint a dedicated Minister for Tackling Poverty
within the WG cabinet.
Revised Child Poverty Strategy for Wales 2015
A key requirement from the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 is for the WG to
revise their Child Poverty Strategy. At the time of producing this report, the Government are
publically consulting on their revised Strategy,xliv following the publication of the independent
review of the existing Strategy.xlv In addition to the actions set out in the TPAP, which are most
relevant for children and families, the draft Strategy includes proposed plans to prioritise action
in five key areas:
31





Food Poverty
Childcare
In-Work Poverty
Action to mitigate the impact of Welfare Reform
Housing and Regeneration
It is anticipated that a revised Strategy will be in place by spring 2015.
The WG has had a long-standing commitment to hearing the voices and enabling the
participation of children and young people in all policy areas. The revised Child Poverty
Strategy includes a section on the engagement of children and young people, in line with Article
12 of the UNCRC.
Contributing Programmes
Communities First 2.0
Communities First was launched in 2000 as an area-based regeneration strategy to tackle
widespread poverty in Wales. With acute concentrations of poverty in post-industrial
communities of the South Wales Valleys, the programme also reflected growing awareness of
rural poverty in the 1990s. There have been several reviews of the programme and some
revision.
From 2012, Communities First (renamed Communities First 2.0) has been remodeled as a
community-focused tackling poverty programme. It has 52 “Clusters” which, between them,
include all 10% of the most deprived areas in Wales (as defined by the Welsh Index of Multiple
Deprivation 2011).
The Communities First Clusters focus on supporting the most vulnerable people in those areas
working to make the communities wealthier, healthier, more skilled and better informed, under
three main objectives:



Prosperous communities
Learning communities
Healthier communities
Each Cluster has a detailed Delivery Plan which clearly shows the outcomes they are working
towards and how their performance will be measured. Based on the needs identified within
Clusters, teams are committed to working with key partners, for example the Local Authority,
Local Service Board, Local Health Board and the Police, to realise the following goals:xlvi
32
Communities First 2.0
Prosperous Communities
Employment is the best protection against
poverty and its impacts. This part of the CF
programme supports employment skills,
employability, welfare advice and financial
inclusion; both helping people into work and
mitigating the impact of poverty. The WG has
a number of programme-bending activities in
place or under development to further
support communities in this area:
Job Centre Plus (JCP)
A programme-bending activity. JCP Parent
Employment Advisors worked in four pilot
areas (now expanded into a further eight
areas). The pilot project supported 201
parents back into employment. The
evaluation demonstrated the benefit of a key
service, such as JCP, working alongside CF
at a local level to deliver better services and
shared outcomes
Jobs Growth Wales (JGW)
JGW is one of WG top five priorities, led by
the department for Education and Skills to
support young people into more sustainable
employment
Advice Services
Communities First is working closely with a
range of advice providers to ensure that
every Cluster in Wales has access to
dedicated advice support. Further work is
underway to develop a project which will
support 35 Clusters across Wales which
currently do not have such support. This work
will be a key WG response to the Advice
Services Review and supporting communities
through the challenges posed by Welfare
Reform
33
Learning Communities
Improving skills is an important part of
helping people out of poverty, into
employment and helping today’s children
have better chances in life. Many Clusters
have strong working links with key providers
and training organisations, particularly in the
area of adult learning, which contribute to
helping people into work and make it less
likely that people will be impacted by poverty
The Communities First Pupil Deprivation This fund, developed by the WG, offered CF
Grant (PDG) Match Fund
Clusters an opportunity to develop a work
programme with the mainstream education
providers and access over £2 million over two
years to match against the WG PDG
allocated to their local schools. This fund
supports collaboration between schools and
local communities
Higher Education Funding Council Wales HEFCW has a specific aim to raise the
(HEFCW)
number of pupils that achieve the goal of
more pupils from CF areas going into higher
education
Digital Inclusion
Communities First 2.0 prioritises its support in
CF areas and works in close partnership with
CF Clusters to tackle digital exclusion,
alongside other priorities like financial
inclusion
Healthier Communities
Poverty can have both direct and indirect
impacts on health and well-being. Good
health is a critical factor in accessing
employment. A wide range of work is being
undertaken to support improvements in
health outcomes, particularly in developing
stronger links with Local Health Boards,
Public Health and Primary Care, in order to
mitigate the impact of poverty, improve health
34
and the access to health care
Over 50s Health Checks
CF is working closely with Department for
Health and Social Services to ensure that
there is a strong link and support for rolling
out the Over 50s Health Checks in CF
Clusters
Early Years and Childcare Plan
The Early Years and Childcare Plan supports
the development of early years’ services and
their greater integration. Communities First,
Flying Start and Families First programmes
are encouraged to develop new models of
working which combine the strengths of all
three programmes and successfully target
families living in poverty
Public Health Wales (PHW)
Communities First is working with PHW to
use its training and experience in supporting
the Communities First workforce to deliver
fully integrated and evidence based
interventions in communities, and linking
where appropriate to projects listed above
Programmes and Actions for Preventing Poverty
Contributing actions that currently, and in the recent past, are aimed at preventing poverty in the
next generation include:
Programmes and Actions for
Preventing Poverty
Ante-natal/Post-natal
Maternity
Provided since 1944, maternity services
encourage healthy behaviours of pregnant
women to support the health of their unborn
babies so that they can develop into healthy
children and adults
Early Years and Childcare:
Flying Start –
Has run from 2006/07 and ongoing, offering a
range of support, including high quality
35
childcare for two year olds. It is targeted at all
families with children aged 0-3 in the 140
most deprived areas of Wales
Educational Inequalities:
School Effectiveness Framework –
Delivered 2008-2011. Universal service
whose objective was to reduce the
educational attainment gap. Improves
standards around literacy and numeracy
Pupil Deprivation Grants (PDG) –
Helps schools tackle the barriers to learning
and break the link between deprivation and
poor outcomes
Raising Achievement and Individual
Standards in Education (RAISE) –
Initially a two year programme from 2006/07,
extended to 2010/11. Targeted attainment at
Key stages 1-4 for schools with a high
proportion of (20%+) of Free School Meal
pupils
Primary School Free Breakfast Initiative –
Started in 2005 and ongoing. Has outcomes
relating to diet impact on cognitive skills
development and attainment. For all children
in maintained primary schools in Wales. It
was only delivered in Communities First
areas in the first year
Early Support for Families:
Cymorth –
This ran from 2003/04 to 2011/12. It provided
geographic and targeted support for 0-25
year olds by need. It was replaced by
Families First
Integrated Children’s Centres –
Started in 2008 and ongoing. Originally
targeted geographically in Cymorth areas to
provide early years education and support for
families
Families First (previously Cymorth) –
With pioneer areas running since 2010 with
national roll out from 2012. Provides
geographic support for families living in
poverty (and is focused on Communities First
areas). Families First has been the driving
force of the WG’s whole family approach by
establishing a Team Around the Family (TAF)
36
and Joint Assessment Family Framework
(JAFF). Wales is the first country in the UK to
have mandated a TAF in every Local
Authority
Integrated Family Support Service (IFSS) –
Piloted from 2010 with national roll-out
2011/2014. It aims to strengthen families and
to tackle poorer outcomes associated with
children in care. Provides support targeted by
need in geographic areas
Programmes and Actions for Helping People into Work
WG policies that focus on helping people into work and reducing the number of workless
households, and number of young people who are not earning or learning, include:
Programmes and Actions for Helping
People into Work
Community Benefits Policy –
This policy applies to all contracts over £2
million to help generate jobs for individuals
and support local supply chains
Economic Growth Fund –
Over £30 million has been invested in the
Fund and approved projects. It is targeted at
creating new jobs and safeguarding others
Jobs Growth Wales –
Established in April 2012, the programme
aims to create and fill 4,000 job opportunities
each year for three years for young people
aged 16-24. Participants will be paid at or
above the National Minimum Wage (NMW)
for a minimum of 25 hours per week.
Employers are reimbursed the NMW and
National
Insurance contributions.
The
ambition of the programme is that the jobs
are sustained after the six month opportunity
Youth Engagement and Progression
Framework -
This framework aims to reduce the number of
young people not in education, employment
or training (NEET) over a two year period.
37
The framework is based around six
component elements, proven to be effective
at increasing youth engagement and
progression. They aim to:
 Identify young people most at risk of
disengagement
 Provide better brokerage and coordination of support
 Provide stronger tracking and transition of
young people through the system
 Ensure provision meets the needs of
young people
 Strengthen employability skills and
opportunities for employment
 Provide greater accountability for better
outcomes for young people
Traineeships for 16-17 year olds and
Steps to Employment for 18 plus –
Helping young people and adults gain
confidence, motivation, skills and work
experience
Pathways to Apprenticeship –
Helping learners between 16 and 24 years
old to become apprentices
Young Recruits Programme –
Paying a subsidy to employers to increase
apprenticeship opportunities and bring new
recruitment opportunities
Essential Skills in the Workplace and the Working with individuals and employers
Wales Union Learning Fund –
directly to improve literacy, numeracy and
ICT skills
Welsh Government Apprenticeship Scheme Giving over 140 Modern Apprentices
–
employment and training opportunities
Healthy Working Wales –
Working with employers, employees and
health professionals to help people who at
risk of losing their job due to ill health, to
remain in work
LIFT (Tackling Workless Households) –
In its “Building Resilient Communities –
Taking forward the Tackling Poverty Action
38
Plan” (2013) WG pledged to:
“Reduce
the
number
of
workless
1
households, especially those with children,
by establishing at least six pilot projects in
Communities First areas. These projects will
offer 5,000 opportunities to adults in workless
households to find sustainable training and
jobs. The project will offer personalised,
intensive support which considers the full
range of life circumstances to help the longterm unemployed and those furthest from the
labour market back into work” (page 18)
The LIFT Programme (Tackling Workless
Households) was piloted in eight CF Clusters.
It targeted households where no-one has
worked for a minimum of six months and
those with characteristics, which make them
less likely to gain employment easily, such as
being a young single parent household; being
a household in which the adults have few or
no formal qualifications and/or weak
employment records; a large number of
dependent children; or individuals with
disabilities.
Opportunities provided through the LIFT
Programme will include:




Childcare –
Training courses linked specifically to a
participant’s employability
Work experience or placements (with a
minimum duration of two weeks) which
enhance a participant’s employability
Actual employment and volunteering
which leads to a recognised qualification
appropriate for work
Local Authorities are encouraged to provide a
flexible service for parents that recognises
1
A workless household is one that contains at least one person aged 16 to 64 where no-one aged 16 or over is in
work so they are unemployed (but have actively looked for work in the last 4 weeks and are ready to start work in the
next 2 weeks) or economically inactive (not in work and not looking for work).
39
working patterns are continuously changing
and that approaches need to meet varying
needs of parents to enable them to access
the job market
Transport –
An effective transport system can make it
easier for people to access jobs and training.
The Active Travel (Wales) Bill aims to
develop new routes offering low-cost ways of
accessing work, education and childcare.
This is particularly important in rural areas to
enable people to access important services
and engage with the employment market
Programmes and Actions for Mitigating the Impact of Poverty
WG policies that focus on mitigating the impact of poverty and ensuring fair access to
healthcare, financial and digital services include:
Programmes and Actions for Mitigating
the Impact of Poverty
Improving Primary Care Services -
The four year plan, unveiled in November
2014, aims to develop primary care services in
Wales by including all those organisations and
services in communities which can help to
improve the quality of care at or as close to
home as possible. It will be backed by a new
£10m WG primary care fund – three times the
size of the £3.5m investment in primary care
this autumn, which is tackling heart disease
risk in deprived communities, training an
expanded primary care workforce and
delivering more eye care closer to home rather
than in hospitals
Establishing and encouraging the use of The Welsh TPAP aims to double the number
Credit Unions –
of credit union members by 2020 and support
credit unions to provide access to financial
products for 7,500 people excluded from
mainstream finance. In several CF Cluster
areas, Credit Unions form part of the
40
programme to improving prosperity through
financial inclusion. They provide a mechanism
for encouraging people to begin to save on a
regular basis and a more affordable alternative
for loans that payday lenders
Advice Services Review –
WG has commissioned an Advice Services
Review to look, in particular, at the Not-forProfit advice sector and at the information,
advice and guidance services provided by the
public and private sectors. The report,
published
in
May
2013,
made
10
recommendations surrounding the need to
improve the way advice services are coordinated, funded and delivered in Wales.
These recommendations will be taken forward,
supported by an additional £1.8 million for
2013/14 from WG
Digital Inclusion –
Communities First 2.0 prioritises support in CF
areas and works in close partnership with CF
Clusters to tackle digital exclusion
Discretionary Assistance Fund –
The WG has introduced the Discretionary
Assistance Fund, which offers two types of
non-repayable grant support (Emergency
Assistance
and
Individual
Assistance
Payments). The Fund is run by a single
partnership rather than by each Local
Authority. A total of £10.2m per year has been
set aside for two years, although it is not clear
whether additional resources have been
added to the DWP transfer from the Welsh
budget. The fund aims to increase capacity to
address hardship and potentially to mitigate
the impact of some benefit cuts, including
tougher sanctions
Housing -
The TPAP includes targets in respect of
increasing the supply of additional affordable
homes by 7,500 as well as increasing the
number of empty homes brought back into use
by 5,000
41
Programmes and Actions Supporting Community Benefit
The WG has identified priorities in respect of the following:
Community Benefits Policy –
This policy will be applied to all contracts over
£2 million to help generate jobs for individuals
and support local supply chains
Economic Growth Fund –
Over £30 million invested in the Fund and the
approved projects are expected to create
around 1,800 new jobs and safeguard 1,600
others
Vibrant and Viable Places –
The WG has made £90 million available to
pump prime regeneration programmes which
create jobs and help people access work. CF
areas are to be one of the main priorities
Community Innovation Grant Scheme –
This helps to support projects relating to the
development of town centre hubs serving rural
areas
Rural Development Plan (RDP) –
This is targeted at promoting social inclusion,
tackling poverty and economic development in
rural areas
Other notable legislation and policy
To compliment both the Child Poverty Strategy and TPAP, the WG has legislation, strategies
and policy documents in place which support the tackling poverty agenda. Most notable are:








The Early Years and Child Care 10 year Plan (2013) Early Years/Childcare
Raising Ambition and Attainment in Welsh Schools (2014) Education
Strategic Equality Plan (2012) Inclusion
Reducing Inequities in Health Strategic Plan (2011) Health
Youth Engagement and Progression Framework (2013) NEETS
Fuel Poverty Strategy (2010) Energy
Housing (Wales) Act 2013 Housing
Social Services & Well-Being Act 2013 Vulnerable Children/Protection
42


Rights of Children & Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 Rights
Parenting in Wales: Engagement & Support 2014 Parenting
Children’s Rights
The Rights of Children & Young People (Wales) Measure 2011 requires Welsh Ministers to
have due regard to the UNCRC when exercising any of their functions. Wales was the first UK
nation to pass such legislation which is supported by a revised Children’s Rights Scheme 2014.
A Child Rights Impact Assessment is undertaken by WG if a decision is considered relevant to
and impacts on children and young people. This requires that any future policy and legislation
which impacts on child poverty will be subject to the duties enshrined in the Measure.
The Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 places duties on Local Authorities to promote
and facilitate the participation of children and young people in decisions of the Authority which
might affect them. This should include decisions around the development and expansion of
services as well as the potential withdrawal of services.
European Structural and Investment funds
European Social Fund in Wales
The European Social Fund (ESF) in Wales, is used to support a number of projects aimed at
raising skills and job prospects. ESF aims to help people fulfil their potential by giving them
better skills and better job prospects.
The ESF is a key part of the EU's strategy for growth and jobs. It supports the EU's goal of
increasing employment by giving unemployed and disadvantaged people the training and
support they need to enter jobs. ESF also equips the workforce with the skills needed by
business in a competitive global economy.
The overall aim of the ESF programmes in Wales is to create a high skill, knowledge driven
economy, with full employment, a skilled, adaptable workforce and responsive businesses, at
the cutting edge of sustainable development.
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) is the lead WG policy department for six of the
seven ESF Strategic Frameworks. It is also the lead sponsor for a number of strategic ESF
projects, representing a significant proportion of the ESF funding available across the
Programmes.
Strategic Frameworks set out the types of strategically linked interventions that will best deliver
on the priorities and themes of the Operational Programme, the Programme document for 2007
– 2013. Projects range between Apprenticeships Schemes which enable young people to
43
access high quality skills training to develop valuable employment related skills, right through to
schemes for people who have been made redundant or are under notice of redundancy.xlvii
The 2014-2020 programme will focus on supporting three main aims:

