Lords vote against plans to change child poverty measures

An amendment to the Welfare Reform and Work Bill to keep income as a measure of child poverty was voted through by a majority of 92 in the House of Lords. It was supported by 290 peers, compared with 198 who voted against the amendment.

Child poverty is currently measured by the proportion of households with a below-average income. But last July Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith outlined proposals to scrap the existing measurement of child poverty. He proposed to replace it with a duty to report levels of educational attainment, worklessness and addiction.

Sam Royston, chair of the End Child Poverty Coalition and policy director at The Children’s Society, said: “By seeking to abandon commitments to report on and tackle the number of children living in families on low incomes the government seemed to think it could make child poverty magically disappear.

"Scrapping the Child Poverty Act and replacing it with measures based on worklessness and low educational attainment is not enough to help the millions of children who are suffering in real poverty now. Income is at the heart of child poverty and the House of Lords has acknowledged that today."

Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Alison Garnham said: “Today’s vote by the House of Lords shows how much of a mess the government has got itself into on poverty.  
 
“It has needed the House of Lords to act and insist that, yes, the government should continue to report to parliament on what’s happening to child poverty and, yes, that when you talk about poverty and life chances, you cannot simply ignore income. 

"The Lords is on the side of the experts and the public here. MPs now have a chance to demonstrate their commitment to tackling child poverty by holding on to the Lords amendment when the bill comes back to them.”