We must spend time on eradicating poverty – not trying to accommodate it, says Big Issue founder

Millions of children are “inheriting poverty,” Big Issue founder John Bird has warned, calling for an “enormous mind shift” in how we tackle destitution.

Lord Bird’s impassioned plea – made during a special debate in the House of Lords – comes as the number of children in poverty reaches record highs.

A total of 4.3 million children are impoverished in the UK – a staggering one-in-three kids – up from 3.6 million in 2010/2011. And according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, around one million children lived in “horrifying levels of destitution”.

In a special debate, Lord Bird called for a “scientific analysis” of the root causes of poverty, warning that a vicious generational cycle keeps people below the breadline.

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“When are we going to spend our time on eradicating poverty, rather than ameliorating it, and trying to accommodate it?” he asked.

“I believe strongly that one of the main problems we have is that governments, oppositions and people who have worked for many years in and around poverty are always dealing with the effects of poverty; they do not deal with the root causes.”

Lord Bird argued that the current governmental model, which sees a plethora of departments tasked with reviewing and executing poverty policy, leads to an unsuccessful scattergun approach.

His bill calling for the creation of a Ministry of Poverty Prevention, which had its first reading in the Lords earlier in April, proposes centralising efforts to reduce poverty under one governmental department. 

Born into poverty in the “Notting Hill slums”, the life-time campaigner is no stranger to poverty. Brought up in care, he spent long spells in the 50s and 60s rough sleeping.

“I come from poverty – and maybe that’s what drives me on,” Lord Bird said in the debate. “I come from people who came from poverty, and who came from poverty and who came from poverty. They were surrounded by poverty. They couldn’t get away from it. And the mind forged manacles that go with poverty, that meant that they would perpetuate poverty.”

The responding minister, Viscount Younger of Leckie, thanked Lord Bird for bringing the “important” debate, but said the government had provided “unprecedented cost of living support” in recent years.

“[Our] additional support prevented 1.3 million people, including 300,000 children, from falling into absolute poverty, our measure, in 2022-23,” he said. “We understand that many families still face challenges, we are not shying away from that, and we will continue to work to ensure that the welfare system supports families who need it.” 

‘Absolute’ child poverty is when a child is living in a household with an income less than 60% of the UK average.

Viscount Younger of Leckie said that getting people into work is crucial to tackling poverty. However, more than two in three (69%) of children living in poverty have parents who are working.

Speaking in the House of Lords debate, Labour Baroness Lister of Burtersett said that the government’s two-child benefit cap was a “key driver” of child poverty.

“The root causes of child poverty are systemic, and are amenable to government action,” she said. “Unfortunately for the most part, government actions, particular as regards social security, have served not to prevent, or even to alleviate poverty, but to worsen child poverty.”

Liberal Democrat Baroness Janke added that the impact of poverty is particularly pronounced in certain groups.

“With political will, child poverty can be significantly reduced… [but] in the UK we see disadvantaged groups becoming even more disadvantaged and deprived,” she said.

Some 47% of children in Asian and British Asian families are in poverty, 53% of children in Black/African/Caribbean and Black British families, and 25% of children in white families, according to the Child Poverty Action Group.

Recent findings from UNICEF’s review of child poverty in 39 OECD and EU countries show that child poverty has increased faster in the UK than in any other country investigated.