To tackle poverty and social exclusion by increasing labour market participation and
helping people to access sustainable employment by:
- Increasing employment levels, particularly for underrepresented groups and those
furthest from the labour market
- Reducing inequalities in the labour market amongst women and recognised equality
groups

To invest in skills as a driver of productivity and growth, to aid progression within
employment and improve the skills mix and diversity of our workforce by:
- Increasing skill levels of the workforce and reduce the number of people with no skills
or basic skills only and increase higher level skills in research and innovation
- Reducing inequalities in the labour market amongst women and recognised equality
groups

To invest in our young people to create a vibrant and responsive future workforce with
the skills needed to respond to the needs of a challenging knowledge based economy
by:
- Increasing youth employment and educational attainment, thereby reducing poverty
and disadvantage in our young people
- Reducing inequalities in the labour market amongst women and recognised equality
groups
Rural Development Programme (Wales)
The Wales Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014-2020xlviii is a seven year European
Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) programme funded by the EU and WG.
The Wales RDP 2014-2020, which was submitted to the EC on 11 July 2014, could provide
£953m of European and WG funding to rural Wales to help:


Increase the productivity, diversity and efficiency of Welsh farming and forestry
businesses, improving their competitiveness and resilience, reducing their reliance on
subsidies
Improve the Welsh environment, encouraging sustainable land management practices,
the sustainable management of our natural resources and climate action in Wales
44

Promote strong, sustainable rural economic growth in Wales and encourage greater
community-led local development
There are six Rural Development Priorities which set the context for the EAFRD and any actions
that form part of the RDP 2014-2020 will fit within this structure of priorities:






Fostering knowledge transfer and innovation in agriculture, forestry, and rural areas
Enhancing competitiveness of all types of agriculture and enhancing farm viability
Promoting food chain organisation and risk management in agriculture
Restoring, preserving and enhancing ecosystems dependent on agriculture and forestry
Promoting resource efficiency and supporting the shift towards a low carbon and climate
resilient economy in agriculture, food and forestry sectors
Promoting social inclusion, poverty reduction and economic development in rural areas.
45
Scotland
The UK Government retains key policy responsibility for welfare and social security, fiscal policy
and macroeconomic policy. Other related areas such as education, health, business support
and regeneration are devolved to the Scottish Government. It is important to recognise that
many of the key levers to drive the changes needed in Scotland are at local level, as well as the
wider context of powers reserved to the UK government.
Child Poverty Strategy 2011
The Scottish Government’s (SG) Child Poverty Strategyxlix was published in May 2011.
Towards the end of 2012, the Deputy First Minister established an advisory group to review the
Scottish strategy in light of progress to date and UK welfare reform. The wider anti-poverty
strategy ‘Achieving our Potential,’ dates back to 2008 and has not been subject to revision.
There is no real equivalent to the Welsh Tackling Poverty Action Plan in Scotland.
The Scottish Child Poverty Strategy 2011 has two main aims:

Maximising household resources - by maximising household incomes and reducing
pressure on household budgets amongst low income families through measures such as
maximising the potential for parents to access and sustain good quality employment, and
promoting greater financial inclusion and capability

Improving children’s wellbeing and life chances - with the ultimate aim being to
break inter-generational cycles of poverty, inequality and deprivation
Communities and place were also key.
It has three underpinning principles:

Early intervention and prevention: breaking cycles of poor outcomes
46

Building on the assets of individuals and communities: moving away from a focus on
deficits
Ensuring that children and families’ needs are at the centre of service design and
delivery

The 11 key measures set out in the Child Poverty Strategy 2011 are as follows:
To reduce levels of child poverty and
minimise the impact of socio-economic
disadvantage on children
 Promoting and embedding an early
intervention and prevention approach,
including action and preventative spend
 Develop and grow assets approaches
through the inception of the Assets
Alliance, and through further exploration
of the evidence base on assets
approaches
 Working with partners to tackle stigma
and discrimination against people living in
poverty
 Ensuring that Getting It Right For Every
Child is implemented across Scotland
To increase household incomes
Promoting financial inclusion and capability
by:



Continuing to support the national
information and advice infrastructure
in Scotland
Embedding financial inclusion and
capability across mainstream national
and local service provision, such as
housing and health
Working with partners such as
Consumer Financial Education Body
to improve leadership and coordination on financial capability
To increase the numbers of parent in
good quality employment
 Promoting employment opportunities,
through supporting essential business
growth – for example, through
additional support for small businesses
to grow and recruit staff and the
expansion
of
Flexible
Training
Opportunities
 Promoting employability, for example
by embedding effective approaches to
employability support for people, with
complex needs, such as the Supported
Employment Approach
 Continuing to develop a flexible and
responsive approach to skills and
training, through implementing Skills for
Scotland, and offering additional
support for those seeking to gain the
skills to enter work, for example
through new Community Jobs Scotland
initiative and record numbers of
Modern Apprenticeships
 Putting in place new arrangements for
childcare support for student parents
through Discretionary Funds, and
working with local partners to improve
childcare provision through examining
the
evidence
and
developing
innovative delivery models
 Recognising the additional pressures
faced by lone parents and promoting
flexibility in childcare and employment
practice
 Committing to paying a living wage to
all employees covered by the Scottish
Government’s 2011-12 Public Sector
Pay Policy
 Developing better links with the private
sector to tackle poverty, for example by
developing work to raise awareness
and support good practice among
47

To reduce pressure on household
budgets
Reducing essential household costs for low
income households, for example by:
 Alleviating the effects of rising energy
prices, through the Energy Assistance
Package and Home Energy Hotline
 Working to improve access to
affordable and healthy food through
the Access and Affordability Expert
Group
 Extending free school meal criteria to
all parents in receipt of qualifying
benefits
 Investing record amounts in support of
new affordable housing
To reduce health inequalities among
children and families
 Working extensively with national and
local
partners
to implement
the
recommendations of Equally Well
 Ensuring that learning from health-based
pilots such as Family Nurse Partnership,
‘You First and ‘Healthier, Wealthier
Children’ are promoted across the health
service and wider public sector to
highlight the important role that health
and their local partners play in supporting
families at risk of poorer outcomes
 Working with partners to ensure that
training, education and support for NHS
staff includes an understanding of the
impact of social determinants such as
employers
Taking action through ‘Close the Gap’
to close the gender pay gap and tackle
occupational segregation
To ensure that more children have
positive outcomes in the early years,
and that more children grow up in
nurturing, stable households, with good
parenting
and
home
learning
environments
 Working extensively with national and
local partners to implement the Early
Years Framework
 Expanding entitlement to pre-school
education
 Increasing the number of children
having access to a teacher in preschool settings
 Improving
play opportunities for
children through initiatives such as ‘Go
Play’, ‘Play@Home’ and ‘Play Talk
Read’
 Supporting
frontline
delivery
of
effective early interventions for young
children, for example through the new
Early Years Early Action Fund
 Ensuring that children grow up in
decent housing, for example by
working closely with partners to meet
the commitment that all unintentionally
homeless people have the right to
settled accommodation by 2012
To ensure that children and young
people receive the opportunities they
need to succeed, regardless of their
socio-economic background
 Continuing to transform education in
Scotland through Curriculum for
excellence, and providing advice and
support to practitioners and parents –
including the Supporting Learners
Framework
 Taking forward new legislation to
reduce
class
sizes,
improving
children’s learning experiences
48
child poverty on health inequalities
To ensure that more young people are in
positive and sustained destinations
Ensuring that all young people receive an
offer of appropriate post-16 learning, through
16+ Learning choices – including:
 Activity
Agreements for the most
vulnerable
 Financial support to young people from
low-income households to remain in
education
through
Education
Maintenance Allowances
 Reshaping careers services for young
people through our new Careers
Information, Advice and Guidance
Strategy
 Continuing to provide support to
vulnerable young people through
investment in Inspiring Scotland’s 1419 Fund
To reduce levels of child poverty and
minimise the impact of socio-economic
disadvantage
on
children
through
communities and place
 Developing new models and new
approaches to regenerating Scotland’s
deprived communities, building on the
responses to ‘Building a Sustainable
Future’
 Continuing to support and work with third
sector partners to engage with children
and young people, and people from
deprived communities, to better enable
these groups to engage in the policy
making process and have a say in
matters affecting them
 Improving
green space and play
opportunities for children and families,
through national policy on open space
and sport for recreation facilities, targeted
activity to improve the play infrastructure
through ‘Go ~Play’, and testing innovative
approaches to delivering environmental
policy through ‘Good Places, Better
Health’
To ensure that families receive the
sustained support they need, when they
need it – especially the most vulnerable
 Working with national and local
partners to implement and embed
Getting It Right for every Chid and the
Early Years Framework
 Improving the infrastructure of service
delivery for children and families, for
example by streamlining scrutiny of
care and healthcare services
 Taking forward actions set out in the
comprehensive review of services for
disabled children
 Developing the skills of practitioners
working with children, taking forward an
implementation plan that builds on the
findings of the Scottish Government
consultation on common skills for the
children’s workforce
To drive change through working with
local partners
 Working closely with Community
Planning Partnerships to embed three
social frameworks in local planning and
delivery, including innovative pilot work
with the Improvement Service
 Continuing to strengthen the support
available for Community Planning
Partnerships
and
improve
the
opportunities for local areas to share
learning with one another – for
example, through promotion of the
Child Poverty Community of Practice
and the publication of online resources
on tackling child poverty at local level
 Supporting third sector growth, for
example
through
the
Scottish
Investment Fund, and build stronger
links between the private sector and
the tackling poverty agenda
49
Progress was reported against the eleven measures was reported in 2012 and noted that there
was cross over between these measures presenting them under the headings of Pockets,
Prospects and Places.
Pockets: Policies aimed to boost incomes and reduce the cost of essential goods and services
(ie the money that flows in and out of people’s pockets in a here-and-now sense)
Prospects: Policies to improve life chances for children and young people and for progression
in the workforce, which will have a longer-term impact on reducing poverty risks and effects
Places: Policies to improve the supply of quality, affordable housing and to regenerate
communities, especially targeted in places that experience multiple disadvantage
Child Poverty Strategy 2014-17
The revision of the Child Poverty Strategy for Scotland builds on the actions already taken
under the 2011 Strategy. During 2013-14 discussions took place with the Ministerial Advisory
Group on Child Poverty and a full range of stakeholders from across Scotland. A number of
areas were identified as priorities for future work across a variety of policy areas including early
years, education, employability and financial capability.
The 2014-17 Strategyl reformulates the two key aims of the 2011 Child Poverty Strategy as
outcomes, alters how they are reported on, and recognises the increasing emphasis on placebased policy via the introduction of a third outcome. These three outcomes Pockets, Prospects
and Places (the 3Ps):

Maximising household resources - the aim is to reduce income poverty and material
deprivation by maximising financial entitlements and reducing pressure on household
budgets among low income families, as well as by maximising the potential for parents to
increase family incomes through sustained good quality employment, and promoting
greater financial inclusion and capability (Pockets)

Improving children’s wellbeing and life chances - the aim of this Strategy is to break
inter-generational cycles of poverty, inequality and deprivation. This requires a focus on
tackling the underlying social and economic determinants of poverty, and improving the
circumstances in which children grow up – recognising the particular importance of
improving children’s outcomes in the early years (Prospects)

Children from low income households live in well-designed sustainable places the aim is to address area-based factors which currently exacerbate the effects of
individual poverty for many families by continuing to improve the physical, social and
economic environments in local areas, particularly in those areas of multiple deprivation
in which child poverty is more prevalent (Places)
50
Alongside these outcomes, the revised Strategy continues to emphasize three principles
underpinning this long-term approach. These are:



Early intervention and prevention
Building on the assets of individuals and communities
Ensuring that children’s and families’ needs and abilities are at the centre of service
design and delivery
A new outcomes framework has been developed which outlines key areas of activity in
relation to the aims and principles. Outcomes-focused working is intended to shift the focus of
policy from processes and inputs towards the impact that the policy and its delivery has on
people and communities.
The Child Poverty Strategy Scotland feeds in to the overall Purpose for Scotland, however,
it is also linked to, and builds upon, a number of policies that have been developed since
devolution. Three inter-related public policy frameworks underpin all of Scotland’s policies and
outline an explicit approach to tackle opportunity, health and economic inequalities in Scottish
society.
The three social frameworks promote an assets, rather than a deficits, approach to tackling
poverty and inequality. Assets approaches invite individuals and communities to take control of
managing positive changes to their circumstances by co-producing the interventions by which
they can be supported out of poverty. An assets-based approach relies on the ability of
professionals to recognise that individuals and communities can move from being consumers of
services to being a ‘resource’ which co-designs services. These are:
Early Years Framework for Scotland
The Early Years Framework for Scotland (The Scottish Government, 2008b) highlighted the
importance of the early years in influencing later outcomes for children. Overall, the framework
states the desire for equality of opportunity and outcomes for all children and effective
intervention to prevent or address inequity as it arises. The Framework incorporates ten steps to
achieving the ‘transformational change’ necessary to realise these ambitions:










A coherent approach
Support for families and communities to achieve outcomes independently
Prevent the cyclical nature of poverty and other poor outcomes
Empower families and communities
Prevent and intervene with strong universal services
Services of high quality
Services that address the needs of families and children
Use of play to improve children’s outcomes and quality of life
Straightforward and efficient service delivery
Collaboration that works
51
The Framework puts the emphasis on outcomes and the Single Outcome Agreements (SOA)
and Community Planning Partnership (CPP) mechanisms to achieving positive outcomes for
children, and specific actions relate to children’s well-being broadly rather than solely focusing
on poverty per se. The Framework defines the early years as pre-birth to eight years, but puts
particular emphasis on birth-three as a critical time in determining children’s outcomes.li
Equally Well Implementation Plan
The ‘Equally Well Implementation Plan’ (The Scottish Government, 2008c) was launched in
Scotland following the report of the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities. Its overall aim
is to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities through four key areas for action
and reform: (1) early years; (2) mental well-being; (3) alcohol, drugs and violence; and (4) ‘big
killer diseases’ (i.e., heart disease and cancer). The Framework highlights the role of local CPP
in planning, implementation and monitoring progress. It also describes the need to support
individuals in adopting healthy lifestyles and remove barriers preventing them from doing so,
such as supporting people to maintain a healthy weight or develop skills to increase
employability. As part of the implementation plan a number of ‘test sites’ were approved (Local
Authorities submitted applications based on identified local targets and implementation plans).
These test sites were akin to pathfinder sites to test change and provide learning. The
Framework (and test sites) covered specific topics including:









Early years
Education and information for young people
Mental health and well-being
Poverty and fuel poverty
Employment and business
Physical environment
Alcohol, drugs and violence-prevention and treatment
Primary care and dental health
Smokinglii
Achieving our Potential Framework
In 2008, the SG outlined a specific framework to reduce poverty and income inequality (The
Scottish Government, 2008a) by maximising incomes through greater financial inclusion, for
example, “by supporting and empowering families to reduce debts and take greater control of
their finances to reduce pressure on household budgets.”liii This linked with the overall purpose
target of creating a wealthier and fairer Scotland. The Framework targets not only people living
in poverty currently, but also those living on the edges of poverty. Therefore, it aims to increase
incomes for the poorest 30% of people in Scotland. The Framework outlines five key areas of
action:
52





Tackling income inequality (i.e., making working pay and maximising the potential for
people to work)
Introducing long-term measures to tackle poverty (focusing on children and young
people, health inequalities, discrimination and disadvantage)
Supporting those in poverty (local taxation, fuel hardship and financial inclusion)
Making benefits work better for Scotland
Partnership workingliv
The three social policy Frameworks recognise that children’s start in life, cycles of poverty and
poor health are interlinked. They also promote an assets, rather than deficits, approach to
tackling poverty and inequality. Assets approaches invite individuals and communities to take
control of managing positive changes to their circumstances by co-producing the interventions
by which they can be supported out of poverty. An assets-based approach relies on the ability of
professionals to recognise that individuals and communities can move from being consumers of
services to being a ‘resource’ which co-designs services. The Frameworks have been
developed in partnership with COSLA, and provide the basis for SG with its local partners (local
government, the NHS, the third sector and other community planning partners) to set out a
shared approach to tackling the major and intractable social problems that have affected
Scotland for generations.lv
These Frameworks are underpinned by policies that are consistent with the principles of
Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) and are linked to a wide range of other social
policies. GIRFEC aims to improve outcomes for all children and young people through a shared
approach to service provision, including adult services where parents are involved. It is about
how practitioners across all services for children and adults put the needs, experiences and
wishes of children and young people at the heart of the process.
GIRFEC:

