London Councils' Response to the Government’s 2009 Child Poverty Consultation

The Government has announced its intention to enshrine in legislation the Government’s pledge to eradicate child poverty in the UK by 2020. A Child Poverty Bill will be introduced in 2009. The legislation will aim to ensure that there is a clear definition of success in terms of tackling child poverty.

Government acknowledges that action to end child poverty will need to involve national, regional and local administrations, communities, businesses and families themselves. The consultation document outlines a number of measures directly relating to the role and function of local authorities in tackling child poverty and is underpinned by the Government’s vision for eradicating child poverty by 2020. The 2020 Vision has four key aspirations (Building Blocks):

• Increasing employment and raising incomes, so more parents are in work that pays;
• Improving financial and material support for families, so support is responsive to families’ situations in and out of work;
• Improvements in children’s life chances so that poverty in childhood does not translate into poor outcomes;
• Tackling deprivation in communities so the child’s environment supports them to thrive.

The Government identifies local authorities and their delivery partners as having a vital role to play in delivering many of the building blocks. Local authorities also have a role as strategic leaders of communities and as major local employers;

The consultation document states local strategies and approaches should be cross-cutting in their design and at a local level must involve bringing together children’s services, education, health, transport and economic regeneration. The need for strong commitment at both senior political and corporate level within local authorities is also highlighted.

The consultation asks for local authorities to identify constraints that make it difficult for them and their partners to tackle child poverty and identify how best the Government can ensure that all local authorities recognise that ending child poverty is one of their key responsibilities.

A copy of the full London Councils response is available below: