Child poverty – time for a major policy rethink says charity
Social Policy charity CARE has responded with concern to this week’s news that the child poverty figures have increased by 100,000 on a before housing cost basis and by 100,000 on an after housing cost basis.
Dan Boucher, CARE’s director of parliamentary affairs said: “We have argued consistently since 2002 that the tax credits system has a design fault which the Government must correct if it is to meet its child poverty targets.
“When the Government works out whether a family is in poverty it takes account of the financial needs of all members of the family. Tax credits, however, only take account of the needs of one parent which means that children in poverty in two parent families effectively don’t receive the same level of assistance as children in single parent families.”
He said from a poverty point of view this wouldn’t be a problem if poverty were confined to single parent families. “In reality, however, most poor children in Britain live in two parent families.
“This design fault also has the effect of creating a fiscal incentive for many couples with children on low to modest incomes to live apart, increasing the chances that children will not be brought up in a home with both parents.
“We do hope that the Government will now review its tax credit design to ensure that children in poverty get the help they require irrespective of their family type. This is a simple matter of fairness.”