Builds solutions with and around children and families

Enables children to get the help they need when they need it

Supports a positive shift in culture, systems and practice

Involves working together to make things better
The GIRFEC system creates a single system for planning and delivery across children’s
services. It helps create a positive culture of collaborative working, streamlining systems,
achieving savings in time and resources and develops consistently high standards of practice.
The guidance, first published in 2008 and updated in 2012, incorporated 10 ‘core principles’
focusing on developing high quality, coordinated and streamlined services that were developed
in a participative way and that allowed children and families’ choice. Overall, the guidance
outlined a set of integrated outcomes for children:
53
GIRFEC outcomes for children and young people
Safe
Healthy
Achieving
Nurtured
Active
Respected
Responsible
Included
Protected from abuse, neglect or harm
Experiencing the highest standards of physical and mental health, and
supported to make healthy, safe choices
Receiving support and guidance in their learning – boosting their skills,
confidence and self-esteem
Having a nurturing and stimulating place to live and grow
Having opportunities to take part in a wide range of activities – helping
them to build a fulfilling and happy future
To be given a voice and involved in the decisions that affect their
wellbeing
Taking an active role within their schools and communities
Getting help and guidance to overcome social, educational, physical and
economic inequalities; accepted as full members of the communities in
which they live and learn
Taken from: Appendix D. Scotland case study - Chloe Gill, National Children’s Bureau Research Centre, October
2012, p.11
The guidance explicitly links to a range of other policies for children, including the Early Years
Framework mentioned earlier and UNCRC. Through Working Together, Achieving More, the
SG is committed to work collaboratively with the other administrations within the UK in response
to the UNCRC and have identified tackling child poverty.
The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014
By enshrining elements of the GIRFEC approach in law, the Act will ensure there is a single
planning approach for children who need additional support from services, create a single point
of contact for every child and provide a holistic understanding of wellbeing. Through the Act,
Local Authorities and Health Boards will now jointly develop children’s services plans that show
how services across the whole of a local area will affect the wellbeing of children and young
people. lvi
Local Measures
At a local level, Scotland consists of 32 Unitary Authorities represented by the Convention of
Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). From 2009, each Local Authority Community Planning
Partnership (CPP) was required to draw up, in partnership with the SG and supported by the
Improvement Service, a three-year ‘Single Outcome Agreement (SOA) outlining key strategic
priorities for the area, the outcomes these should achieve, and how these local outcomes would
contribute to achieving the overall purpose for Scotland. lvii
54
Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs)
The SG has not chosen to introduce statutory requirements for the production of local needs
assessments and strategies relating to child poverty. Instead SOAs have been set out between
SG and Community Planning Partnerships in terms of how each will work towards improving
outcomes for the local people in a way that reflects local circumstances and priorities, within the
context of the Government’s National Outcomes and Purpose. It is for CPPs, with their
knowledge of local needs and priorities, to decide the best way to tackle child poverty at local
level, and to reflect this within their SOAs.
The Scottish approach is the least centrally driven of the devolved nations and offers most
discretion for local government and community planning partners to devise their own responses
within the SOA Framework. There is no requirement to show how the child poverty strategy is
being delivered. Instead good practice examples in the progress report offer a descriptive
account of promising approaches.
Policies that promote child well-being and early intervention and
prevention
A range of programmes and policies have been implemented by the SG over a period of time
aimed at supporting families, early intervention, and reducing social exclusion and inequality of
outcomes.
Child well-being and early intervention
programmes and actions for preventing
poverty
Early Years and Childcare:
Sure Start
Family Nurse Partnership
Sure Start was introduced in Scotland in 1999
with four key objectives:
 Improve children’s social and emotional
development
 Improve children’s health
 Improve children’s ability to learn
 Strengthen families and communities
Implementing the Family Nurse Partnership
(FNP) parenting programme was earmarked
as an immediate action in the Early Years
Framework to target vulnerable first time
mothers and break the cycle of poverty and
poor outcomes in the early years. It is currently
being piloted in two Scottish NHS health
boroughs. The programme provides intensive,
consistent support via a family nurse to
55
mothers from early in pregnancy until the child
reaches two years. Overall, it aims to develop
parental capacity in order to improve the
health of the mother and child, improve child
development and encourage self-sufficiency
Since 2010, NHS Scotland has developed the
‘Psychology of Parenting Project’ (PoPP). This
project aims to improve access to evidencebased parenting initiatives for families whose
children display behavioural difficulties. This
has primarily involved collecting evidence
regarding the effectiveness of parenting
programmes being delivered across Scotland,
two of which were considered to be ‘gold
standard’. However, this research also found a
number of barriers that prevented the
translation of theory in to practice
Policies To Reduce Families’ Expenses:
Childcare:
Funded Childcare Places
Currently, Local Authorities are required to
provide funded childcare places for three and
four-year-olds of 12 hours per week (2.5 hours
per day during school time, a maximum of 475
hours year). The Children and Young People’s
Bill currently in development proposes that this
be extended to disadvantaged two-year-olds
Childcare Vouchers
Some employers provide childcare vouchers
(in return for tax and national insurance
exemptions). The SG had promoted their use
across all employment sectors
On 7 January 2014, the First Minister
announced action to expand childcare to our
most vulnerable two year olds. With an
investment of £15 million, the childcare offer of
600 hours per year to two year olds in
workless households from August 2014. This
56
offer is planned for extension to two year olds
who meet the current free school meals
criteria from August 2015, giving an overall
investment of £44 million
Early Support for Families:
Scottish Drug and Alcohol Strategies:
The SG launched a specific ‘Framework for
Action’ in 2009 to tackle alcohol misuse in
Scotland. This recognised the costs to
individuals, families and communities from
alcohol
misuse
(eg,
ill
health
and
unemployment) (The Scottish Government,
2009). The Framework aims to reduce
consumption,
support
families
and
communities, change attitudes and behaviour,
and improve treatment. In relation to child
poverty, this strategy aims to improve
parenting and parents’ work readiness, as well
as prevent children and young people
misusing alcohol
Similarly, the 2009 drugs strategy The Road
to Recovery: A new approach to tackling
Scotland’s drug problem also highlights
steps to prevent and treat drug use (The
Scottish Government, 2008d). The Strategy
includes a specific chapter around children in
substance misusing families, highlighting their
vulnerability and the need for early intervention
and support
Education Strategies
A range of strategies, programmes and policies have been implemented by the SG over a
period of time aimed at education. These include:
Education strategies to improve
educational outcomes and prevent
social exclusion
Curriculum for Excellence (CfE)
Education Scotland offers a range of on-line
teaching
resources
to
support
the
development of financial education skills in the
classroom. It aims to raise standards, improve
57
knowledge and develop skills through more
coherent and flexible learning for ages 3-18
Literacy Action Plan
Published in October 2010, is aimed at raising
literacy standards for all and breaking the link
between deprivation and poor literacy skills.
The plan is being overseen by the Standing
Literacy Commission. There is a wide range of
work on-going to improve literacy standards,
including establishing four literacy hubs in
which Local Authorities have joined up through
voluntary consortia and can share their
successful
literacy
approaches
more
systematically across the country. Six Local
Authority numeracy hubs who are sharing
successful approaches are now being
supportedlviii
Economic Strategies
A range of strategies, programmes and policies have been implemented by the SG over a
period of time aimed at improving financial literacy and ameliorating economic inequalities.
These include:
Education strategies to improve financial
literacy and ameliorate economic inequality
Scottish Government Economic Strategy:
The 2007 Government Economic Strategy
(The Scottish Government, 2007) highlighted
that growth in Scotland’s GDP has lagged
behind that of the UK as a whole and the other
small European countries, eg, Austria,
Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg,
Portugal and Sweden. It sets out several
targets in relation to economic growth, but also
outlines how, with greater devolution or
independence, Scotland would be able to take
more substantial actions to improve growth,
such as through the ability to adapt the tax
system and employment policy, and increase
the representation of Scotland within Europe.
The Economic Strategy was updated in 2011
(The
Scottish
Government,
2011b),
58
acknowledging
the
turbulent
financial
environment sparked by the financial crisis in
2008, but reaffirming commitment to the
existing six key strategic priorities, which
include:






A supportive business environment
A low carbon economy
Learning, skills and well-being
Infrastructure development and place
Effective government
Equality
Money Talks: Family Finances
Is a new interactive financial education
resource for primary and secondary pupils.
The resource has been prepared in line with
Curriculum for Excellence and is from
education Scotland.
Financial Health Service/
Financial Capability
The Bankruptcy and Debt Advice (Scotland)
Bill 2013 was introduced in June 2013, with
the aim of ensuring that fair and proportionate
debt management and debt relief mechanisms
are available to the people of Scotland,
modernizing bankruptcy for the 21st century.
The Bill requires that everyone accesses
money advice before entering any statutory
debt solution; it will provide financial capability
education for those who are assessed as
vulnerable to recurring problem debt; and it will
make sure that those who can pay, so pay,
thus delivering the best return for creditors. A
single budgeting tool will be used to ensure
those in debt receive a fair, standard and
transparent assessment of their surplus
income and ability to pay.
Financial education is a key part of the
Financial Health Service concept and
therefore in partnership with Money Advice
Scotland, the SG is developing a financial
capability learning module. The module is
designed to develop the user’s skills and
understanding and enable them to be better
59
equipped to budget, source affordable credit,
ensure they are appropriately insured,
maximize their income through tax and welfare
benefit systems and consider how to plan for
their future well-being.
Credit Unions
The SG recognises the valuable role that
credit unions play in providing financial
services and products to a wide range of
customers, including those facing financial
exclusion. This includes the Enterprise Ready
Fund (ERF) which will distribute £6 million
during 2013-15 to help maintain, develop and
grow Scotland’s enterprising third sector. As
part of the third sector, credit unions are
encouraged to apply for business support
training like the Just Enterprise programme
(JE).
Welfare Funds (Scotland) Bill
The Scotland Welfare Fund (SWF) has been
running since April 2013, providing support to
people in crisis.
Under the scheme, Local Authorities have
been paying out two types of grants, Crisis
Grants, to support people in an emergency, or
disaster, and Community Care Grants, to help
people avoid institutional care, or for families,
including
those
with
children,
facing
exceptional pressures. The SWF is to be put
on a more secure footing with the Welfare
Funds (Scotland) Bill. This will:





Set out the purpose of the Fund
Place a duty on Local Authorities to
deliver the Scottish Welfare Fund
Make outline provision for the review of
cases where an applicant wishes to
challenge a decision
Set out that those delivering the Scottish
Welfare Fund should report in a manner
to be set out in regulations
60
Unemployment Strategies
A range of strategies and programmes have been implemented by the SG over a period of time
aimed at tackling unemployment and improving employment chances across the population.
These include:
Education Strategies To Improve
Employment Chances And Tackle
Unemployment
Youth Employment Scotland Fund
The £25 million fund being delivered by Local
Authorities is being used
to help small
businesses (with less than 400 employees)
and social enterprises (or other third sector
employers) to create up to 10,000 new youth
jobs by September 2014 by offering financial
incentives to take on young people. These
incentives are targeted at work-ready 16-24
year olds who have been unemployed for up
to six months. The funding covers half the
salary costs for the first six months of the job
which means that, from the start, employers
are making their own financial investment in
employing the young person
Job Creation And A Living Wage:
A number of policies and programmes have
been introduced by the SG aimed at
generating employment and ensuring that
employment pays a wage comparable with
living costs in Scotland
Community Jobs Scotland
Is now entering its third year and provides
support to those young people who have lived
through, or are living with, disadvantage. It is a
job creation programme, whereby the
Government provides up to £6,175 to third
sector organisations to employ young people
in roles paying minimum wage for at least 25
hours per week for a minimum of six months.
Training and support for young people is
provided.lix
In 2012-13 the programme will focus on
supporting 16-19 year olds.
Targeted Employer Recruitment Incentive The SG has invested £1.5 million over three
61
(ERI)
financial years (2012/13, 2013/14 and
2014/15) to support targeted young people.
The aim is to support 1,000 young people
aged 16-24 with transitions to sustainable
employment. Targeted young people currently
include: care leavers and looked after young
people, ex-offenders, young carers and young
people with additional needs or disability
Scottish Living Wage
The Scottish Living Wage Campaign was
established in 2007, aimed at increasing the
income of low paid workers and making ‘work
pay’. It is a multi-agency campaign led by a
steering group comprising of key trade union
and anti-poverty membership organisations
(including, for example, Unison and the Child
Poverty Action Group). The campaign has had
some impact, as a ‘living wage’ rather than a
‘minimum wage’ was adopted by the public
sector in 2011. The minimum wage is currently
defined as £7.20 per hour (compared to the
current UK minimum wage of £6.08 for those
over 21, £4.98 for those aged 18-20 years and
£3.68 for those aged 16-17).
Analysis
predicting
the
outcome
of
implementing the living wage across the public
sector was carried out by the SG. They
reported that increases in income would be felt
in households across the income distribution,
not just within the lowest 30 per cent targeted
by the Scottish anti-poverty policies (The
Scottish Government, 2010b). It was also
suggested that any increases in income for the
lowest paid would be offset by reduced
entitlement to in-work tax credits
Regeneration
The Scottish regeneration strategy Achieving
a Sustainable Future sets out a range of
regeneration initiatives to boost economic
growth. For example, Urban Regeneration
Companies (private and public partnerships)
have undertaken area specific regeneration
projects leading to housing and leisure
62
developments, job creation and civic spaces
Employability and Transition to the Labour
Market
Scottish Working For Families Fund
(2004-2008)
A £50 million government fund in Scotland
supports initiatives in 20 Local Authorities
aimed at supporting disadvantaged families to
move in to work by removing barriers (eg,
employability skills and childcare). An
evaluation found the programme recruited
25,508 voluntary ‘clients’ and supported them
before, during and after securing employment
through individually tailored packages of
support,
including
activities
such
as
establishing goals, personal development,
careers advice and so on (McQuaid, Bond, &
Fuertes, 2009). Support was also provided in
relation to finding and meeting initial costs for
childcare
Supported Employment Framework
Was launched in 2010, and sets out an
alternative model of supported employment
that involves a staged approach of progression
for an individual which will move them towards
sustained, mainstream employmentlx
Young People And Education, Employment
and Training
More Choices More Chances (MCMC)
This overall NEET strategy for Scotland was
published in 2006 (The Scottish Executive,
2006). It set out plans to develop flexible and
varied learning opportunities, and information
and support for young people via Job Centre
Plus. Young people in and leaving care, and
young offenders were specifically referenced
16+ Learning Choices (16+ LC)
This programme formed part of MCMC above
and was rolled out across Scotland in 2010,
following an initial implementation phase in
2008 (The Scottish Government, 2010a). The
63
policy indicated that every young person
should have a 16+ learning offer made to them
and required local partners to work together to
develop appropriate learning provision,
effective advice and guidance, and the
financial support in place to remove barriers to
continuing education.
16+ LC aims to ensure an offer of appropriate
post-16 learning for every young person who
wants it before they make a transition within
the Senior Phase of Curriculum for Excellence
(broadly age 15-18). The model has three
components: the right provision; the right
personal support and careers information,
advice and guidance and the right financial
support
Opportunities for All
Brings together More Choices, More Chances
Strategy, 16+ Learning Choices and the Post16 Transitions Policy and Practice Framework
into a single coherent approach to support all
young people between the ages of 16 and 20
to engage in learning, training and
employment
Improving Scotland 14-19 fund
The third sector has a critical role in providing
opportunities and support to many of the most
vulnerable young people. Inspiring Scotland’s
14:19 Fund offers long-term funding to over 20
third sector organisations, supporting them to
develop services they provide to young people
and working closely with Local Authorities and
other partners to improve young people’s
experiences and outcomes
Youth Employment Scotland
Helping unemployed 16-24 year olds into
work. Delivered by Local Authorities
Activity agreements
This targeted programme, specifically set up to
engage young people at risk of becoming
NEET, was piloted 2009-2011. It engaged
young people in learning or other activities that
would help them get ready for formal learning
64
or employment. As part of the programme,
young people voluntarily entered in to an
‘activity agreement’ where they went through a
needs assessment and package of tailored
support, and were able to access Educational
Maintenance Allowance (EMA) payments of
£30 per week
Reducing household expenditure
A range of strategies and programmes have been implemented by the Scottish Government
aimed at reducing household expenditure. These include:
Strategies For Reducing Household
Expenditure
Free school meals
Free school meals are now available to school
children in Scotland of any age whose family
meets certain income criteria, ie, they are in
receipt of income support, Job Seekers
Allowance and maximum child and working tax
credits). Further, free school meals are now
available to all children aged 5-7 years (P1-P3;
Key Stage 1 in England), following a pilot
during the academic year 2007-2008.
On 7 January 2014, the First Minister
announced plans to further extend the
entitlement. From January 2015 all children in
primary 1-3 will have the option to access a
free meal at schoollxi
Free higher education
In February 2008, the Graduate Endowment
Abolition Bill (Scotland) was passed in the
Scottish Parliament, removing all tuition fees
for Scottish students studying in Scottish
universities (prior to this partial payment of
fees was deferred until a graduate’s income hit
a certain threshold). Figures published by
UCAS (cited by the Scottish National Party 14)
suggest a greater drop amongst English
students than Scottish students since the
introduction of tuition fees
65
Free prescriptions
In April 2011, Scotland introduced new
regulations that removed the £7.40 fee for
Scottish prescriptions (Welsh and Northern
Irish prescriptions are also exempt under a
reciprocal agreement). The fee is payable in
England or for English prescriptions
Energy assistance package (fuel poverty)
Data from the Scottish House Condition
survey indicates that the rate of fuel poverty in
Scotland has been growing since 2002. The
Energy
Assistance
Package
provides
graduated support so households can afford to
meet fuel bills and heat their home. The
scheme, set up by the SG and delivered by
the Energy Saving Trust in Scotland, provides
a free energy check for anyone who requests
it. Further, the scheme can provide eligible
parties (generally those in receipt of particular
benefits) with free or subsidised home
insulation or heating systems to minimise fuel
bills and ensure maximum household fuel
efficiency
POCKETS - maximising financial
resources of families on low incomes










