Presentation by Danielle Mason and Natalie Abbott

1. Defining the eradication of child poverty in the Child Poverty Bill Danielle Mason and Natalie Abbott Presentation at DCSF Conference: The Use of Evidence in Policy Development and Delivery, 9 February 2010

3. Introduction

4. “ Being poor should not be a life sentence. We need to sow the seeds of ambition in the young. Our historic aim will be for ours to be the first generation to end child poverty, and it will take a generation. It is a 20 year mission but I believe it can be done .” Tony Blair, 1999 Beveridge Lecture

9. Measuring child poverty

11. Relative low income The measure The indicator: Children in households with an income below 60% of contemporary median income before housing costs. What it measures: It captures whether the incomes of the poorest families keep pace with the rest of society. What survey we use: Family Resources Survey. Why it is important Low income is the most commonly used measure of poverty, as it provides a broad indication of the living standards of families. Evidence suggests low income, in and of itself, impacts on life chances . When children fall too far behind the typical family, not able to take a full part in the activities that social inclusion demands.

12. Absolute low income The measure The indicator: Children in households with an income below 60% of 1998/99 median income before housing costs (up-rated in line with inflation). What it measures: Captures whether low income families see their real incomes increase over time. What survey we use: Family Resources Survey. Why it is important It tells us what is happening to real incomes – whether the incomes of the poorest are rising in absolute terms, not just in comparison to the incomes of typical families. It can be used as a ‘yardstick’ by which to assess progress for the poorest of all.

13. Relative low income and material deprivation The measure The indicator: Children in households that are both materially deprived and have an income below 70% of contemporary median income before housing costs. What it measures: This captures whether families’ living standards are improving. What survey we use: Family Resources Survey. Why it is important Captures living standards more directly. Deprivation measures resonate well with the public perception of poverty and the view that a poverty measure should encompass some idea of the practical effects of living in low income. Strong relationship between material deprivation and persistent low income ; as the time spent in low income increases, the severity of deprivation increases.

14. Persistent low income The measure The indicator: C hildren in households in relative low income for at least 3 of the last 4 years. What it measures: Captures the proportion of children who experience low income over the long-term. What survey we use: Previously the British Household Panel Survey, which was subsumed in 2009 within a new longitudinal survey, Understanding Society. Why it is important The length of time a child is in poverty and how often it recurs can have a significant detrimental impact on their experiences and life chances . Children who live in persistent poverty are more likely than those who experience temporary poverty to be at risk of worse outcomes . Lower chance of escaping low income as the length of time in poverty increases.

15. The Story of the Bill

23. Communicating the Bill in action

25. Story of the Bill 6: Commons Committee “ Results of the cross-OECD meta-analysis suggest that the maximum size of the effect on child outcomes of growing up in a single-parent family is small…The general thrust…is that the causal effects of being raised in a single parent family are smaller than hitherto believed, or even zero. From ‘Doing Better for Children’ OECD, 2009