DEPARTMENT FOR WORK
AND PENSIONS News Release (Reference:DRC-024) issued by The
Government News Network on 27 March 2007
New measures to
lift thousands more children in the UK out of poverty by getting
more parents into work have been announced today by the Secretary
of State for Work and Pensions John Hutton.
'Working for Children' sets out how the Department for
Work and Pensions (DWP) will help parents to lift themselves and
their children out of poverty through employment. It was published
alongside the Households Below Average Income figures for
2005/2006, which showed a rise in the number of children in
relative poverty of 100,000 from 2004/2005 to 2005/2006. The
number of children in absolute poverty remained unchanged. There
has been progress on the material deprivation measure and the
number of pensioners in relative poverty has fallen by 100,000 in
the last year.
Building on the announcements made in the Budget to take a
further 200,000 children out of poverty by increasing tax credits
and wider support for parents, 'Working for Children'
refocuses £150 million of resources within the Department for Work
and Pensions towards greater support for families.
Measures include:
* Piloting a 'New Deal for Families' approach so more
families get access to support that is often only available for
lone parents. To do this we will extend support available in the
New Deal for Lone Parents Plus pilot areas to all families with
children in those areas.
* Extending the New Deal for Lone Parents Plus scheme to help
more lone parents benefit from this service and signalling initial
support, ahead of a period of consultation, for recommendations
from David Freud to increase obligations on lone parents with
older children to look for work.
* Providing more support to families, particularly in London
where employment rates lag, by including widening and improving
the in-work credit scheme which provides additional financial
support for lone parents as they make the transition to work.
* Changing Jobcentre Plus systems so parents are properly
identified in the benefit system for the first time and recording
the childcare needs and preferences of all parents - not just lone
parents as at present.
* Providing advice and support for the partners of parents
claiming Jobseekers Allowance, with the introduction of mandatory
six-monthly work-focused interviews for this group.
Mr Hutton said:
"We have made considerable progress against our historic
goal to end child poverty in the UK, with 600,000 children helped
out of poverty since 1997 and child poverty in the UK falling
faster in the last ten years than in any other European country.
"But we need to go further towards what is a very tough goal
to reach. The measures announced in the Budget and built on today
will help take hundreds of thousands children out of poverty in
the years ahead and emphasise the importance of work as the
sustainable route out of poverty for families in Britain."
The document published today forms the latest part of the
government's overarching strategy on child poverty, which was
published in 2004, and is in response to a report by independent
policy advisor Lisa Harker in November 2006, commissioned by the
DWP, which made a number of recommendations on what more needs to
be done to reduce child poverty.
Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform Jim Murphy said:
"The majority of the rise in relative child poverty this
year appears to be accounted for by a rise in the number of
self-employed households in poverty, whose incomes are recorded
with considerable error. It is the trend over time that matters
for children, and under this government we have decisively
reversed rising child poverty in the 1980's and 1990's
and instead put it on a firm downward trend.
"But, we must be more determined than ever to continue with
the significant achievements that have been made over the last
decade. Progress on tackling pensioner poverty demonstrates what
can be achieved.
"We have always acknowledged that the target we set
ourselves was ambitious and challenging, that was why we asked
Lisa Harker to look at our policies and to make additional
recommendations on the work that had to be done and asked David
Freud to review our employment programmes."
Notes to editors
* Copies of 'Working for Children' can be downloaded
from http://www.dwp.gov.uk
* The latest figures on child, pensioner and working-age adult
poverty can be found in Households Below Average Income (HBAI)
2005/06. HBAI figures can be downloaded from http://www.dwp.gov.uk along with
a statistical press notice.
* In March 1999, the Prime Minister pledged to eradicate child
poverty within a generation. This pledge was underpinned by
ambitious targets - to reduce child poverty by a quarter by
2004/05, by a half by 2010/11 and to eradicate it by 2020. Though
the Government narrowly missed the 2004/05 target, significant
progress has been made.
* In June 2006 the DWP commissioned independent advisor Lisa
Harker to carry out an independent review of our child poverty
strategy. 'Delivering on Child Poverty: what would it
take?' was published in November 2006. Copies can be
downloaded from http://www.dwp.gov.uk
* John Hutton announced the David Freud review in a speech made
on Monday 18th December 2006. His speech is available on the DWP
website at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/aboutus/2006/18-12-06.asp
* David Freud's report 'Reducing Dependency, Increasing
Opportunity: options for the future of welfare to work' is
available on the DWP website.
Website: http://www.dwp.gov.uk