PROSPECTS - improved life chances of

children in poverty





Approach 2014-17
Universal entitlements (social wage)
Welfare reform mitigation
Scottish Welfare Fund
Fuel poverty programmes
Free school meals and school activity funding
Financial capability and welfare advice
Economic growth policies
Living Wage
Employability/Skills Strategy
Childcare for employment and education
Health inequalities
Early Years Collaborative Change Fund
National Parenting Strategy
Educational Attainment, including further and
higher education
Youth Employment Strategy
Modern Apprenticeships
66
PLACES - children from low income
households live in well-designed
sustainable places








Access to professions
Housing
Fuel poverty
Homelessness
Regeneration Strategy
Transport Links
Children’s Rights
The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 places duties on Scottish Ministers and
Local Authorities in relation to the UNCRC. Under Part 1 of the Act, a range of public bodies will
be expected to provide reports on actions taken to advance meeting of requirements under the
UNCRC. Scottish Ministers, like their Welsh counterparts will also be required to promote public
awareness and understanding (including children and young people) of the rights of children.
European Structural and Investment funds
European Social Fund (ESF) in Scotland
The following Operational Programme provides the framework for the spending of the ESF for
the Convergence Programme for Scotland for 2007-13lxii. The Programme covers the Highlands
& Islands area, defined as the NUTS 2 area of the same name. It will complement the European
Regional Development Fund Programme under the Convergence Objective for the same area.
In March 2000, the EU leaders agreed the Lisbon Strategy, which committed the EU to become
by 2010:
“The most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world capable of
sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion, and
respect for the environment.”
The achievement of this goal is seen as essential if Europe is to respond to the challenges of
globalisation and competition from other parts of the world. Scotland is no less ambitious in its
goals aimed at ensuring that the SG and its partners work together to make a real difference to
the lives of all the people living and working here to ensure they fulfil their potential and
contribute to and benefit from a high-earning, knowledge-based economy.
In working together to achieve these goals it is important to remember that for each person who
moves into sustained employment, the effect is more widespread than just getting a job – it
affects their health, their family, their friends, their neighbourhood and brings about economic
67
benefits, with less dependency on welfare benefits and contributing to the economic growth and
competitiveness of Scotland. The target is not just or even mainly about numbers – it is about
improving the lives of individuals, families and communities.
The Highlands & Islands area is particularly challenged by the unique combination of
peripherality, insularity, low population density, a widely dispersed enterprise base and low
GDP. In particular, the two phenomena which substantially influence the identification of
priorities and allocation of resources for this Programme have been low GDP and relatively low
value added by the enterprise sector, contrasting with the near-full employment of the region.
The Programme takes account of the significant progress achieved in the last programming
period and details the strategic framework and priorities considered most appropriate in
addressing the region’s continuing.
Scotland’s ESF priorities
Scotland has two ESF Operational Programmes: one for the Lowlands and Uplands region, and
a second for the Highlands & Islands region. Both aim to create more jobs and raise productivity
while addressing the challenges of low skills, low pay and unemployment – wherever possible
before they become established, and particularly among the younger generation. Scotland is
also striving to make lifelong learning more accessible, to bring more under-represented groups
into the workforce, and to improve the skills of its entrepreneurs and managers in small and
medium-sized enterprises. Sustainable growth is the key objective for both programmes, aiming
to expand skills and opportunities for all while ensuring that economic growth reduces
inequalities without compromising the environmental resources of future generations. The
Operational Programmes for Scotland share three priorities:
Priority 1: Progressing into employment
Help will be given to unemployed people of all ages to find sustainable employment. This
support will cover all stages in finding a job, preparing for a job and starting a job.
In this process, individuals will be guided to identify their needs and then provided with the
particular help required for them to apply for and get a position. Individualised approaches will
be offered in particular for people furthest away from the labour market – those facing multiple
obstacles including childcare responsibilities, lack of qualifications and health problems.
Activities will include innovative approaches to job brokerage and there will be support for the
first months in a new job – for both the new workers and their employers. Raising awareness
about the world of work will encourage and motivate those young people who are not in
education, training and employment, to seek employment and realise their potential.
Priority 2: Progressing through employment
To support equal opportunities, diversity and fair pay, there will be activities to reduce
employment gender gaps where they occur. For example, by encouraging more women into
jobs that use ICT, or more men into jobs as carers, where appropriate. Entrepreneurship will be
encouraged and managers offered the training required to help set up new businesses, and
68
expand existing businesses – and the jobs they bring. In particular, less-represented groups,
such as women and ethnic minorities, will be targeted. Social enterprises and voluntary sector
organizations make significant contributions to combating unemployment and its consequences,
in particular among the worse-off groups. These organisations will be supported with training in
the skills they need to support their work and develop their organisations for the future.
Priority 3: Access to lifelong learning
People will be encouraged to take up learning opportunities by making it easier to participate.
Training and lifelong learning will focus on the skills people need for their work, and it will be
offered where and when they need it. There will be a focus on those with little experience of
education and on groups facing cultural, physical or skills barriers to learning, such as
immigrants, lone parents and those in rural areas. New and innovative ways of attracting people
into learning will be funded, as will new qualifications and skills for those providing training to
improve the employability of the long-term unemployed and disadvantaged groups. Workplace
training initiatives will be funded, in particular in small companies and among groups of
companies where training opportunities are scarce.
Funding under this priority will be partly delivered by the UHI Millennium Institute as a Strategic
Delivery Body, which will be charged with carrying forward a series of key strategic project to
address lifelong learning on a region-wide basis. The Programme will be fully complementary
with other sources of EU funding, particularly the European Regional Development Fund
(including the Co-operation Objective), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development,
the European Fisheries Fund and EU research and lifelong learning programmes.
The Programme will also promote three key cross-cutting themes: equal opportunities;
environmental sustainability; and social inclusion. These will be mainstreamed into all aspects of
project design, delivery and monitoring.
Rural Development Programme (Scotland)
The Scotland Rural Development Programmelxiii was a £1.2 billion programme of economic,
environmental and social measures, designed to develop rural Scotland between 2007 and
2013. It was outcome-focused and primarily aimed at delivering a Greener Scotland whilst
promoting a wealthier and fairer rural Scotland. It contributed to the Government's Healthier and
Smarter objectives and helped to strengthen rural communities.
It brought together a wide range of support schemes including those covering farming, forestry
and primary processing sectors, rural enterprise and business development, diversification and
rural tourism. It supported and encouraged rural communities and delivered the LEADER
initiative for local innovation in rural areas. The SRDP 2007-13 was approved by the European
Commission in late February 2008. The approved programme was first published on 3rd April
2008. The next stage of the Scotland Rural Development Programme is due to run from 20142020. The SG has taken steps to ensure that transition arrangements are in place for as much
as possible of the SRDP for 2014, until the new Common Agricultural Policy starts in 2015.
69
Priority axis Community
Northern Ireland
The Good Friday/Belfast Agreement and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 established devolved
regional government in Northern Ireland (NI) and a wide range of responsibilities including
urban and rural regeneration, housing, planning, health, education, transport planning,
economic development and tourism. The UK Government retains key policy responsibility for
fiscal and macro-economic policy, but all other policy areas relevant to child poverty are
devolved to the NI Executive. Welfare benefits are administered under a parity agreement with
Great Britain.lxiv
The NI Executive is required (by the Child Poverty Act 2010) to publish a Child Poverty Strategy
and to report on progress against that Strategy annually. The Act also requires the NI Executive
to request the advice of the Child Poverty Commission, a UK-wide body set up under the Act.
Child Poverty Strategy 2011
The NI Executive published its Child Poverty Strategy - Improving Children’s Life Chances
in 2011. The Child Poverty Strategy sits alongside the Executive’s Anti-Poverty and Social
Inclusion Strategy ‘Lifetime Opportunities’ (OFMDFM, 2010). This takes a whole life-cycle
approach to tackling poverty and social exclusion, recognising that action from the early years is
crucial in order to prevent a ‘cycle’ of deprivation persisting through generations. Both strategies
sit within the wider Delivering Social Change (DSC) framework where additional proposals to
tackle poverty are found. Actions under each are also detailed in the Programme for
Government 2011-2015.lxv
The NI Child Poverty Strategy set out four strategic priorities:


Ensure, as far as possible, that poverty and disadvantage in childhood does not translate
into poorer outcomes for children as they move into adulthood
Support more parents to be in work that pays, or pays better (also described as ‘to
access reasonably paid work’)
70


Ensure the child’s environment supports them to thrive
Target financial support to be responsive to family situations
Priority policy areas were identified as:









Education
Early Years
Childcare
Health and Social Care
Family Support
Parental employment and skills
Housing
Neighbourhoods
Financial support
The two key strands of emerging work relevant to causes and the consequences of child
poverty are:


To reduce poorly paid work and unemployment among adults with children
To improve longer-term prospects through child based interventions which are designed
to tackle the cyclical nature of poverty
A number of principles underpin and support the delivery of the strategy:lxvi









A shift towards the root causes of poverty and not just treating its symptoms
Putting children at the centre of the strategy and taking into account their views when
developing policies and programmes to tackle child poverty
Adopting a Life Cycle approach, breaking the cycle that results in children born into
poverty becoming working age adults on low income
Promoting excellence in support across a range of key policy areas including
employment and skills, education, childcare, health and family support, housing and
neighbourhoods, and financial support
A shift towards the use of preventative measures to tackle child poverty and, when
families face difficulties, intervention at an early stage, reducing the likelihood of more
serious problems developing in the future
Applying an evidence based approach
Adopting a whole family approach which concentrates on all members of the family –
children, young people, and their parents and supporting family life
Empowering and enabling parents on low income into work and make work pay for
those on low pay
Promoting partnership working across all sectors including public, private, voluntary, and
community sectors
71

Recognising the current economic climate and the need for the Strategy to be balanced
against existing financial limits
In October 2012, six ‘signature projects’ worth £26 million were announced ‘which reflect the
values of the DSC Framework and will be driven forward from the centre.’ The projects focus on
support for families in areas of multiple deprivation:



Extra literacy/numeracy support for under-achieving pupils; and targeted support to
improve skills/ enterprise
Provision of positive parenting programmes
Establishment of 10 Family Support Hubs, 10 Social Enterprise Incubation Hubs and 20
additional nurture units; and provide skills programmes to help young people not in
education, employment and training
A seventh signature programme ‘Play and Leisure’ was announced in October 2013 by
Ministers, with a potential investment of up to £1.6 million to enhance play and leisure
opportunities for children and young people.
On a smaller scale than Wales, NI’s approach has a clear element of targeting disadvantaged
households and places.
Child Poverty Outcomes Framework
In October 2013, OFMDFM published a Child Poverty Outcomes Frameworklxvii developed by
the National Children’s Bureau and the Centre for Excellence and Outcomes to support a crossdepartmental approach to reduce child poverty. The Framework was developed to:





Strengthen alignment between the aims of the child poverty strategy with action taken
across and beyond government
Provide a framework around which to coordinate the work of different departments,
agencies and key stakeholders in relation to child poverty
Help focus resources on activity that has been shown to have a positive impact on
reducing child poverty and/or its effects
Enable agencies to monitor progress and strengthen transparency and accountability
Inform action taken to secure further improvement
Child Poverty Strategy 2014-17
A draft Child Poverty Strategy for 2014-17 is in preparation, however, it has not yet been agreed
by the Executive, and has not been presented before the Assembly. Therefore, implementation
of the Outcomes Framework has been delayed.
72
‘Our Children and Young People – Our Pledge’
10 Year Strategy for Children and Young People 2006-2016
The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister launched the 10 Year Strategy ‘Our
Children and Young People – Our Pledge’lxviii and it replaced Every Child Matters. This aims to
deliver improved outcomes in six key areas:






Health
Enjoying, learning and achieving
Living in safety and with stability
Experiencing economic and environmental well-being
Contributing positively to community and society
Living in a society which respects their rights
The strategy is underpinned by a number of core values. All children and young people:











Have dignity as human beings and are respected
Have rights as individuals
Need loving and supportive families or carers
Are unique individuals each with a valuable and diverse contribution to make to
society
Are active participants in society
Are important in their own right both now and in the future
Are entitled to both adult protection and opportunities to exercise their independence
Are entitled to live in a peaceful and non-threatening environment
Are entitled to educational opportunities
Need support to explore and achieve their individual potential
Need support and encouragement through the transition from childhood to
adulthood enabling them to express respect for others and take increasing
responsibility for their actions and decisions
The 10 Year Strategy marked the first ever strategic cross-cutting approach to meeting the
rights and needs of all children and young people in NI. However, a lack of collaborative, cooperative working across Government departments has meant that there are impediments to
the implementation of the Strategy. This has hampered the development of Action Plans for the
period 2011-16 and the ability to fully deliver on previous Plans. It has also had a major impact
in further development of strategic initiatives for children and young people.
Families Matter Strategy
The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety’s (DHSSPS) regional family and
Parenting Strategy – Families Matter - launched in March 2009. It provides the recognised
73
priority needed in respect of early intervention and prevention services to support all families to
parent confidently and responsibly and help give their children the best start in life and realize
their potential.lxix
It will help to achieve the vision set out in the children and young people’s strategy by
supporting parents and compliments policy development in child poverty, child protection and
safeguarding. There are a number of other important policy drivers behind this strategy. These
are:
•
•
•
•
•
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
The Programme for Government
Care Matters NI
Child Poverty
Safeguarding
This Strategy endorses the ‘whole child’ approach that draws on the work of the NI Children’s
Services Planning process, which proposes that a whole child model should be regarded as a
core map for integrated planning. Family support is defined as the provision of a range of
supports and services to ensure that all children and young people are given the opportunity to
develop to their full potential. It aims to promote their development primarily by supporting and
empowering families and strengthening communities. Its focus is on early intervention, ensuring
that appropriate assistance is available to families at the earliest opportunity at all levels of
need.lxx
Delivering Social Change for Children and Young People
Delivering Social Change for Children and Young People was adopted and extended,
recognising that in order to prevent a cycle of deprivation persisting through generations, issues
effecting early years children and young people are crucial.lxxi It set out the actions proposed by
the Executive between 2011 and 2014 to fulfil its obligations under the Child Poverty Act 2010.
The Strategy was changed again when it was subsumed under a new programme titled
Delivering Social Change. The aim of this new programme was to:
“Deliver a sustained reduction in poverty and associated issues across all ages; and an
improvement in children’s and young people’s health, wellbeing and life opportunities
thereby breaking the long-term cycle of multi-generational problems...”
The new programme was to be outcome-based with an enhanced delivery on crossdepartmental and cross-agency basis. In January 2014, it was proposed to change the Child
Poverty Strategy for the fourth time. A consultation on the new strategy was published on
Delivering Social Change for Children and Young People: Consultation Document: Child
74
Poverty. The lengthy and confusing title reflected the four very different things which the
document attempted to do:




