Poverty map still hasn't changed

Jun 15 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal

THE announcement last week the Government intends to place a legal duty on itself and other public agencies to work together to tackle child poverty is a welcome response to a failure to meet a clear and appreciated ambition to half the prevalence of child poverty by 2010 ahead of its eradication by 2020.

Poverty is something that most people do not associate with the UK. When we see pictures of starving and desperate children and families in the developing world it rarely occurs this could be an issue here. But it is. At least one in four children in the UK are growing up in poverty (defined as in a household whose family income is two thirds of the median average income). In parts of the UK, such as London and the North East, for example, that figure rises to one in three and above in pockets of highest depravation.

Poverty is, in fact, endemic in too many communities. Children are growing up in families and households that have experienced and continue to face generational poverty. In circumstances like these, poverty starts to affect children before they are even born. Babies in impoverished families are much more likely to be born with a low birth weight, increasing the risk of ill-health and slow development, setting them back from birth. This impacts upon health and educational attainment and reduces life chances in a way that exacerbates the vicious circle which sees this experience passed on to generation after generation.

It is a consummate failure of public policy that the ‘poverty map’, the location of the most deprived communities, looks almost exactly the same as it did one hundred years ago.

The Government’s ongoing commitment is critical and ramping up this challenge by placing a more legally-driven set of duties is an effort to focus the minds of the key players in some key public agencies. Access to key public services in impoverished communities is less good than in areas that don’t suffer depravation, GP services are poorer and more stretched, education services and leisure facilities don’t attract the same levels of investment or quality of provision.

The announcement last week also fails to pick up a fundamental challenge. Work used to be a route out of poverty, but this is less so today.

It is wholly unacceptable that in a modern, industrialised democracy more than half of children living in poverty are in households where one or more people are in work. Low pay and insecurity of employment is increasing as a factor of poverty in the UK and those in such vulnerable employment are also the least likely to be participating in learning and skills development to increase their opportunity. Tackling these issues remains the missed chance in the battle against poverty.

Kevin Rowan is the Regional Secretary of the Northern TUC