A missed opportunity to tackle child poverty

Today’s Autumn Budget represents a missed opportunity to build on recent commitments to tackle child poverty. While the announcement of a Child Poverty Strategy and the removal of the two-child benefit limit made meaningful progress, the families we support daily at our baby banks are still continuing to face significant and daily cost-of-living pressures, with many struggling to afford the essentials their children need.

Sophie Livingstone MBE, chief executive of Little Village, said:

“While today’s Budget contains some welcome support for families and investment in social housing, it stops short of the bold action needed to tackle the child poverty crisis. Recent measures have offered important breathing space for many families, but that alone is not enough when so many remain trapped by the high cost of housing, insecure incomes and rising everyday costs.

“For the thousands of parents we support through our baby banks, the pressure on household budgets remains relentless. With record numbers of children growing up in temporary accommodation, and too many families spending an unaffordable proportion of their income on housing, there was a real opportunity in this Budget to go further and address some of the systemic issues that keep families struggling.

“Without meaningful, targeted and sustained intervention, too many parents will continue to face impossible choices between paying rent, heating their homes, putting food on the table and providing the essentials their children need to thrive. Tackling child poverty must remain a national priority, and today’s Budget should have gone further to help families move beyond simply getting by.”