CYP Now - Tackling child poverty ‘can prevent almost 5,000 children entering care’

Child mortality and looked-after children rates could be slashed by around a third over the next decade if measures are put in place by the government to tackle child poverty, according to academics.

Cutting child poverty would improve child health and reduce children in care levels, a study suggests. Picture: AdobeStock

The University of Glasgow study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, has mapped the potential impact of child poverty reduction measures on social and health inequality in England from this year until 2033.

The study found that infant mortality numbers could be reduced by 293 compared to 2023’s level and the number of children being taken into care cut by 4,696.

In addition, 32,650 emergency admissions to hospital could be prevented and the number of children attending hospital with iron deficiency could fall by 458.

Northern regions would benefit the most from child poverty tackling measures, say the academics, whose research is based on improved outcomes achieved for children through the previous Labour government's policies on reducing poverty between 1997 and 2010.

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