To consult on the new child poverty strategy
To deliver on the NI Executive’s current child poverty strategy
To provide an annual report as required under the Child Poverty Act
To take forward the Children’s and Young People’s Strategy and to deliver on its
obligations under the UNCRC
After consultation, Delivering Social Change for Children and Young People was withdrawn.
There is now a separate Child Poverty Strategy
Programme for Government 2011-15
The NI Executive made a commitment to help reduce poverty, promote equality and tackle
existing patterns of disadvantage and division through the use of the Delivering Social Change
Framework. This was a new approach of tackling multi-generational poverty, based on
additional, strategic actions which can make a difference in their own right, provide a rich source
of evaluation information to identify which interventions can work at scale and act as a catalyst
for improvements in mainstream service provision with a view to improving long-term
outcomes.lxxii
Contributing Programmes and Actions for Preventing Poverty
Contributing actions that currently and in the recent past are aimed at preventing poverty in the
next generation include:
Early Years & Childcare
Childcare:
Bright Start 2013
The NI Executive’s Programme for Affordable
and Integrated Childcare launched its first
phase in September 2013. Bright Start aims
to give children:



The best possible start in life
Better social skills
Better performance at school and beyond
Bright Start will also aim to help parents who
want to work and are deterred by a lack of
quality, affordable childcare
75
Childcare through the Women’s Centre
Childcare Fund (WCCF) and the
Community Investment Fund (CIF)
WCCF and CIF assists parents in low income
families to increase their skills.
A revised Childcare Strategy remains elusive
as ever. The first Childcare Strategy for NI
was published in 1999, entitled Children First.
Bright Start is still in the developmental
stages with a new strategy expected in the
autumn of 2015
Early Years:
To ensure all children have opportunities to
achieve their potential through high quality
early
years
education
and
learning
experiences
Sure Start and Free Pre-School Education
Sure Start (UK Initiative) in 2013, 35
programmes were available in Northern
Ireland, covering the top 20% most
disadvantaged areas measured by the 2010
Index of Multiple Deprivation. It is planned to
extend services to the 25% most
disadvantaged wards by 2015.
There continue to be separate strategic
initiatives on an Early Years Strategy and
Childcare Strategy. April 2006 saw policy
responsibility for early years (0-4) transferred
from the Department of Health, Social
Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) to the
Department of Education, (DE) with the
intention of promoting a more integrated
approach to policy and service delivery for
children. It was not until June 2010 that a
draft Early Years Strategy was ready for
public consultation, however, a revised Early
Years Strategy did not materialise. Instead
the DE launched the Learning to Learn
Framework, omitting actions for the 0-2 age
range and those outside Sure Start areas
76
Education & Training
Educational Inequalities: Education &
Training:
Every School A Good School: A Policy for Is the overarching policy for raising standards
School Improvement (ESaGS)
and tackling under achievement.
ESaGS was launched in April 2009 and is the
DE’s overarching policy for raising standards
and tackling underachievement. ESaGS is a
pupil-centred policy and is based on the
premise that every school is capable of
improvement and that schools themselves
are best placed to identify areas for
improvement and implement changes that
can bring about better outcomes for pupilslxxiii
Extended Schools Programme
The Extended Schools programme enables
those schools that draw pupils from some of
the most disadvantaged communities to
provide a range of services and programmes
outside the normal school day to help meet
the needs of pupils, their families and wider
communities
Literacy and Numeracy Strategy
Education is fundamental in determining a
child’s adult life. Education is not only
associated with higher income, but also with
better health, and even longer life for
individuals.
The Literacy and Numeracy Strategy was
published as a result of an undertaking given
to PAC in 2006. At that time, the Department
had indicated that the strategy would be
implemented by September 2007.lxxiv To
assist the Department in finalising the
strategy, it established a Literacy and
Numeracy Taskforce in February 2008.
However, the strategy was only finally
completed in March 2011 and launched in
November 2011.
The aims of the Strategy are to:
77

 Support teachers and school leaders in

their work to raise overall levels of
attainment in literacy and numeracy
among young people
Narrow the current gaps in educational
outcomes
Delivering Social Change NEET Signature
Programme
A pilot intervention to support young people
Not in Education, Employment or Training
(NEETs) in developing skills and linking them
to the employment marketed through
structured programmes and projects
Derry 2020 Project
A collaborative city-wide project which
provides community based education and
training programmes to participants with no or
basic qualifications to prepare them for
employment
Youth Work
Provision of non-formal opportunities of nonformal learning opportunities that promote
personal and social development and help
young people to overcome barriers to
learning
Community Education Initiatives
Programme
To support a new community education
initiatives programme with the aim of
addressing the high levels of educational
achievement in disadvantaged communities
Community & Financial Inclusion
Community:
Neighbourhood Renewal Programme
This Programme aims to bring together the
work of all government departments in
partnership with local people to tackle
disadvantage and deprivation in all aspects
of everyday life
Financial Inclusion:
Mortgage Debt Advice Service
Provides specialist housing and debt advice
78
to households who are having difficulty
paying their mortgage.
A Financial Capability Strategy for Northern
Ireland was issued in May 2013 by the
Department for Enterprise, Trade and
Investment (DETI)lxxv. A final strategy is
awaited
Free School
Grants
Meals/
School
Uniform The Free School Meals and Uniform Grants
help support families that are experiencing
food poverty and to reduce the financial and
material barriers facing children from low
income families to participate in and remain
in education and obtain formal qualifications
Economic & Regeneration Strategies
Economic:
Fuel Poverty Strategy
This Strategy is guided by the vision of
homes that are free from cold and damp, one
of homes in which people enjoy living. These
homes will be healthy and enhance the
quality of their occupants’ lives.
Associated with this vision are a number of
guiding principles. These principles will be
evident in all the programmes and projects
that are put in place as a result of this
strategy. The Department’s Fuel Poverty
Policy will:
 Be focussed on people
 Adopt a partnership approach
 Build on the commitment of community
and voluntary groups, businesses, local
authorities and statutory agencies
 Promote equality of opportunity, target
social need and promote inclusion
 Focus on the maximum practical help for
households in fuel poverty
79
 Seek to provide cost-effective solutions to
fuel poverty
 Benefit the environment
Regeneration:
Neighbourhood Renewel
Neighbourhood Renewal is a crossGovernment strategy and aims to bring
together the work of all Government
Departments in partnership with local people
to tackle disadvantage and deprivation in all
aspects of everyday life.
Neighbourhood Partnerships have been
established in each Neighbourhood Renewal
Area as a vehicle for local planning and
implementation.
Each
Neighbourhood
Partnership should include representatives of
key political, statutory, voluntary, community
and private sector stakeholders. Together
they have developed long term visions and
action plans designed to address the
underlying causes of poverty
Children’s Rights
The Child Poverty Strategy intends to progress the rights of children and young people as
outlined in the UNCRC and particularly articles 26 and 27 of this Convention:
‘State Parties shall recognise for every child the right to benefit from social security,
including social insurance, and shall take the necessary measures to achieve the full
realization of this right in accordance with their national law.’ ‘The benefits should,
where appropriate, be granted, taking into account the resources and the circumstances
of the child and persons having responsibilities for the maintenance of the child, as well
as any other consideration relevant to an applicant for the benefits made by or on behalf
of the child.’ UNCRC Article 26
‘State Parties recognise the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the
child’s physical. Mental, spiritual and social development.’ ‘The parent(s) or others
responsible for the child have the primary responsibility to secure, within their abilities
and financial capabilities, the conditions of living necessary for the child’s development.’
‘State Parties, in accordance with national conditions and within their means shall take
appropriate measures to assist parents and others responsible for the child to implement
this right and shall in case of need provide material assistance and support programmes,
particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing.’ UNCRC Article 27
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European Structural and Investment funds
EU funding has been of great importance in NI. The region had Objective One status from 19892006 (three funding periods) and Objective Two transitional funds from 2007-13 and for 201420.
European Social Fund (ESF) in Northern Ireland
The overall strategic aim of the NI ESF Programme 2007–2013lxxvi is to reduce economic
inactivity and increase workforce skills. The ESF Programme contributes to employment policies
to make progress towards increasing the overall employment rate and reduce inactivity in NI
(subject to economic conditions) by extending employment opportunities in particular for those
groups at a disadvantage in the labour market.
It also contributes to skills policies to increase productivity, enterprise and competitiveness by
raising the skills levels of the workforce through lifelong learning and ensure the right workforce
skills for future employment opportunities.
Priorities
The Programme’s objectives are being realised by two inter-related Priorities:
Priority 1: Helping people into sustainable employment
Priority 2: Improving workforce skills
Priority 1
Priority 1 is focused on increasing employment and reducing unemployment and inactivity by
improving the employability of those groups experiencing significant employment gaps such as
people with disabilities and health conditions, lone parents and other disadvantaged parents,
older workers, young people not in education, employment or training, women and people with
no or low qualifications, and other disadvantaged groups, including people experiencing multiple
disadvantage.
Priority 2
Priority 2 contributes to the development of a skilled and adaptable workforce by improving the
qualifications and skills of workers without essential (basic) skills and low or no qualifications.
Cross-cutting themes
The Programme’s cross-cutting themes are gender equality and equal opportunities and
promoting sustainable development, including the creation of sustainable communities.
Innovative and trans-national and inter-regional activities will be promoted under the
programme. Technical Assistance funds will be available to finance the specific responsibilities
associated with the management and implementation of the programme.
81
Social Investment Fund
Established in 2011, it aims to reduce poverty, unemployment and physical deterioration in
targeted areas across NI (OFMDFM, 2011a) the budget is £80 million. Selection of areas has
been problematic and the first tranche of funding was not announced until February 2014, when
£33 million was allocated to 23 projects covering employment, childcare, fuel poverty, health
and infrastructure (OFMDFM web site).lxxvii
Rural programmes
Rural development has remained heavily dependent on EU programmes. INTERREG III (2002006) and INTERREG IV (2007-13) were programmes to support economic development in
border areas, thus including some urban settlements although much of Ireland’s border area is
rural. The aim of INTERREG III was to “promote sustainable regional development across the
eligible region…by concentrating on the strategic dimension of cross-border development which
involves and benefits local communities.’”
Rural Development Programme (Northern Ireland)
The new rural development programme for NI will run from 2014 – 2020lxxviii. The size and shape
of the programme is not yet known and will depend on the outcome of discussion on the EU
Budget for 2014 – 2020 and the final European Union regulations.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) has responsibility for preparing
the new RDP, and will work with key stakeholders to create a programme that meets the needs
of people who live and work in rural areas of NI.
The draft EU regulations for rural development were published by the EC on 12 October 2011
as part of the common agricultural policy (CAP) reform proposals. These proposals inform how
DARD have designed the RDP for Northern Ireland for the 2014 - 2020 period.
A key document in driving all EU policy is the Europe 2020 strategy which has three main aims
for reviving the European economy in response to the current economic downturn. The EU aims
to see growth that is competitive, sustainable and inclusive.
These aims have been translated into three objectives that are relevant to rural development. It
sees:



Smart growth as being achieved through the competitiveness of our agriculture and
food industries
Sustainable growth through the sustainable management of our natural resources
Inclusive growth through balanced territorial development of rural areas
82
Six EU proposals for rural development
Beneath the three objectives, the proposals specify six EU priorities for rural development:






Knowledge transfer and innovation in agriculture, forestry and rural areas, which is
described as a cross-cutting or horizontal priority
Farm competitiveness and risk management
Food chain organisation
Restoring and enhancing ecosystems
Promoting resource efficiency
Social inclusion, poverty reduction and rural economic development
The main differences from the 2007 – 2013 rural development regulation are:



The removal of the axis structure to improve the flexibility of the programme
A consolidation of existing measures into fewer broader measures
An increased focus on knowledge transfer and innovation, co-operation, climate change
mitigation and the environment
DARD Draft Proposals for rural development
The challenge for DARD and, indeed all Member States, is to develop a rural development
programme based on these draft proposals. The EU draft proposals are subject to change and
the budget for the new rural development programme has yet to be confirmed by the EC.
In response to these challenges DARD established an internal CAP Reform Programme board
in January 2012 to take forward the development of a 2014 – 2020 draft rural development
programme for NI. The senior responsible officer (SRO) of the board is the Deputy Secretary of
DARD’s Central Policy Group.
Beneath the Programme Board sits six sub-groups - five of these six sub-groups reflect the EU
priorities for rural development and the sixth considers the synergies with Pillar 1 (direct
payments). The sub-groups consist of both policy and delivery experience however as we move
through the development of the programme the emphasis of the groups will gradually shift from
policy to delivery.
The sub-groups have been considering the rationale for intervention for each of the six priorities
and have proposed a number of areas of potential support. These proposals are outlined in the
Rural Development Programme 2014 - 2020 consultation document.
83
Good Practice Examples/Models: Case Studies
England: Supporting employability and participation
of single parents and second earners
Timewise Foundation London
Legislative/Policy Framework – Context/ Description
Stimulating the growth of a quality part time jobs market is key to increasing maternal
employment, reducing gender inequality and raising family living standards in the UK.
Gender inequality - experienced by millions of part time women who earn 39% less on an
hourly rate than their full time male counterpartslxxix
Maternal worklessness - experienced by hundreds of thousands of people who remain out
of work because they cannot find a job to fit around family responsibilities. Between June and
September 2012, the Office for National Statistics dataset identified 638,000 economically
inactive people looking after a family who want a joblxxx
Raising family living standards - a study conducted by Joseph Rowntree Foundation in
2012 highlighted that raising family living standards is needed by tens of thousands of
families whose struggle to find a quality part time job is the difference between living in or out
of povertylxxxi
Skills utilisation - which is needed to aid the economy. The state is missing out on skills and
experience on currently on offer
The second half of the 20th century saw families living standards rise. This period also saw a
rise in the participation of women in the labour market. Yet low and middle income families’
household budgets have been falling over the past decade.lxxxii Family earnings are now
forecast to fall 15% in real terms for 2020, as the cost of living continues to increase. lxxxiii For
many low and middle income families, one wage is no longer enough.
There is a pressing need to enable second earners, usually women to find work. The Joseph
Rowntree Foundation’s research into minimum income standards indicates that a family with
two children now needs to earn a third more than it did pre-recession just to make ends
meet.lxxxiv Similarly, a significant number of lone parents need to earn more from the hours
they have available to work.
However, shrinking tax credits and rising childcare costs mean that the additional income
84
earned for each hour worked is falling. This then forces families to work even longer hours,
which leaves them increasingly stretched both in terms of income and time. Parents are being
forced into a choice between earning enough to look after the family or spending the time to
care for them, it is at best a stretch and at worst a spiral into poverty.
The impact of parents not being able to balance work with nurturing children can have a
detrimental effect on family wellbeing.
Employment is key to raising household income but work simply isn’t sustainable for
thousands of households across the UK. Mothers currently have two options to improve their
families’ living standards: either work more hours or find a better-paid part time job.
Significant financial barriers exist for many families wanting to pursue either option.
Work more hours
For many families the option for second earners to move into full time work simply doesn’t
pay, due to the rising cost of childcare and the reductions in work subsidies they can receive
through tax credits. Analysis from the Resolution Foundationlxxxv shows that a coupled woman
in a median income household only takes home an extra £20 a week by moving from part
time to full time work due to lost benefits and childcare costs. With both parents in work, time
with the children is squeezed for negligible additional income.
For families on a low income, this scenario is worse. A recent analysis by Barnardo’slxxxvi
suggests that lone parents with average childcare costs on minimum wage would actually
lose 70 pence per hour worked above 15 hours.
Earn better wages
Investing heavily in up-skilling, both for those out of work and in-work, cannot be the sole
answer as three-fifths of all families in poverty already have entry-level qualifications.lxxxvii
Training and education are expensive and cannot alone guarantee a path to a well-paid job.
Women on average earn 20% less than men. But the biggest contributing factor is not gender
per se but the fact that more women choose to work part-time. Working part –time means
selecting from a pool of largely low-paid jobs. As a result the gender pay gap between men
working full time and women working part time is 39%.lxxxviii
The UK experiences the highest part-time pay penalty in the EU.lxxxix Research by Timewise
identified that only 3% of new vacancies in the London labour market are for part time roles,
paying salaries at £20,000 full time equivalent or more. This is eighteen times lower than the
proportion of full time vacancies at this salary level. Earning better wages while working less
than full time hours is a considerable challenge for families, largely because women face a
considerable pay penalty when they choose to work part-time.
Description – Practice
85
Timewise Foundation promotes the societal benefits of quality part-time and flexible working
through research, public affairs and media. Timewise shares insights and case studies on its
website; runs a programme of roundtables and events for partner businesses; and provides
bespoke training and consultancy.
Ten years ago Karen Mattison and Emma Stewart were looking for flexible jobs that would fit
in with raising their young children. They were unable to find vacancies at the right skill level
and became frustrated by seeing women like themselves drop out of successful careers.
They founded a social business called Women Like Us which operates through the
Timewise Foundation is a leading specialist for women returners in London, providing online
and offline career coaching and support. It runs a bursary scheme for parents and carers in
low-income households, alongside a paying service for those who do not meet the meanstesting threshold.
The issue of part time jobs cuts across many different areas of society. However the founders
soon realized that pigeon-holing flexibility as a women’s issue is not in the best interests of
women. They realized that the best way to get employers to open up to flexibility is to
showcase the wider business benefits, and to find role models (men as well as women) for
successful flexible working in all sorts of businesses, and all sorts of roles.
The Timewise Group
In 2012, the Timewise Group launched:


