Child Poverty Action Group

CPAG has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon George Osborne, in the run-up to the Emergency Budget on 22 June 2010. Our letter details the action needed to ensure that:

• measures taken against the deficit are fair towards low income families;
• progress is made towards the Government's goal of ending child poverty by 2010.

This is CPAG's response to the consultation initiated by the Labour government on reform of the social fund. This was a last minute attempt by the Labour Government to reassess the chance for social fund reform which was also linked in with providing low interest loans for those on low incomes. The new Coalition Governement has been looking at the responses and we have yet to hear whether there will be a positive set of policy proposals as a result.

This is CPAG’s submission to the Treasury in the run-up to the Spending Review 2010. In it we review the progress on child poverty since 1998 and outline a legislative framework which requires the Government to meet the targets in the Child Poverty Act and the Equality Act.

The White Paper Universal Credit: welfare that works set out the Coalition Government’s plans to reform the welfare system by creating a new universal credit. CPAG's response, while supporting the core aims of simplicity and increased work incentives, expresses our concern that the Government is embarking on such an ambitious and potentially risky programme of reform in such haste, in the context of extensive cuts

This response sets out our detailed analysis of the Government's child poverty strategy proposals, with our recommendations for improvement.

This response supplements CPAG's main response to the consultation (see below) but it focuses on the needs of families in migrant communities. It sets out the actions we believe necessary for the strategy to reflect the particular needs of a group of children who are particularly vulnerable to poverty.

The Government proposes that separating parents should make their own child support arrangements rather than use the statutory scheme, for which it will impose charges that will deter low-income parents from using it. Our response expresses CPAG's concern that the plans are more about saving money than helping separating parents – and risk increasing child poverty in lone parent families.

The Government's ‘informal’ six-week consultation reviewed the 1,294 statutory duties that central government currently places on local authorities. These range from some that sound relatively trivial, to others that are vital to the health and wellbeing of children. We are particularly concerned at the threat to duties set out in the Child Poverty Act 2010, to which all political parties signed up.

This report by Sharon Wright and Tina Haux presents the findings of a study of advice and employment services for benefit recipients, from the perspectives of service users and advisers.

The study included sixteen in-depth interviews with people receiving advice about benefits, tax credits and job seeking from different agencies. There was also a focus group to explore the perspectives of advisers. Claimants and advisers are quoted extensively in the report to illustrate the authors' expert analysis. The report ends with CPAG policy conclusions and recommendations, in the context of the latest government proposals for welfare reform.