General election: Child poverty could reach 60-year high under Conservatives, report warns
Fiona Simpson
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
If the Conservatives win the next election child poverty could reach a 60-year high, a new report has warned.
The party’s manifesto, for the 12 December election, would not change existing policy meaning relative child poverty could reach 34 per cent by 2023/24, think-tank the Resolution Foundation said.
In its report The Shifting Shape of Social Security, the organisation warned that none of the main parties' manifestos would reduce child poverty from the current rate of 29.4 per cent by 2023/24.
Researchers claimed that under Labour’s manifesto 550,000 fewer children would face poverty than under the Conservatives.
Under Labour’s plans, which include spending around £9bn on social security, the rate of child poverty would increase just slightly to 30.2 per cent by 2023/24.
“However, Labour’s proposals do not reverse the £5bn benefits freeze, and could still see more children living in poverty in 2023 than do today,” the report says.
The Liberal Democrats also pledged to invest a further £9bn in social security. Their plans would see 600,000 fewer children living in poverty than under the Conservatives.
Relative child poverty would stand at 29.7 per cent in 2023/24 under the Liberal Democrats.
If the Conservatives stick to their current benefit policies, the level of child poverty is estimated to rise to 34.4 per cent by 2023/24 compared with 29.4 per cent in 2018/19, the foundation warned. A rate that has not been reached since 1959, the think tank reported.
It defines relative child poverty as those living in households with incomes below 60 per cent of the UK median in a given year.
The most recent figures from the Department for Work and Pensions puts that figure at £304 per week.
Laura Gardiner, research director at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Under the Conservatives little is set to change, and child poverty risks reaching a record high in the coming years.
"Labour and Liberal Democrat pledges to spend £9bn more would mean child poverty being over 500,000 lower than under Conservative plans. However, this would not do enough to see child poverty fall from today’s already high levels.”
