Comprehensive spending review 2007
What it needs to deliver on child poverty

Notes

1 E Balls MP, written ministerial statement on the Children and Young People review, July 2006
2 Department for Work and Pensions, Households Below Average Income 2004/05, Corporate Document
Services, 2006
3 S Machin, P Gregg and S Harkness, Poor Kids: trends in child poverty 1968-96, Paper presented at the Royal Economic Society’s 1999 Annual Conference, University of Nottingham
4 B Bradbury and M Jantti, Child Poverty Across Industrialised Nations, Innocenti Occasional Paper, 1999
5 See note 2
6 Institute for Fiscal Studies, Poverty and Inequality in Britain: 2006, 2006
7 See note 6
8 See note 6
9 O Letwin MP, ‘Why We Have Signed Up to Labour’s Anti-poverty Target’, the Guardian, 11 April 2006
10 J Hutton MP, ‘What Will it Take to End Child Poverty?’ speech to Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 6 July 2006
11 G Preston (ed), At Greatest Risk: the children most likely to be poor, CPAG, 2005
12 Fabian Society, Narrowing the Gap: the Fabian Commission on life chances and child poverty, 2006
13 D Hirsh, What Will it Take to End Child Poverty? Firing on all cylinders, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2006
14 Using the poverty threshold of 60 per cent of median income after housing costs. See J Bradshaw, N Finch, E Mayhew, VM Ritakallio and C Skinner, Child Poverty in Large Families, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2006
15 See note 14
16 Cabinet Office, Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People, 2005 (a joint report with the Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health, Department for Education and 30 Notes Comprehensive spending review 2007 Skills, and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister)
17 See note 16. See also D Gordon, R Parker, F Loughran and P Heslop, Disabled Children in Britain: a reanalysis of the OPCS Disability Surveys, The Stationery Office, 2000
18 N Sharma, Still Missing Out? Ending poverty and social exclusion: messages to government from families with disabled children, Barnardo’s, 2002
19 E Emerson, ‘Mothers of Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability: social and economic situation, mental health status, and the self-assessed social and psychological impact of their children’s difficulties’, Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 47: 4/5, 2003, pp385-99
20 G Preston with M Robertson, Out of Reach: benefits for disabled children, CPAG, 2006
21 See note 2
22 G Craig, ‘Poverty Among Black and Minority Ethnic Children’, in G Preston (ed), At Greatest Risk: the children most likely to be poor, CPAG, 2005
23 Social Exclusion Unit, Minority Ethnic Issues in Social Exclusion and Neighbourhood Renewal, Cabinet Office, 2000
24 H Crawley, Moving Forward: the provision of accommodation for Travellers and Gypsies, Institute for Public Policy Research, 2004
25 Commission for Racial Equality, Gypsies and Travellers: a strategy for the CRE 2004-2007, Commission for Racial Equality
26 Judicial Studies Board, Equal Treatment Bench Book, 2004, section 1.5.8, available at www.jsboard.co.uk.
27 Department for Education and Skills, Ethnicity and Education: the evidence on minority ethnic pupils, 2005
28 C Power, Room to Roam: England’s Irish Travellers, Action Group for Irish Youth/Community Fund, 2004
29 C Kiddle, Traveller Children: a voice for themselves, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1999
30 C Clark, ‘Race, Ethnicity and Social Security: the experience of Gypsies and Travellers in Britain’, Journal of Social Security Law, 6:4, 1999, pp186-202; L Webster and J Millar, Making a Living: social security, social exclusion and New Travellers, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2001
31 See note 28, p7
32 R Lister, ‘Citizenship on the Margins: citizenship, social work and social action’, European Journal of Social Work, 1, 1998, pp5-18; P Kemp, J Bradshaw, P Dornan, N Finch, and E Mayhew, Routes out of Poverty: a research review, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2004
33 B Broad, Improving the Health and Well Being of Young People Leaving Care, Russell House Publishing, 2005; J Dixon, J Lee, J Wade, S Byford and H Weatherley, Young People Leaving Care: an evaluation of costs and outcomes, Report to the DfES, University of York, 2004; AS Allard, A Case Study Investigation into the Implementation of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000: the experience of eight London boroughs, National Children’s Bureau, 2004
34 J Hills and K Stewart (eds), A More Equal Society? New Labour, poverty, inequality and exclusion, The Policy Press, 2005
35 L Harker, Delivering on Child Poverty: what would it take?, A report for the Department for Work and Pensions, The Stationery Office, 2006
36 See note 35
37 A £40 top-up to wages, targeted at those lone parents moving from benefits into work (over 16 hours) and available for 12 months. At the moment this is available only in parts of the country.
38 These have sought to invest time supporting and training people in specific areas of work to encourage longer-term sustainable employment.
39 See note 2
40 See note 2
41 Department for Education and Skills, National Curriculum Assessment, GCSE and Equivalent Attainment and Post-16 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics in England 2005, 2006, Table 44
42 See note 2
43 Albeit one in the process of being changed.
44 See note 35
45 Department for Work and Pensions, The Abstract of Statistics for Benefits, National Insurance Contributions, and Indices of Prices and Earnings 2005, 2006, Table 5.7
46 F Bennett with P Dornan, Child Benefit: fit for the future, CPAG, 2006