Timewise Jobs – this is a national board specializing in roles that are part time or
open to flexibility. It encourages and attracts employers and recruitment agencies to
advertise jobs on a part-time basis

Timewise Recruitment – this is a full service agency specialising in finance,
marketing and business support roles. It has embedded flexible job design into its
service offering, and covers roles across the full spectrum of flexibility – full time, part
time, interim roles, and flexible contracts
Timewise has also launched the Power Part-Time List to showcase senior level role models
for part time and flexible working.
Linkage policy and practice
Stimulating more quality part time jobs in the economy has the potential to create significant
social and economic impact – an important step towards building a resilient and sustainable
society.
What’s good about it?
86
More than 55,000 parents, predominantly mothers, have registered with Timewise for advice
or to find part-time jobs. 6,500 have accessed careers advice and employability programmes,
and the Foundation has helped over 3,000 women with children into quality part time work
they can fit with family life.
What are the challenges?
Addressing the issues that women face in finding and sustaining work requires action in three
key areas:



Providing integrated employment support and advice which covers the spectrum from
confidence building to high-end careers advice
Opening up intermediate and senior level roles to flexible and part-time working
patterns, to prevent women (and others with caring responsibilities) from having to
compromise their career aspirations
Providing affordable, flexible, quality childcare
Emerging messages & lessons learnt
What’s the future? Recommendations?
There is a model of good practice here in terms of engaging with policy makers, opinion
formers and employers to inform the strategic development of public services and HR,
diversity and recruitment practices. Currently it is mainly limited to the London area but should
be replicated across other areas.
Funding allocations and sources
Unknown
Timewise Foundation is a Community Interest Company (C.I.C), a limited company registered
in England and Wales
Involvement of stakeholders
Research has been conducted by the Timewise Foundation on flexible working and family
policy, with a focus on gender inequality, child poverty and worklessness.
Research has included:xc
87






Jobs not careers – a three year tracking study of mothers looking for work
The flexibility trap – a report on how part time work prevents career progression
Part-time working: part of the solution to tackling child poverty – an 18 month initiative,
funded by trust for London, to highlight the link between stimulating the supply of parttime work in London and improving family life chances by lifting them out of poverty
The part time paradox – a report on senior part time working
Stimulating the quality part time recruitment market – research to establish the size of
the quality part time recruitment market and understand what might stimulate it further
Mothers’ attitudes to self- employment and business start-ups – a qualitative and
quantitative study, researching the barriers to enterprise faced by women returners
Liaison with decision makers
The Timewise Foundation frequently commissions and contributes to research on flexible
working and family policy, with a focus on gender inequality, child poverty and worklessness.
It aims to increase understanding of the social and business benefits of a more flexible labour
market. Research findings are shared with policy makers, opinion formers and employers to
inform the strategic development of public services and HR, diversity and recruitment
practices.
Participation of children, young people & families
Research has been conducted involving mothers returning to work.
What aspects of this case study reflect the Recommendation? What aspects of
the Recommendation are missing from implementation?
Recommendation 2.1 Access To Adequate Resources – Support Parents Participation
in The Labour Market.
“The primary focus of this pillar is on supporting parents’ participation in quality inclusive jobs,
tackling disincentives, making work pay, but also increasing working conditions and support
measures, i.e. parental leave and access to affordable quality early childhood education and
care (ECEC).”
The EC insists that measures to improve the family’s economic situation, such as
employment support, can prevent the intergenerational poverty trap. However, this does not
focus on moving families out of material poverty through active labour market participation,
but also by embracing a child centred rights based approach by creating decent employment
opportunities for parents that do not involve long working hours on low pay, that entitles both
parents to flexible working hours and paid parental leave, that ensures adequate family
88
benefits and income support and that does not just focus on children as ‘the next working
generation’ but as children who need a good childhood now. xci
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Wales – Tackling Workless Households
Tackling Workless Households – Lift Programme
Legislative/Policy Framework – Context/ Description
The proportion of children in workless households in Wales stands at 19.4% compared to
16.2% for the UK (Quarterly Labour Force Survey Data, 2009-11). As such, any negative
impacts of this household type are expected to be felt disproportionately in Wales.
Overall the welfare reforms will strengthen the incentive to have one partner in work, but will
reduce the incentive to have both partners in work. The reforms are therefore expected to
reduce the number of workless families, increase the number of one-earner couples, but
reduce the number of two-earner couples in employment. Second earners in couples, ie, the
partner who earns less, are primarily women, so their employment prospects will be at greater
risk. Adams and Phillips (2013) estimate that, in Wales, women with children and a working
partner will see a greater reduction in their employment rate (0.8% points) than men with
children and a working partner (0.5% points). xcii
The WG’s Tackling Poverty Action Plan 2012-2016 emphasises the requirement for the
careful application of balancing the need to tackle the impacts of poverty now, with the need
to tackle the issues which will cause people to be in poverty in the future – in the current
climate, this balancing act continues to present a weighty challenge.xciii
In the three years to 2009-10, about a fifth of children in Wales living in households where at
least one adult was in paid work were in poverty, amounting to some 98,000 children.
Children living in such low-income working families accounted for around half of all children in
poverty. Further analysis showed that children in self-employed families and part-time
working families (where all adults are working part-time or one partner is not working) made
up the majority (about 85%) of children living in-work poverty. Such families also have a much
higher child poverty rate (37%) compared with 8% for full working families (where at least one
adult is in full-time work and the partner is working at least part-time).xciv
As compared with the values in 2005, hourly pay in Wales was stagnant; and hourly pay in
Wales, both at the bottom and in the middle, was lower than any other region.xcv
By the end of 2011, 20% or about one in five children were living in workless households in
Wales. This amounted to about 102,000 children. The proportion in 2011 was around 4%
points higher compared with the baseline year 2005 and was back to the levels seen in early
2000s. Data for individual years shows that the proportion of children in workless households
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was falling continuously from 2001 until 2008, after which it started rising.xcvi
Nearly one in 10 (9%) of the current working age population of Wales are out of work,
compared with 8.4% in the same quarter for the previous year xcvii The proportion of those in a
low-paid job in Wales is higher than in the UK as a whole, with more than one in 10 in-work
households living in poverty. One in five of the Welsh population are claiming some form of
benefitxcviii – including many who are, in fact, in some form of employment. A higher proportion
of the Welsh population claim benefits than in other parts of the UK.
Disabled people in Wales are almost twice as likely as non-disabled people to live in a low
income household.xcix Whilst urban areas remain some of the most deprived in Wales, rural
poverty remains a significant problem. A survey of 4,000 households in rural Wales found that
one quarter of households were surviving on incomes of less than £10,000 a year.c
Worklessness is complex
Employability is about being capable of getting and keeping fulfilling work and of moving selfsufficiently within the labour market to realise potential through sustainable employment’.
Barriers to work exist at many levels, including:



Individual characteristics (employability skills and attributes, demographics, health and
well-being, job seeking, adaptability and mobility)
Personal circumstances (household circumstances, work culture, access to
resources)
External factors (the wider economy and local employment, and the support that is
given to workless people)
Evidence from New Deal for Communities Areasci suggests that certain groups are more
likely to be out of work. Factors include:




Tenure: 72% of owner-occupiers, 40% of social sector renters, were in employment
Lack of qualifications: 42% of workless people, 20% of those in work
Long standing illness: 32% of people out of work; 10% of those in work
Being a lone parent: 27% of those not in work; 13% of people in work
When talking about the barriers to employment:



29% cite having insufficient or inappropriate experience and qualifications
29% make reference to the limited availability of work or the lack of suitable jobs
24% cite personal reasons (eg, age, availability of childcare, caring, or health)
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Tackling Worklessness –The Need for Flexibility
Interventions to tackle worklessness need to be flexible.cii One size does not fit all –
successful interventions are holistic, client-centred and include customised provision of
services relevant to clients:










Delivery of solutions need to take place locally, taking into account local conditions
Engagement of clients requires locating premises in central or accessible venues,
working in the local community, through outreach, employing local people as advisors
and networking through local organisations, using organisations less connected with
government
Employer commitment is fundamental and needs to be engaged from the start
Effective partnership working and flexible interventions are critical
People are more motivated by post-employment training than pre-employment
courses
Many people face major obstacles to work and need specialist and intensive help to
overcome them – this should not be underestimated
There is mixed evidence about the value of financial incentives/wage subsidies.
Critical success factors include:







Effective targeting of the long-term unemployed
Having diverse work placements available
Voluntary participation
Payment of a wage
Effective links to support services
Placement with committed ‘for profit’ organisations
Funds to cover travel costs, better travel information & concessions
Experiences of Young People
A study was conducted in 2012,ciii on behalf of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which
examined the difficulties faced by disadvantaged young people seeking low-skilled work. It
examined three contrasting local labour market areas in England and Wales in 2010–11. Key
findings were:
•
•
Only 24 % of low-skilled vacancies found for the study offered full-time, daytime work
Since the recession the labour market has become increasingly competitive, with
fewer vacancies, which are filled more quickly and shorter response times. Most
young jobseekers had used a variety of job search methods and sources of advice
and support. The internet was a key tool; most had internet access at home. Not all
92
jobseekers were aware how speedily they need to respond to vacancies. Those
without internet access at home were at a marked disadvantage
•
•
•











More could be done to help jobseekers enhance their chances of success by explaining
employers’ recruitment behaviour. Methods varied considerably between job type, area and
by employer (some using JC+ others their own websites).
Well-qualified, experienced candidates applying full time for work were discouraged by seven
out of 10 receiving no feedback. Leading employers and intermediaries could be encouraged
to improve information to employers and applicants, to reduce the discouraging effect of failed
applications.
Even the most difficult local labour markets have vacancies, but jobseekers have particular
skills, experience, preferences and constraints, and cannot apply for every vacancy. Many
jobseekers were prepared to take any job, but those with minimal or non-standard hours and
low pay posed real constraints for people trying to combine several jobs or combine work with
family/caring responsibilities, or who would incur extra costs (eg, travel, childcare, uniforms) in
taking work.
Over half of vacancies stating the pay offered minimum wage, and 78% paid under £7 an
hour, making it less likely that jobseekers could travel far for them. Employers also preferred
local candidates for such jobs. So although jobseekers need to search beyond their
immediate neighbourhood, policies demanding wider geographical searches will not
necessarily get more people into work.
Geography matters. Candidates living in weak labour markets face markedly higher rates of
rejection. To enhance their chances, jobseekers needed good intelligence about their local
labour market as well as local employers’ recruitment practices and to tailor strategies for
individual areas and job types.
Transport was a key issue. Employers expressed a preference for people living nearby,
especially for jobs with non-standard hours. Without a car, those from neighbourhoods with
poor transport connections have fewer job choices, face travel problems and reluctance from
more distant employers.
There was no evidence that applicants from areas with poor reputations faced discrimination.
The internet affords some protection from postcode discrimination. Young jobseekers with
additional disadvantages, including criminal records, health problems or caring
responsibilities have greater barriers. Some young people volunteered, others sought to
improve their qualifications, and some relied on networks of friends to help them find work,
with varying success.
The Youth Contractciv was launched in April 2012 to provide additional support for
unemployed young people aged 18 to 24. It found that more intensive support from JC+
93
advisors, financial incentives for employers to recruit a young person who was long term
unemployed, and work experience placements were all valuable. Trainees were able to try
out a sector and get into a working routine; they gained experience, a reference and
something on their CVs and some were offered employment.
Description – Practice
The Lift Programme (Tackling Workless Households) was initially implemented in eight areas,
based on Communities First (CF) clusters and has now been extended to nine (two of which
cover two CF clusters). These are:











Afan Valley (Neath Port Talbot)
Anglesey
Caerphilly Basin
Cardiff East
Carmarthenshire
Flintshire East & West
Swansea North West
Taf West (Rhondda Cynon Taf)
Tredegar & Ebbw Fawr (Blaenau Gwent)
Flintshire East and West
The programme reflects a commitment by the WG in its Building Resilient Communities –
Taking forward the Tackling Poverty Action Plan (2013) to:
“Reduce the number of workless householdscv, especially those with children, by
establishing at least 6 pilot projects in Communities First areas. These projects will
offer 5,000 opportunities to adults in workless households to find sustainable training
and jobs. The project will offer personalised, intensive support which considers the full
range of life circumstances to help the long-term unemployed and those furthest from
the labour market back into work” (p18)
Lift seeks to target households where no-one has worked for a minimum of six months and
those with characteristics which make them less likely to gain employment easily, such as:



Being a young single parent household
Being a household in which the adults have few or no formal qualifications and/or
weak employment records
A large number of dependent children; or individuals with disabilities
It aims to provide by the end of 2017, 5,000 training and employment opportunities for people
living in households where no-one is at work.
94
Opportunities provided through the Lift Programme will include:





Training courses linked specifically to a participant’s employability
Work experience or placements (with a minimum duration of two weeks) which
enhance a participant’s employability
Volunteering which leads to a recognised qualification appropriate for work
Actual employment
Lift sets out to tackle worklessness through personalised, intensive support aimed at
addressing the holistic needs of the whole household. This case-load approach is innovative,
challenging and ambitious and deals with some of the people who are furthest from the labour
market and largely fall outside education and training and other forms of support. In each
area, two Lift Brokers have been recruited, representing a significant enhancement in
capacity for the cluster, and particularly the Prosperity teams.
Linking policy and practice - monitoring and evaluation
Given the complex reasons underlying long-term worklessness, the WG sought to ensure
effective practice and good value for money by recruiting a team of researchers to:



Establish through a literature review what is known about worklessness and what has
worked elsewhere
Collect local information from each Lift area about the barriers to and opportunities for
work and identify possible ways of overcoming barriers; and
Write a report of their findings
Work was conducted through Welsh Council for Voluntary Action’s (WCVA) Communities
First Support Service to explore the barriers to work for people in workless households.
In each area the research included the following:





Collecting information about the local geography and demographic profile
Interviewing 3-5 key informants identified by the Cluster to ascertain key issues
Facilitating two focus groups of 8-10 people recruited by the local Cluster team in
accessible, local venues to reflect a range of characteristics
Interviewing by telephone or face to face individuals or groups to fill any gaps in the
focus groups
Providing a record of activity undertaking and evidence of participation.
The work took place between January and May 2014.
95
What’s good about it?
Lift provides tailored 1-1 ‘hands-on’ support that can positively impact on personal motivation
and confidence and enhance people’s chances of success in getting a job.
Lift is well designed to help make qualifications more accessible to people, and for Lift
brokers, partners and stakeholders to enable their clients to better match what they have
available with what is needed.
Key informants suggested that Lift is most likely to be able to help:





