Outline The Challenges Faced By The Government In Its Bid To Abolish Child Poverty.
"Because a fair society and the strongest possible economy depend upon leaving no one behind, Britain must build on the reforms taking nearly one million children out of poverty and give every child the best possible start in life. So our ambition is - by the end of the next decade - child poverty reduced by half - on our way to ending child poverty within twenty years.".
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- The Chancellor of the Exchequer, pre-budget report November 1999.
Poverty rates in Britain rose sharply in the 1980s. In 1979, 12% of the populations were poor. Poverty here is defined as having net household income below 60% of the median income, after housing cost. By 1999 this had risen to 24%. The situation is even bleaker for children, with almost a third of children living in poor households in 1999. Shortly after taking office the New Labour Government made a commitment to halve child poverty within a decade and to abolish it within two decades. The guiding principle in achieving this goal was the belief that the best route out of poverty is through work. Consequently, the government introduced a plethora of social policy reforms designed to "make work pay" for individuals who had languished on benefits for too long. The primary policy introduced to change work incentives was the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC), but other important policies such as the National Minimum Wage, the various New Deals, reforms to the National Insurance system, the lower rate of Income Tax and a National Childcare Strategy were all designed as part of a package of welfare to work policies. In addition, the government is tackling the poverty issue by raising benefits for non-working families.
Distribution of poor children by work hours of household.
Total hours worked by all persons in household Actual poverty patterns 1999 Projected poverty in 1999 if work patterns comparable to 1979.
