Milburn calls for focus on child poverty to shift to under-fives

In a speech to The Children's Society, Milburn said the "all or nothing" approach to child poverty is not working and that focus should be shifted to early years services with the aim of lifting 800,000 children under five out of poverty.

Milburn called for a clear sense of purpose on the issue; improved support for parents; improved childcare and early years services; and links between welfare-based solutions and increased opportunities.

"Currently [momentum] is in danger of stalling or, worse still, reversing," Milburn said. "I do not believe that anyone, the government included, wants that to happen. 

"It would be wrong if the poorest paid the heaviest price. Preventing that from happening has to be the top priority.

"It calls for effort and resource to be put behind the things that can make the biggest difference. It calls for an opportunity agenda and an economic strategy not to be in conflict but to be in co-operation. It calls for a strategy that marries short-term realism to long-term vision."

Enver Solomon, policy director at The Children’s Society said Milburn’s call for a focus on support for children in the earliest years of their lives sends a clear message that more must be done to give children the very best start in life. 

"Sufficient support for childcare, as well as an adequate family income and family support where required, is essential to make sure that families with very young children have the support they vitally need," he said.

"What we must have now is a plan.  Despite both child poverty and social mobility strategies being produced this year, we have yet to see a clear and coherent approach to meet the 2020 target, an objective that remains vitally important to lift children out of poverty."

Justin Forsyth chief executive of Save the Children called on Milburn not to give up on children over the age of five, and not to abandon the target of beating child poverty by 2020.

"We cannot write off the future prospects of a generation of poorest children, no matter how tough the economic downturn," he said.

"We know there are ways in which they can be helped, including investing in affordable childcare, and helping the poorest families back to work. These must be an urgent priority for the government."

Barnardo’s chief executive Anne Marie Carrie echoed Forsyth’s view. "Early intervention should apply to all children not just the youngest – as poverty affects two in five 16 and 17 year olds who are currently out of work and in desperate need of support," she said.