Campaign group rejects think tank conclusion that recent policy 'causes' poverty
16.09.05

Responding to a think tank report, Child Poverty Action Group argues
UK policy direction is right, but too slow

Responding to today's publication of a report from Civitas, Kate Green OBE, Chief Executive of the Child Poverty Action Group said:

'The Civitas comment and analysis is misleading for a report drawing on comparative data. UNICEF has shown child poverty rates in Germany to be rising and France to be holding steady – only in the UK has it been falling.'

She continued 'Although current policy is not going far enough, it pushes in the right direction. The government has promised to end child poverty, whereas those of the 1980s and early 1990s denied poverty existed in the UK. CPAG rejects the idea that taxes and benefits make poverty worse – Department for Work and Pensions research, referred to in the Civitas report, shows the opposite – investing in children brings down the poverty rate, the problem is policy doesn't go far enough.'

'To tackle child poverty, we should place children first and foremost, irrespective of family structure. The risk of being poor is much greater for children in lone parent households. 48 per cent of children in lone parent households in 2003/04 were income poor compared to 21 per cent of those children in couple households. Policy needs to take all children out of poverty and to deal with need based on the family structures in which children actually live – tax and benefit policy should focus on children's needs, not preference household types.'

For further information please contact:

Paul Dornan
CPAG Head of Policy and Research
Tel. 020 7812 5222
pdornan@cpag.org.uk