People who are willing to positively engage, change their lives, train and get involved
in new things
People whose main issue is lack of confidence
Young people age under 25
Parents with children aged 3 and 4 providing they have skills/qualifications and
access to child-care and transport
People who have barriers, eg, child-care or lack of transport
Lift will need to work in partnership with education and learning providers in helping people to
develop a sustainable learning plan to address their multiple barriers to work and support
their routes to employment.
What are the challenges?
A variety of challenges to getting people into work were identified in the research. Some of
these were general in nature, for example:




Lack of confidence and self esteem
Health issues and disability
Lack of qualifications
Financial fear of being worse off
Whilst others related to specific demographic groups:
•
•
•
•
Parents and childcare
People aged 50+
Job seekers aged under 25
People who have been unemployed for more than a year
96
Emerging messages & lessons learnt
What’s the future? Recommendations?
Having a marketable skill or experience is critical. There is intensive competition for entry
level jobs, especially those requiring basic or low level skills. Too many people without, or
having few or out of date qualifications, are looking for work. Many people remain outside the
job market because they lack basic literacy, numeracy or IT skills, driving skills or have no
team-building experience. Many unskilled jobs pay low wages and involve non-standard
hours, which pose real constraints for people experiencing multiple barriers – single parents,
people without their own transport, or people with poor health.
Parents and childcare
Whilst parents were motivated to work to give their children a better future, lack of
qualifications, access to child care and transport may result in perceptions that the cost of
working outweigh the benefits, especially for lone parents lacking qualifications, confidence or
organisational skills. There were problems with childcare in all areas with some examples of
social enterprises providing childcare.
It may be appropriate for Lift to consider ways of developing a social enterprise providing
childcare as a way of supporting lone parents back into work and creating employment
locally.
For parents with caring responsibilities for disabled children/young people
All parents who were interviewed expressed a desire to work, and recognised the
opportunities work could bring them, in terms of improving social and financial opportunities.
Despite this they felt that a job was unattainable without specialist childcare for their children
and many were reluctant to leave their child in any circumstances.
There needs to be recognition by WG and Lift of the complexity of their needs and the
contribution they make as full time carers for their children, which prevents them from
accessing the job market.
Funding allocations and sources
Lift Programme funding amounts to just over £1 million in 2014-15.
currently being considered.
Future funding is
97
Stakeholder involvement
Five to seven interviews were held with key informants selected by the Cluster team. These
were conducted over the telephone or face to face during the period of February to May 2014.
They included the Cluster Manager, a member of the Prosperity Team, and others from Job
Centre Plus, housing provider, learning provider, Bridges into Work or other scheme, and a
local employer.
Participation of children, young people & families
In each of the areas two focus groups and additional interviews were held with Lift
participants who had been recruited by the cluster teams. The issues covered were:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Realistically what kind of work the participant’s would like to have in a year’s time
What work could give them that they do not currently have
What problems they may experience if they had a job
Barriers that could stop them getting a job
What kind of help they would like to receive from support organisations
What incentives would encourage them to try harder to get a job
How they felt about volunteering as a pathway to getting a paid job
Participants were offered confidentiality and anonymity. Some participants appreciated the
opportunity to talk about their daily frustrations and ongoing needs, and hoped that this might
constitute a part of the Lift programme.
What aspects of this case study reflect the Recommendation? What aspects of
the Recommendation are missing from implementation?
Recommendation 2.1 Access To Adequate Resources – Support Parents Participation
In The Labour Market.
“The primary focus of this pillar is on supporting parents’ participation in quality inclusive jobs,
tackling disincentives, making work pay, but also increasing working conditions and support
measures, ie, parental leave and access to affordable quality early childhood education and
care (ECEC).”
The EC insists that measures to improve the family’s economic situation, such as
employment support, can prevent the intergenerational poverty trap. However, this does not
98
focus on moving families out of material poverty through active labour market participation but
also by embracing a child centred rights based approach by creating decent employment
opportunities for parents that do not involve long working hours on low pay, that entitles both
parents to flexible working hours and paid parental leave, that ensures adequate family
benefits and income support and that does not just focus on children as ‘the next working
generation’ but as children who need a good childhood now. cvi
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Scotland: Childcare
Commission for Childcare Reform
Legislative/Policy Framework – Context/Description
In Scotland, the Early Years Framework makes a strong commitment to the importance of
affordable, flexible and accessible childcare and states a long-term aim to ensure access to
integrated pre-school and childcare services in every community matched to an assessment of
local needs and demand.cvii
The Working for Families model identifies difficulties in accessing affordable qualify childcare
as a significant barrier to employment and provides a range of support and referrals to address
this.cviii
Research Context: Childcare
Of all the barriers to employment, childcare emerges from research as the most significant. This
is a particularly acute problem for lone parents. Although they enter employment at about the
same rate as others with children, their exit rates are double those of other parents (Sinfield,
2007; Wright, 2008 cited in Sinclair and McKendrick, 2009). This is due to their precarious
childcare arrangements, as well as the financially unrewarding and poor quality jobs available to
many of them. Lower income families are more likely to use informal childcare arrangements,
which are not eligible for Child Tax credit. One in five lone parents referred to the cost of
childcare as a barrier to employment, and 15% mentioned the lack of available care in Families
And Children Study (Willitts et al, 2003 cited in Sinclair and McKendrick, 2009). Although both
the UK and Scottish Governments have childcare strategies, current provision does not meet
parents’ requirements.
In particular, policy has underestimated the importance of parents’ assessments of the quality
and flexibility of affordable childcare in influencing their employment decisions. Parents will not
place their children in what they judge to be unacceptable care, and the Government must
convince them that quality is assured.cix
Childcare Needs
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The Commission will necessarily have a core interest in what size and kind of childcare
workforce is required to support a transformed system of provision. The Commission recognizes
however, that the Scottish Government’s Workforce Review is already addressing much of this
agenda.
The Commission may wish to comment on the Review’s findings and recommendations on
workforce planning and development, and will aim to ensure there is coherence between the
Commission’s emerging or interim findings and the findings being reported by the Workforce
Review (due March 2015).
The Commission’s interest in the quality of provision will, in most respects, be confined to the
rules and practice found on the frontline which are intended to ensure that the child receives a
high-quality experience, as opposed to any direct consideration of any particular early learning
activities or care offered to that child.
The Commission will be interested in informal childcare only for its effects on the larger market
for formal childcare. The Commission will not make recommendations about the prevalence,
suitability or implicit costs of informal arrangements that families routinely make within their own
kinship networks.
The Commission will take a particular interest in childcare provision for families living in
deprived areas; in rural areas; and with children with additional support needs. It will also have a
particular interest in provision for school-age children; for children at risk; and for one-parent
families.
The Commission will take a particular interest in understanding and taking account of the needs
of employers for a flexible and reliable workforce, and the needs of workers for fair and
progressive family-friendly policies.
Description – Practice – Childcare Alliance
The Childcare Alliance, is a network of hundreds of partners drawn from civic society, business
and the childcare sector. It was launched by Children in Scotland. The Alliance is independent
of any political party but enjoys full cross-party support. Its aim is to identify and implement
better ways of organizing and funding high-quality childcare provision so that it meets children’s
developmental needs; is affordable, accessible, flexible and convenient for all families who want
it; and contributes sustainably to Scotland’s economic prosperity.
Linkage policy and practice
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The Commission for Childcare Reform was established in March 2014 by the Childcare
Alliance. For the next year, the Commission will be engaging widely with businesses etc., as
well as considering evidence from within Scotland and other countries, to develop advice on the
key features of an excellent system of childcare provision and offer recommendations for how
that excellence might be obtained and paid for.
The Commission will in most cases be concerned with provision for children up to early
secondary school age, but will also consider within scope continued services for older children
and young people where this is needed or where there is parental demand.
The Commission will presume that provision for pre-schoolers will deliver early learning and
childcare, as set out in the Scottish Government’s draft Guidance on Early Learning and
Childcare (April 2014).
The Commission will take a holistic view of all childcare provision. This is against the context
that certain areas of childcare reform are already being vigorously progressed by the Scottish
Government and Parliament, through the Children and Young People’s Act and other initiatives
such as the Early Years Collaborative. The current and proposed future increases in hours of
statutory provision for pre-school children will be of interest to the Commission for their wider
impacts on the flexibility, accessibility, sustainability and affordability of the system of provision
taken as a whole.
What’s good about it?
The remit of the Commission is:
•
•
To engage widely with businesses etc., and consider evidence from within Scotland and
other countries, to identify and explore issues related to childcare
To deliver advice on key features of an excellent system of childcare provision for
Scotland, and make recommendations on how such an excellent system might be
established and sustainably funded
Excellence is to be regarded as referring to:
•
•
The quality of the pre-school child’s experience of early learning and care, and the
school-age child’s experience of wraparound care, and how that experience meets the
needs of the individual child
The quality of the arrangements for delivery of funding, including the implications for the
childcare sector and those who work in it. In particular, how the provision meets the
needs of the family through being flexible, accessible, affordable, sustainable and
convenient; and how such provision supports parents to secure learning and /or
employment opportunities, which in turn contributes to improved workforce resilience to
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benefit employers in Scotland and promote economic growth
Where arrangements for delivery and funding have a potentially adverse impact on the quality of
the child’s experience, to make recommendations on how to prevent or mitigate the impact.
What are the challenges?
The Commission’s objectives are:
To build on the case that is being made in Scotland for significantly expanded and improved
children’s childcare provision, and further develop an approach to investing in children (whether
with public funds or otherwise) which:
•
•
•
•
•
Meets children’s development needs
Enables and sustains a viable childcare delivery sector
Helps tackle embedded inequalities in Scottish society
Improves lives and choices for parents and contributes to more stable families and
flourishing communities
Promotes a fair, sustainable and efficient use of public and other funds
To engage innovatively with civic society, families and employers:
•
•
To help generate well-informed, challenging and enthusiastic support for a transformed
model of childcare provision
To identify, and help build, consensus around the forms, levels and sources of funding
needed to build and sustain this, as part of securing Scotland’s long-term prosperity
To deliver a report to the Childcare Alliance Steering Group which:
•
•
Provides options which model in outline how childcare services might be delivered and
paid for in ways which reasonably balance the various outcomes sought
Makes recommendations for how childcare provision in Scotland may best be funded
and progressed in ways which will engender transformative change to the primary
benefit of children and their families
Emerging messages & lessons learnt - What’s the future? / Recommendations?
The Commission for Childcare Reform will publish its report by Summer 2015 which will outline
the key messages and findings from its investigation. An Interim Report is due in March 2015.
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Funding allocations and sources
The Commission will investigate a variety of potential and actual sources, levels and means of
funding for childcare. Its interest is not confined to publicly-funded provision.
Stakeholder involvement
Invited delegates gathered in Edinburgh, at the request of Children in Scotland and the Scottish
Council for Development and Industry (SCDI), to discuss the current childcare system –
identifying challenge within the current system and highlighting what areas should be reviewed
in order to establish a new model of childcare in Scotland.
High costs, inflexibility, uneven quality and inaccessibility were all cited as issues to be
addressed within the current system. Points were made around the economic, social and
developmental cases for good quality, affordable and flexible childcare that benefited both
parents and children alike.
A key element of the day was the discussion on how to approach developing and delivering a
model that works in and for today’s society, including how to engage employers in this debate
and discussion.
At the end of the session, the launch of a new Childcare Alliance was announced. This is a
network of partners with a shared aim of working towards identifying a new model of childcare in
Scotland. A Commission for Childcare Reform, will take forward the remit of the Alliance. The
Commission will engage with employers, families, communities and childcare providers.
The Childcare Alliance also conducted an event, in August 2014, involving:
•
•
•
•
•
Parents/carers
Employers
Members of the workforce
Childcare service providers
Members of the Scottish Parliament
Events have been held to discuss high quality childcare, and how it is organised and funded, so
that outcomes for children can be improved and that a sustainable contribution to Scotland’s
overall economic prosperity can be made.
Participation of children, young people & families
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The Commission for Childcare Reform launched an online survey to gather the views of parents
and their views on childcare. This survey was designed to be inclusive, with clear language and
a completion time of around five minutes. This has gathered hundreds of responses from
parents who do and don’t use formal childcare.
In addition to this the Commission has also hosted a series of local conversations across the
country in which parents have been invited to share their experiences and ambitions for
childcare in Scotland. These have been inclusive facilitating the presence of their children, and
when age appropriate gathering their views on out of school care.
The commission has had over 1,300 responses.
What aspects of this case study reflect the Recommendation? What aspects of
the Recommendation are missing from implementation?
Recommendation 2.2 Access To Affordable Quality Services – Reduce Inequality At A
Young Age By Investing In Early Childhood Education And Care
A main focus of this pillar is investing in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), as a
social investment to address inequality, ensuring affordability and adaptable provision. As
complimentary to the role of the family they contribute to the social and personal development of
the child to give the child a good start in life.
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Northern Ireland: Participation
The Involvement of Children & Young People with Disabilities in Regional
Planning with the Children &Young People’s Strategic Partnershipcx
Legislative/Policy Framework – Context/Description
Children and young people with disabilities are largely invisible in many strategic policy
initiatives. They tend to fall between disability services and children’s services and therefore
their unique and specific circumstances and needs as children with disabilities are often
overlooked. This can result in children with disabilities and their families becoming invisible
when key decisions are made about establishing the need for, planning and delivering
services, including public services.
Description – Practice
The Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership (CYPSP) was established in
2011 to co-ordinate the planning, commissioning and delivery of services for children, young
people and their families in NI. The CYPSP oversees a number of NI sub-groups established
to take forward integrated planning on a NI-wide basis, including a sub-group on Children and
Young People with Disabilities. The CYPSP is part of the Children’s Services Planning
process (The Children (1995 Order) (Amendment) (Children’s Services Planning) Order
1998).
“The focus of this sub-group is children and young people who have a physical,
sensory or learning disability or prolonged illness or condition which, in interaction with
various barriers, and without the provision of adequate support services, may hinder
their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others and hinder
their optimal potential for personal development and social inclusion.”
The CYPSP established at the outset that the incorporation of children’s rights into integrated
planning was required and in it supported its planning groups to develop plans in a way that
promoted children’s rights. The CYPSP plan stated “the partnership is committed to ensuring
that children and young people participate as active partners at all stages and levels of our
planning process.” Statutory agencies have specific duties to promote the welfare of children
and young people with disabilities, through a number of different pieces of legislation. It is
universally agreed that there is a great need for better coordination of supports and services
for children and young people with disabilities and their families, but that this has yet to be
achieved in NI.cxi A commitment to actively engaging with children, young people, families and
communities is central to the work of the partnership. The CYPSP’s first strategic plan is
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accompanied by a strategy for engaging with children and young people.
A range of agencies across the statutory, voluntary and community sectors, government
departments and local government bodies have come together in order to ensure the delivery
of better outcomes for children and young people, and the realisation of their rights.
The Participation Network was established in 2007 to:
“Increase the effectiveness of the Northern Ireland Public Sector in engaging children
and young people directly in decision making.”
Since then, the Participation Network, a project of Children in Northern Ireland (CiNI), has
supported Government Departments, local Government and Public bodies to engage with
children and young people, through the provision of training, consultancy and signposting
services.
The Participation network supported the CYPSP in the development of a Participation
Strategy and has been working alongside a range of groups within the partnership to facilitate
effective engagement with children and young people.
Linkage policy and practice
The Children and Young People with Disabilities Group (CYPD) and the Transitions of
Children and Young People with Disabilities to Adulthood Group (TCYPDA) are among
a range of Regional Sub-groups of the CYPSP. Multi-agency sub-groups, often thematically
based, are charged with taking forward integrated planning on a NI-wide (rather than an area
defined) basis. The work of the two groups is distinctive. The CYPD group is concerned with
all aspects of disability for children from birth onwards, the TCYPA is focused on issues
pertaining to the transition from children’s adult disability services, from age 14 upwards.
There are overlapping areas of interest and the two groups work collaboratively on these.
The Disabled Children and Young People’s Participation Project (DCYPP) was established by
Barnardo’s in 2002. The Project was funded from the outset through the Children’s Services
Planning process. The project facilitates the involvement of children and young people with a
wide range of learning, physical, sensory impairments, medical conditions, and autism to be
involved in high level strategic planning enabling them to have their say in service
developments that impact on their lives.
The DCYPP was asked to facilitate engagements with children and young people that would
help support the development of action plans for the Regional sub-groups. From the outset
the manager of the DCYPPP felt that if the children and young people’s group was to be
effective it needed to be representative both geographically and in relation to a range of
disabilities.
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The work took place over two meetings during a six month period.
What’s good about it?
The meetings were facilitated by the DCYPPP manager and two other staff members, one of
whom has a disability. During these meetings a number of the young people were
accompanied by agency workers who provided one to one support during the workshops.
The methodology involved a mixture of fun activities/ icebreakers, task-based activities and
small group discussions. The facilitators were aware that young people’s attention span could
be quite short, so the variety of the activity helped ensure that there was a balance between,
as one worker put it: “interest and boredom to not exhaust them but to get a lot out of them.”
One task involved identifying what supports the young people had in their lives. Each young
person completed a relationship map individually – the information from this work was later
presented to the TCYPD and CYPD sub-groups allowing the professionals to learn what
supports were available to young people and where the gaps were.
The key output from the workshops was a colourful, illustrated path – summarising the young
people’s priority issues.
The first activity centred on their dream scenario. The participants were encouraged to
fantasise about what their lives might be like in an ideal world. This allowed them to generate
a range of ideas. From this the group prioritised 8 specific issues that they felt needed to be
addressed. This material was shared with the CYPSP sub groups who began to address the
issues in drafting their action plans.
At the beginning of the meeting of the young people, the group looked at what needed to be
done to address their specific issues. They developed a list of concrete objectives that they
felt could be achieved realistically in two years. The group completed the path by identifying
agencies, professionals and family members who could help make this happen, by working
together.
What are the challenges?



