Austerity-era benefit cuts plunged nearly a quarter of British children into poverty, study finds
Almost a quarter of children born in Britain since the 2010s have faced poverty for at least half their childhood due to ‘austerity’ welfare cuts, a new study has found.
Oxford University research found that the proportion of children born after 2013 spending at least six of their first 11 years in distress rose to 23 per cent after ministers froze working age benefits and imposed policies such as a two-child limit.
These austerity measures have massively reduced annual welfare spending by tens of billions of dollars and knocked thousands of pounds out of low-income family budgets, pushing hundreds of thousands more children into permanent poverty.
This long-term childhood poverty is a “major social problem” that causes long-term damage to health, education and life opportunities, writes Selçuk Bedük, one of the study’s authors.
Mr Beduk commented: “For almost a quarter of children in Britain today, poverty is long-term and defines much of their childhood.”
“Our study shows that policy matters; when support for low-income families is stronger, long-term childhood poverty decreases. When that support decreases, more children are pushed into long-term poverty.”
Policy changes made in the 2010s, led by the coalition government led by David Cameron, included benefit caps, a bedroom tax, a two-child benefit limit, universal credit cuts and benefit rate freezes. Together, they have saved around £37bn on welfare spending by 2021.
Minimum wage levels also increased during this period, but the study notes that their impact was offset by large welfare cuts, meaning relative poverty did not improve.
The authors compare this to anti-poverty measures carried out by former chancellor Gordon Brown during the Blair administration, in which child benefits and tax credits increased by 60 per cent. Under the last Labor government, long-term childhood poverty for children born in 1991 fell from 25 per cent in the 1998-99 cohort to 13 per cent; This was the lowest level in three decades.
The current Labor government’s announcement to remove the two-child benefit limit is expected to lift 450,000 children out of poverty by 2030. Ministers also announced an increase in the minimum wage and an expansion of eligibility for free school meals.
However, many campaigners have encouraged them to go further and also lift the benefit cap, the bedroom tax and the freeze on the amount of housing-related benefit that can be claimed.
Study co-author Anna Yong from UCL said: “The longer children spend in poverty, the deeper the harm. Our study shows that long-term poverty is not inevitable; it is the result of policy choices that can be reversed. The recent removal of the two-child limit would be an important step in the right direction, but restoring the wider safety net is equally urgent.”
Work and Pensions Minister Pat McFadden said: “One of the great achievements of the last Labor government was lifting hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty and improving their life chances.
“The policies of the Conservative Party during its time in power caused suffering to many children and families. We cannot turn back the clock at that time, but the Labor government is changing the course of these Conservative Party decisions.
“That’s why Labor is introducing free breakfast clubs, extending free school meals and ending the two-child benefit cap – policies that will lift almost half a million children out of poverty. A lot has been done, but there is still more to do to make sure poverty doesn’t prevent children from reaching their full potential.”
