Agenda item

Child Poverty

It was moved by Councillor Mazher Iqbal, seconded by Councillor Adam Hurst, that this Council:-

(a)       is extremely concerned by recent research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which indicates that one in four children in Britain (3.4 million) will be in relative poverty by 2020;

(b)       notes the report’s findings that relative child poverty is estimated to have increased in both 2012 and 2013 from 17.5% in 2010 to 20.5% in 2013;

(c)        notes that the IFS provide the following explanation for the increases in child poverty “Relative child poverty is also forecast to increase as the incomes of low income households with children are projected to fall more quickly than median incomes. This is mainly the result of the cuts to benefits being introduced over this period”;

(d)       notes the following extract from the IFS report “In the UK, relative child poverty is projected to increase by 6.0ppts between 2010–11 and 2020–21, reversing all of the reductions between 2000–01 and 2010–11. In 2020–21, child poverty is projected to be 23.5% and 27.2% using the relative and absolute low-income measures respectively, compared to targets of 10% and 5%. This translates to increases across the decade of 1.1 million in the number of children in poverty according to the absolute low-income measure.”;

(e)       further notes the Guardian article ‘BMA warns of coalition policies failing children on a grand scale’ (16th May 2013) which states “A series of coalition policies threaten to have profoundly deleterious effects on children's lives, driving widening inequalities and sending more families into poverty, according to a scathing report by the British Medical Association.”;

(f)        believes that these reports are a damming indictment of the present Government’s appalling record and regrets that the regressive changes they have introduced will have a detrimental impact on child poverty and will result in almost all of the reductions made under the previous Government being reversed;

(g)       regrets that at the same time as they are making cuts to benefits which the IFS hold responsible for increases in child poverty, the present Government have prioritised a tax cut for higher rate income tax payers; and

(h)       resolves to closely monitor the impact that Government changes have on child poverty levels in Sheffield.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Keith Hill, seconded by Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by:-

(1)       the deletion of paragraphs (a) to (g);

(2)       the relettering of paragraph (h) as a new paragraph (e);  and

(3)       the addition of new paragraphs (a) to (d) as follows:-

(a)       welcomes the commitment within the Coalition Agreement to maintaining the goal of eradicating child poverty by 2020;

(b)       notes that the most recent official data showed the number of children living in poverty in the UK actually fell by 300,000;

(c)        regrets that the previous Government failed to meet its child poverty target by hundreds of thousands and that the gap between the richest and the poorest actually rose during their thirteen years in power; and

(d)       applauds the work of Liberal Democrats in Government to build a stronger economy in a fairer society, specifically those Government measures which will support children living in poverty, including:

(i)         funding to provide 15 hours of free childcare per week to disadvantaged 2 year olds;

(ii)        the pupil premium, which will see £18.1 million invested into Sheffield schools next academic year, a figure which will continue to grow year-on-year;

(iii)       the successful Summer Schools programme, and a further £100m to repeat the programme this year and next; and

(iv)       an additional £50 million a year to provide extra tuition to 11-year-olds who are struggling with poor maths and reading skills.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was negatived.

The original Motion was then put to the vote and carried, as follows:-

RESOLVED: That this Council:-

(a)       is extremely concerned by recent research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which indicates that one in four children in Britain (3.4 million) will be in relative poverty by 2020;

(b)       notes the report’s findings that relative child poverty is estimated to have increased in both 2012 and 2013 from 17.5% in 2010 to 20.5% in 2013;

(c)        notes that the IFS provide the following explanation for the increases in child poverty “Relative child poverty is also forecast to increase as the incomes of low income households with children are projected to fall more quickly than median incomes. This is mainly the result of the cuts to benefits being introduced over this period”;

(d)       notes the following extract from the IFS report “In the UK, relative child poverty is projected to increase by 6.0ppts between 2010–11 and 2020–21, reversing all of the reductions between 2000–01 and 2010–11. In 2020–21, child poverty is projected to be 23.5% and 27.2% using the relative and absolute low-income measures respectively, compared to targets of 10% and 5%. This translates to increases across the decade of 1.1 million in the number of children in poverty according to the absolute low-income measure.”;

(e)       further notes the Guardian article ‘BMA warns of coalition policies failing children on a grand scale’ (16th May 2013) which states “A series of coalition policies threaten to have profoundly deleterious effects on children's lives, driving widening inequalities and sending more families into poverty, according to a scathing report by the British Medical Association.”;

(f)        believes that these reports are a damming indictment of the present Government’s appalling record and regrets that the regressive changes they have introduced will have a detrimental impact on child poverty and will result in almost all of the reductions made under the previous Government being reversed;

(g)       regrets that at the same time as they are making cuts to benefits which the IFS hold responsible for increases in child poverty, the present Government have prioritised a tax cut for higher rate income tax payers; and

(h)       resolves to closely monitor the impact that Government changes have on child poverty levels in Sheffield.