47 The 2 December 2004 and 5 December 2005 Pre-Budget Reports and associated documents confirm an earnings rise for the child element of child tax credit but a freeze for the family element.
48 See www.makechildbenefitcount.org
49 D Primarolo MP, Written Parliamentary Answer to David Laws MP, 25 October 2006
50 See note 46
51 Take-up of working families’ tax credit was 62-65 per cent in the first full year, 2000/01, and reached 72-76 per cent in its last year of operation, 2003/03. HM Revenue and Customs, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit: take-up rates 2003-04, 2006
52 Daycare Trust, Childcare Costs 2006, at www.daycaretrust.org.uk
53 See K Stanley, K Bellamy and G Cooke, Equal Access? Appropriate and affordable childcare for every child, Institute for Public Policy Research, 2006
54 See note 52
55 Strategy Unit, Delivering for Children and Families, 2002, section 3.1.2; also see Department for Education and Skills, Department for Education and Skills: five year strategy for children and learners Cn6272, July 2004, p21 for graphical illustration by local authority.
56 Public Accounts Committee, Early Years: progress in developing high quality childcare and early education accessible to all, House of Commons, September 2004, HC-444, para 3
57 T Brunwin, S Clemens, G Deakin and E Mortimer, The Costs of Schooling, Department for Education and Skills Research Report, 2004
58 Department for Education and Skills, Statistics of Education: education and training statistics for the United Kingdom, The Stationery Office, 2004, Table 2.10
59 See note 2
60 Citizens Advice, Help with Uniform Costs: update, p4: a previous study came to very similar results, see National Association of Citizen Advice Bureaux, Uniform Failure, CAB evidence report, 2001, p18
61 Department for Education and Skills, Planning and Funding Extended Schools: a guide for schools, local authorities and their partner organisations, The Stationery Office, 2006
62 Analysis of Table 21 in F Jones, The Effects of Taxes and Benefits on Household Income, 2004/05, National Statistics, 2006
63 The poorest spend more on smoking than the rich in both absolute and relative terms. However, the cash difference largely disappears when the ‘sin taxes’ on tobacco and alcohol are added together.
64 John Hutton MP, ‘Statement to House of Commons on Child Support Re-design’, 24 July 2006, at
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/aboutus/2006/24-07-06.asp
65 Work and Pensions Select Committee, The Efficiency Savings Programme in Jobcentre Plus, Second Report of Session 2005–06, HC 834-I, March 2006, para147
66 See Work and Pensions Select Committee, The Efficiency Savings Programme in Jobcentre Plus: Government response to the Committee’s second report of session 2005-06, HC 1187, June 2006
67 See Child Poverty Action Group, Jobcentre Plus: changes to service delivery, September 2006, at
http://www.cpag.org.uk/cro/Briefings/CPAG_JobCentrePlus_survey.pdf
68 See National Statistics, Income-related Benefits Estimates of Take-up, Department for Work and Pensions, 2006; HMRC, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit Take-up Rates, 2003/04, 2006; G Preston with M Robertson, Out of Reach: benefits for disabled children, CPAG, 2006 also explores non-take-up of disability benefits.
69 Department for Work and Pensions, Departmental Report 2006, 2006. The first target was not met.
70 Department for Work and Pensions, Quarterly Appeal Tribunal Statistics, March 2006, Table 3. Figures for the quarter to March 2006 and are for oral hearings.
71 National Audit Office, Helping Those in Financial Hardship: the running of the social fund, The Stationery Office, 2005
72 This itself is indicative of poor administration as Jobcentre Plus staff can use more appropriate ‘interim payments’ instead of crisis loans, which would also reduce the pressure on the fund.
73 K Legge, Y Hartfree, B Stafford, M Mayadi, J Beckhelling, L Nyhagen Predelli and S Middleton, The Social Fund: current role and future direction, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2006
74 Figures from Department for Work and Pensions, Fraud and Error in Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Pension Credit from April 2004 to March 2005, National Statistics, 2006
75 HMRC, Child and Working Tax Credits Error and Fraud Statistics 2003-04, 2006, available at
www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats
76 In evidence to the Public Accounts Committee, see Tackling the Complexity of Benefit Regulations, December 2005 available at http://www.cpag.org.uk/info/briefings_policy/CPAG_simplificiation_benefits.pdf
77 CPAG is a provider of this – including handbooks, second-tier telephone support and training.
78 See CPAG’s evidence to the Carter review of legal aid, Making Legal Rights a Reality, October 2005, at
http://www.cpag.org.uk/cro/Briefings/CPAG_Making_Legal_Rights_a_Reality.pdf

Comprehensive spending review 2007
What it needs to deliver on child poverty

Contents page
Introduction
The Government’s record
What should the spending review deliver?
Provide most for those children at greatest risk of poverty
Work towards better jobs, not just more jobs
Ensure the safety net protects families against poverty
Maximise the contribution of child benefit within family support
Introduce free at the point of delivery good-quality childcare
Make the reduction of child poverty central to the new child support policies
Make education truly free at the point of delivery
Provide benefit entitlement to all UK residents equally, irrespective of immigration status
Reduce the disproportionate burden of taxation on poorer families
Improve the quality of delivery and gear it to the needs of the poorest families
Notes

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