Child poverty set to Rise

According to a report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission the chances of the of the Government of halving the number of children in child poverty by 2020 is at most remote without a radical changes are made to government polices. In fact "independent experts expect child poverty to increase significantly over the next few years" among the unemployed and low paid families as well as those struggling to by a houses. 

Figures indicate that 1.4 million children are now in "relative poverty" due to the effects of rising rents and mortgage costs since the Conservative government came to power in 2010. According to the report the United kingdom risks becoming a "permanently divided" society unless "radical new approaches" are taken by the next government, however as we know if the Conservatives get into power things will just get worse with a freeze in benefits which will hit any family, working or unemployed, on low income, forcing more children poverty.

Two measures of poverty are used in the United Kingdom. The first is relative poverty which is based whether a child's family income is less than 60% of median earnings, and the other is absolute poverty which is defined as the lack of sufficient resources with which to keep body and soul together. According to the figures in the report the number of children in absolute poverty has risen by 300,000 between 2010-11 and 2012-13. This in my opinion is disgraceful in one of the richest nations in the world.

David 'posh boy' Cameron's official spokesman "It is through greater employment opportunities for the households in which children grow up that we can best address this issue." To be honest I wonder if many Conservatives have really seen child poverty or tried have to live year on year wondering what they are going to eat at the end of the month when the money runs out with a week to go to payday or the benefits are due, because it not just employment opportunities that are need it, it is money.

I find it interesting that when issues like this come up, it is like the Prime Minister and his government seem to turn it into a issue of employment like it is just the unemployed that suffer. When the reality it is working people too. The fact is the Government already have one leaver they could apply to increase the wages of the low paid and that is the minimum wage in the United kingdom, but instead they plan to freeze benefits to those on low incomes working or not and give tax breaks to the rich.

The report proposes that the UK government give the Office for Budget Responsibility "a new role to report on the poverty and social mobility impacts of budgets", as well as advocating that "all political parties come forward with a clear set of plans before the election next year for what they will cut and how they will avoid negative impacts on social mobility and child poverty". Which to me seems a sound move in the right direction when we should be ridding our nation of this shame.

A number of charities have commented on the report.  Chief executive of the Children's Society, Matthew Reed, said that a failure to end child poverty by 2020 would be a "national disgrace" while Barnardo's Javed Khan said: "It's shocking that poverty looms for a record number of children by 2020, no matter how hard their families work. Surely now it's time for the UK Government to change its 'slash-and-burn' approach to welfare reform.". To be honest I agree and we need to do something now before it is too late for hundreds of thousands if not millions of Children in the United kingdom.