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Celebrities, MPs and children’s charities are among dozens of signatories to an open letter ramping up pressure on the government to set targets for reducing child poverty in the UK.
The actor Emilia Clarke, the broadcaster Chris Packham and the presenter George Clarke have put their names to the letter, coordinated by the Big Issue founder John Bird, stating that the government’s reluctance to set binding child poverty reduction targets has “rung alarm bells”.
Leading anti-poverty and children’s charities including the National Children’s Bureau, Child Poverty Action Group, Amnesty UK, Barnardo’s and the food bank charity Trussell have all backed the call, as well as MPs and peers representing Labour, Greens and the SNP.
“Quite simply, we’re worried that the government does not want its homework marked when it comes to child poverty,” the letter reads. “It’s crucial the government gets the child poverty strategy right. This is a landmark opportunity to set a truly transformative agenda for long-term change, but in an increasingly challenging economic climate there is every reason to worry warm words will not translate into tangible progress.
“Targets will provide much-needed benchmarks to track progress and keep driving action forward. The government’s reticence so far has left us worried they’re looking to dodge this vital layer of scrutiny.”
The letter is a result of mounting concern in the charity sector that the child poverty strategy will not include targets for the number of children Labour wishes to pull out of poverty during the parliament.
Earlier this year Lord Bird, a crossbench peer, proposed an amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill that would place a duty on the government to set legally binding child poverty targets.
The government rejected it at committee stage in June, with the education minister Jacqui Smith arguing that targets would “risk adversely narrowing the focus of effort to moving the children closest to the poverty line over it”.
Bird will reintroduce the amendment when the bill returns for its report stage in the House of Lords later in the year.
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He said: “We cannot accept rhetoric in place of real change – we must demand sustained, legislative action. Poverty reduction targets will hold Westminster’s feet to the fire and stop delays like we’ve seen with the long-promised child poverty strategy, which we continue to wait for nearly 16 months into Labour’s time in government.”
The child poverty strategy was previously delayed from spring to autumn 2025 and is now expected to be published around the time of the November budget, which the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has signalled will include an overhaul of the two-child benefit limit.
Charities have raised concern over suggestions the policy could be replaced with a new tapered system, and on Thursday the Resolution Foundation said half-measures would have little or no meaningful effect on overall child poverty rates.
According to the Child Poverty Action Group, on the current trajectory a further 100,000 children a year are set to fall into poverty, with nearly 5 million expected to live in poverty by 2029.
Child poverty reduction targets were introduced in Scotland under its 2017 Child Poverty Act with the aim of ensuring that less than 10% of children are in relative poverty by 2030. However, its interim targets for 2023-24 were not met and there was no enforcement mechanism if the targets were missed.
A government spokesperson said: “Every child, no matter their background, deserves the best start in life. That’s why our child poverty taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.
“We are investing £500m in children’s development through the rollout of Best Start family hubs, extending free school meals and ensuring the poorest don’t go hungry in the holidays through a new £1bn crisis support package.”
