England and Wales must follow Scotland’s lead and set legal targets to end child poverty

Legally binding poverty reduction targets are critical if England and Wales are to see a similar turnaround in child poverty to Scotland, according to a new Big Issue report.

Analysis of UK child poverty statistics conducted alongside the publication of the new Big Issue report highlights the assent of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 as a parting of the ways for the different home nations’ trajectories on the issue.

According to their new analysis of child poverty data, Scotland has seen a 12% drop in relative child poverty since 2018, while England and Wales has seen a 15% rise – a 27-percentage point gap in progress. Where 21,000 Scottish children saw their poverty lifted, 320,000 more English and Welsh children have fallen into poverty.

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The Scottish government’s landmark act, which received royal assent in December 2017, sparked a significant divergence in child poverty levels between the home nations. Before 2018, Scotland had seen similar rises in relative child poverty to England and Wales. Child poverty in Scotland rose by 19% between 2015 and 2018, only marginally slower than England and Wales at 23%.

The act included setting ambitious statutory targets for the Scottish government to reduce relative child poverty to 10% of Scottish children by 2030. While experts say Holyrood still faces considerable challenges in meeting this target, it has enshrined tackling child poverty as a top policy priority for subsequent Scottish governments.

As laid out in the new ‘Poverty Zero’ policy report, which is being launched today (25 June) at an event in the House of Commons, Big Issue is encouraging Westminster to adopt a similar approach and establish mandatory, time-bound targets in legislation for England and Wales.

The report argues that a cyclical target-setting method would translate Labour’s stated ambition of “enduring poverty reduction” into concrete, measurable steps. The need to meet these targets would move governments beyond annual budget cycles and counteract the inherent tendency towards policy short-termism.

Big Issue proposes a judicial review system that would serve as a vital backstop mechanism to hold governments accountable to the targets.

However, in a difference to Scotland’s rigid 2030 child poverty targets, the report proposes giving Westminster governments flexibility to determine their own targets to retain the sitting government’s democratic accountability and political will vital to success.

Lord Bird, Big Issue founder and crossbench peer, said: “With child poverty in England and Wales predicted to rise to new pernicious highs, we cannot accept rhetoric in place of real change – we must demand sustained, legislative action.

“Parliamentarians possess the authority to drive this transformation. Let us not look back and regret another missed opportunity. The time has come to stop simply managing poverty and to begin ending it.”

Lord Bird has recently moved an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, proposing adding statutory child poverty reduction targets to the legislation. With the Lords’ committee stage now nearing completion, he intends to reintroduce the amendment at the bill’s report stage, with the backing of a number of crossbench and Labour peers.

Promises are easy to break. Sign Big Issue’s petition for a Poverty Zero law and help us make tackling poverty a legal requirement, not just a policy priority.

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