Some challenges were identified during the course of the work. Professionals who have little
experience of direct engagement with children and young people can initially prove to be
resistant to the idea.
Some members of the CYPSP sub-groups found it difficult to hear, what they perceived to be,
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criticisms of their services and responded with professional defensiveness – taking challenge
as complaint.




It can be extremely difficult for agencies with limited resources to send staff off for a day to
accompany a young person to a meeting. The agency staff were also responsible for
preparing the young people for the meetings.
Each of the agencies made a considerable investment in supporting their young people to be
involved in the work. Their contribution ensured the success of the engagement – it could
not have happened without their support. In taking the work forward it is imperative
that their efforts are adequately resourced.


Ensuring continuity of membership of the young people’s group also proved to be a challenge
over the course of the work. There were generally about ten young people involved in the
group but it was not always the same ten young people. Young people aged and moved out
of the group or their lives moved on, eg, going to University. This had an impact on continuity
– time to be spent at each meeting brining new people up to speed.

Emerging messages & lessons learnt
What’s the future? Recommendations?
While the sub-group plans were of interest to the children and young people’s group, the
primary focus was on the plan relating to Transition (TCPDA). The group met to get feedback
on how their work had been received by the sub-groups and to see for themselves how far
their views had been incorporated into the draft plans.
As with all CYPSP plans, the work was set out under the six high level outcomes established
in Northern Ireland’s Ten Year Strategy for Children and Young People.cxii
The outcomes are that children and young people are:

•
•
•
•
•
•
Healthy
Enjoying learning and achieving
Living in safety and with stability
Experiencing economic and environmental wellbeing
Contributing positively to community and society
Living in a society which respects their rights
The children and young people identified the following specific issues that they felt needed to
be addressed:
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Person-centred planning
The children and young people were very clear that they were first and foremost people – and
had a right to be at the centre of all decisions being made about their lives.
A regional Transition service
In working together the children had learned that some areas had better services than others.
They wanted to see consistency across NI to ensure that everyone had access to the same
high quality support.
Support from Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) after moving to adult services
The children and young people felt that they should be able to continue to get support from
AHPs (eg, physiotherapists, social workers, speech and language therapists) when they
moved to adult services. As they put it “Our disability doesn’t disappear – why should the
services?”
Daytime opportunities
The children and young people wanted to see greater availability of activities and things to do
during the day. As well as recreational activities they included education and work
experience.
Children with complex care needs
It was felt to be important that young people with complex care needs should have continued
access to the care provided by community nursing services. They should also be able to avail
themselves of specialist equipment if needed and receive assistance with further learning and
employment.
Health and well-being
The group highlighted the issue of mental health. They felt that, at times, young people with
disabilities can experience poor mental health services. For example, if they are not
encouraged and supported to achieve their full potential, if they have limited opportunities for
social contact or if they feel they are a burden to their families. They felt they should be able
to access appropriate support to deal with such issues.
Education
Young people want professionals to have a more “can do” attitude. They want worthwhile
education courses that can lead to employment. They do not want to do the same courses
over and over just to have something to do. They want a positive outcome from the courses
they take.
Multi-agency approach
The children and young people identified the range of agencies and people who can help
support them. They want to see these working together to help young people achieve their
goals.
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In relation to what might be realistic to achieve during the two-year life of the plan the young
people selected the following outcomes.
•
•
•
•
A regional approach to transition in place
A multi-agency approach operating
A person-centred plan in place for every young person
Professionals to have a more relaxed and “can do” attitude to young people and to
engage them in a meaningful way
•
Young people to be aware of their rights – to be heard and make decisions about their
lives
•
•
Professionals to actively seek and appreciate children and young people’s views
The young people and their workers felt that the Transitions plan clearly reflected the
young people’s views of their needs, their experience and their ideas
The plan contained the following actions:
Children and young people’s views of
what was realistic to achieve in two years
A regional approach to transition in place
Actions from the transition plan
Develop an integrated commissioning
statement, which will ensure equal
opportunities through the transition process
across the region
A multi-agency approach operating
Develop a collaborative multi-agency
approach to individual assessment to best
benefit the young person through transition
stage from 14+
A person-centred plan in place for every Develop a good practice model for
young person
integrated plans – to ensure that every
young person has access to support from 14
years old.
Ensure a person centred approach through
self-directed support including individualised
budgets and direct payments
Professionals to have a more relaxed and Training for Teachers, Community Nurses,
“can do” attitude to young people and to Social Workers and other relevant
engage them in a meaningful way
professionals to challenge their attitudes to
disability and expand their skills in
supporting children with disabilities and their
families. The aim of this training is to aid the
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young person to develop to their fullest
potential and adapt a can-do attitude to life,
aiding independence.
Training for service providers and policy
makers on how to communicate effectively
with adolescents with disabilities in order to
help them to identify their needs and wishes
and aid participation
Young people to be aware of their rights – to Children and young people with disabilities
be heard and make decisions about their receive rights training based on the Human
lives
Rights Act, the UNCRC and the UNCRPD,
including advocacy training
Professional to actively seek and appreciate Human rights, UNCRC, UNCRPD and
children and young people’s views
disability awareness training for all staff
working with young people and their
professional bodies.
Agree collaborative training programme for
all agencies that is designed to be delivered
by young people with disabilities.
There is a model of good practice here in terms of engaging with young people which should
be replicated across other planning groups.
Funding allocations and sources
The Health and Social Care Board in NI is funded through Children’s Services Planning.
1. The Disabled Children and Young People’s Participation Project specifically to enable
children and young people with disabilities participate in multi-agency planning process.
2.
3. Participation network to develop the CYPSP participation strategy and to support the
engagement process.
4.
Involvement of stakeholders
The organisations specifically participating in and supporting the regional children and young
people’s group include:
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•
•
•
•
•
Autism Initiatives – Western Health and Social Care Trust
The Cedar Foundation – Western Health and Social Care Trust
Mencap – Northern Health and Social Care Trust
The Northern HSC Trust
6th Sense (The DCYPPP Advocacy project) Southern Health and Social Care Trust
Liaison with decision makers
As the work produced by the children and young people was presented, on a number of
occasions to both the CYSP sub-groups by the DCYPPP staff who facilitated the workshops
and who are both members of the sub-groups.
The Chairs of the sub-groups incorporated the young people’s ideas in the production of their
draft action plans. The plans were then widely circulated for public consultation.
Participation of children, young people & families
The children and young people worked in small groups with each focussing on two of the
outcomes and the accompanying actions. The task was to generate feedback for the subgroups but also to devise questions for a forthcoming meeting they would have with the subgroup Chairs.
The meeting between the sub-group Chairs and the children and young people was facilitated
by the DCYPPP staff and provided an opportunity for the children and young people to give
their views directly to the Chairs of the sub-groups the lead commissioners from children and
adult disability services. It was an opportunity to hold the decision makers to account, get
clarification around how the action plan would be taken forward and to identify how the
children and young people’s group would be involved in supporting the implementation of the
plan.
Despite the challenges, the work was extremely successful. The engagement made a huge
contribution to improving the outcomes for children and young people with disabilities across
NI.
A number of factors contributed to the effectiveness of the engagement:

•
Children and young people were willing to engage in the process
Many young people have become cynical about giving their views and sharing experiences
because they do not hear how their input has been incorporated into plans (if indeed they
have). These young people have had to overcome a considerable range of barriers in relation
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to communication, mobility and accessibility in order to take part. That they do so, and with
such enthusiasm, is testament to their personal determination and their commitment to make
things better for other children


The role played by the DCYPPP was of critical importance
The project has a great deal of experience in advocacy work and supporting young people
with disabilities to articulate their own concerns. They have a track record in supporting
engagements that deliver concrete outcomes and knew what supports needed to be in place
and had expertise in developing accessible materials. They were able to build trusting
relationships with the young participants and brought exceptional communication skills to the
task in hand
What aspects of this case study reflect the Recommendation? What aspects of
the Recommendation are missing from implementation?
Recommendation 2.3 Children’s Right to Participate – put in place mechanisms that
promote children’s participation in decision making that affects their lives
“Member States are encouraged to build on existing mechanisms to involve children
in service delivery and to consult them on policy planning, as well as to encourage
professionals working with and for children to involve them.”cxiii
From the outset it was determined that engagement needed to be real and meaningful. The
DCYPPP leadership ensured that the messages from young people were taken on board and
acted upon. In championing this work and bringing it to fruition in the regional plans, they
have clearly demonstrated that a willingness to take risks and embrace challenge, a
commitment to investing time and actively listening, matched to an enthusiasm for making a
difference to children’s lives results in clear, realistic, deliverable plans. Most importantly,
those plans are likely to address the real needs of children and young people with disabilities.
Underpinning all of this work and providing an essential imprimatur, is the fact that the
CYPSP has the engagement of children and young people at the centre of its strategic plan.
This senior level commitment to putting children and young people at the heart of the
planning process is key to ensuring that plans are robust and ultimately effective in improving
the lives of children and young people in NI.

In accounting for the success of this engagement process it may be instructive to view the
exercise through the prism of the ASK FIRST standards. The ASK FIRST principles are the
NI standards for children and young people’s participation in public decision making. The
standards were developed by the Participation Network to assist public authorities to
establish effective direct engagement with children and young people. The standards set out
the various elements, which together, ensure that the involvement of children and young
people in public decision making is both meaningful for them, and effective for the public
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authority with whom they are engaged. They are:




Standard 1: Appropriate methods
Standard 3: Knowledge
Standard 5: Inclusion
Standard 7: Senior people
Standard 2: Support
Standard 4: Feedback
Standard 6: Respect
Standard 8: Timing
Appropriate methods
The Disabled Children and Young People’s Participation Project (DCYPPP) have a great deal
of experience in working with young people with a wide range of disabilities. Their expertise
was critical in designing methodologies that were accessible, would interest the participants
and facilitate them to actively contribute. The Path methodology developed by the project
proved to be particularly effective.
Support
All of the young people engaged in the process were supported by staff from participating
agencies. The support ranged from preparation for the workshops, opportunities to think
through their ideas in advance, and transport to the venue through to having someone to talk
to when the work, often deeply personal in nature, impacted emotionally. The fact that the
young people were supported by staff who they already had a relationship with was very
important in overcoming initial reservations about the work.
Knowledge
The DCYPPP brought a considerable knowledge base of what works in participation practice.
They produced a range of accessible materials to ensure that the young people understood
the purpose of the engagement. Explanations of the CYPSP structure and the part the
children and young people could play in the decision-making process were reiterated at each
meeting.
Feedback
Children and young people had on-going feedback during the process through the liaison role
played by the DCYPPP manager and worker, who attended meetings of both the sub-groups.
As the draft plan evolved it was clear how their ideas were being translated into specific
actions. They had a workshop to prepare questions in advance of a meeting designed to hold
the sub-group chairs to account. When the plans were completed the senior staff who chaired
the planning groups had a series of meetings with the young people.
Inclusion
The focus of the engagement was children and young people with disabilities. Children and
young people with disabilities are not a homogenous group so it was important to ensure the
inclusion of those with a range of disabilities. The project succeeded in including those with
physical and learning disabilities, autism, life-limiting conditions and complex needs.
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Respect
Children and young people decide the nature and extent of their involvement, including the
option not to participate. An important part of the respect process was the decision by the
commissioners to feed back directly to the young people about what they had done with their
views.
Senior people
Both chairs of the sub groups met directly with the children and young people to tell them how
their views had been taken on board and to answer questions. They also offered clarification
of the next steps and explored with the children and young people how they could be involved
in implementing the plan, through working on developing passports and designing/ delivering
training.
Timing
The engagement took place at the start of the planning process when the views of the
children and young people could have the most impact.
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Conclusion
The previous sections have sought to present the key legislation, strategies and poverty
programmes in place in the UK and the devolved nations. The multi-dimensional and crosscutting nature of child poverty, the breadth of the agenda and the complex political and power
sharing arrangements across the UK demands that a wide range of solutions need to be in
place at a national, local and community level. It is unfeasible for there to be one law, strategy
or approach across the entire UK or indeed within each separate country.
An overview of the wide ranging strategies and programmes outlined in this report does enable
us to have some insight into how far the EC Recommendation on Investing in Children guidance
for Member States is being utilised and put into practice within each nation and across the UK
as a whole. The reader can be somewhat confident that the overarching principles and aims of
the EC Recommendation are being put into effect in the UK, even if explicit reference to either
the Europe 2020 framework or the EC Recommendation are notably absent in almost all
strategic documents and political dialogue around poverty eradication (aside from programmes
which are directly resourced through European structural and investment funds). It is also safe
to say that awareness and knowledge of the EC Recommendation is low and there is still some
way to go before we see clear evidence of its full adoption and complete implementation.
The rhetoric of all four governing nations, delivered in subtly different ways, is that tackling child
poverty, promoting child well-being and providing state support for those most vulnerable and
disadvantaged are political priorities. The approaches taken and resources allocated to address
the above challenges do differ, and is often determined by the specific population or
geographical challenges presented in different regions, the powers at the disposal of
governments or the values of, and choices made by the particular governing party.cxiv There are
also clear disparities between the approaches taken by the devolved nations and the UK
Government in respect of adopting child rights frameworks as has been exposed by successive
NGO reports to the UN.
UK Alliance Recommendation
The UK Alliance members will continue to call for the UK and devolved Governments to fully
implement the EC Recommendation through their respective communication and engagement
channels with political leads. There continues to be an urgent need to invest in, and safeguard
existing services, including non-statutory provision, that promote children’s rights, prevents child
poverty and delivers better well-being outcomes for all our children and young people. In the
present climate of austerity and budget cuts, we must all ensure that we protect those valuable
services for which children, young people and their families rely on and place a greater
emphasis on preventative services. Not investing in children now will undoubtedly see far
greater challenges presented to society for generations to come.
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References
i
Child and Family Poverty in Wales, A snapshot of key issues raised by families, Children in Wales – August 2014
http://www.childreninwales.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/children-and-families-in-poverty-in-Wales.pdf
ii
Eurochild – Overall Assessment Of The European Commission Recommendation On “Investing in children:
breaking the cycle of disadvantage” & Suggestions For Implementation At National Level, March 2013
iii
Eurochild (2010), Policy briefing on “Europe 2020 and the European Platform against Poverty. Where will action
against child poverty & social exclusion fit within the next EU 10 year strategy?”
iv
The Fifth Periodic Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, United Kingdom, HM Government,
May 2014
v
th
Charities challenge Government to assess impact of its policies on children’s human rights – press release 29
th
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