Editorial: Too many children still fall into the poverty trap
Ravi Chandiramani
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
We hear so rarely these days about the working classes, Labour's traditional support base.
And not because social mobility is such that class boundaries have been eliminated - far from it. As the party returns from its annual conference in Manchester this week, it is crucial for the country's future that it will have grappled properly with the problem of the rise of the underclass and its impact on child poverty. Unlike the working classes of yesteryear, today's underclass lacks any sense of group struggle or identification. They are shorn of hope, alienated from society.
Despite Labour's laudable intentions to eradicate child poverty within a generation, by its own admission a less-able child from a wealthy family overtakes a more-able child from a poor family by the time they are six. Social class is the main reason children fail to reach their potential.
The emergence of the underclass is down in large part to perpetual government short-termism over programmes that intervene with disadvantaged groups. In its inaugural report last week, the charity Action for Children (formerly NCH), identified 51 different grants or funding streams relevant to children and young people over the past 21 years, 69 per cent of which no longer exist. Projects barely have enough time to set up and begin to deliver before staff have to plan for reconfiguration or closure.
Plans to legislate to strengthen children's trusts and enshrine Sure Start children's centres in law at least buck this short-termism and will continue to aid the battle against child poverty. Although they smack also of a government anxious to ensure its legacy as it prepares for opposition.
On Saturday 4 October, thousands of young people, families and supporters will attend a rally in London's Trafalgar Square urging the government to "keep the promise" to end child poverty. The exercise, with the help of significant media coverage, will hopefully hammer home the importance of the mission. Our special report this week (starting p19) highlights some of the barriers young people face to escape the poverty trap.
So the fight against child poverty remains the big prize. By increasing social mobility and tackling the problem of the growing underclass, it must underpin all other efforts to see the potential of young lives fulfilled. Any government has to hold its nerve and commit to long-term solutions if this fight is to be won.