Child poverty: Government policy

Approximate read time: 15 minutes

The House of Lords is scheduled to debate the following motion on 18 June 2026:

Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour) to move that this House takes note of the government’s actions to tackle child poverty.

1. Child poverty in the UK

1.1 Definition, causes and impacts of child poverty

There is no single, universally accepted definition of poverty. However, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) defines poverty as “not having enough money to buy the things your household needs and to participate fully in society”.^[1] The charity separated key causes of child poverty into the following three themes:^[2]

• High costs. Families with children must spend more money on things such as housing, childcare, food, clothing, transport, bills, school costs, activities and entertainment.
• Low income. Around 70% of children living in poverty in the UK have at least one parent in paid work; however, many are in insecure, low-wage service sector jobs.^[3] CPAG also states that inadequate social security benefits can reduce incomes.
• Particular circumstances. Incomes may be lower in families with lone parents, young parents or parents with disabilities impacting their ability to work. Ability to work may also be reduced in families with greater childcare needs, such as families with very young or disabled children. Larger families also increase costs.

Child poverty is associated with lower living standards and adverse long-term outcomes, such as lower attainment and poorer physical and mental health.^[4] A 2025 government evidence review concluded that UK studies provided evidence for a correlation between lower household incomes and poorer health outcomes, such as increased infant mortality and emergency hospital admissions.^[5] While there were gaps in the UK evidence base, international studies provided evidence for child poverty being associated with poorer school readiness and worse economic outcomes.

1.2 UK child poverty statistics

Child poverty is commonly measured in terms of relative or absolute low income, or material deprivation.^[6] Relative low income refers to children living in households with income below 60% of the national median income that year. This measures income equality or inequality.^[7] Absolute low income refers to children living in households with income less than 60% of the national median income for a particular “base” year, adjusted for inflation. This measures changes in living standards over time for people on low incomes. Both income figures are adjusted for the number and ages of people in the household. Material deprivation measures account for costs and cash flow as well as income.^[8] These metrics indicate people’s ability to access or afford a range of everyday goods and services.

Official statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on the percentage of children in relative or absolute low-income households since 2002/03 are presented in figure 1.^[9] Due to a change in methodology, figures before and after 2021/22 are not directly comparable. The percentage of children in low-income households tends to be higher after housing costs are accounted for as low-income households generally spend a higher proportion of their income on housing.^[10] The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), an independent economics research institute, argues that figures accounting for housing costs are more appropriate for identifying those with low living standards.^[11]

Since 2002/03, the percentage of children in relative low-income households after housing costs varied between a low of 27.0% (2011/12) and a high of 30.7% (2006/07).^[12] The percentage of children in absolute low-income households after housing costs generally declined from 31.4% in 2002/03 to 22.9% in 2020/21. Using the updated methodology, this figure was estimated to be 27.3% in 2021/22. The most recent estimate is 27.4% for 2024/25.

Figure 1. Percentage of UK children in relative and absolute low-income households (2002/03 to 2024/25)

A new suite of questions was used to measure material deprivation in 2023/24, meaning these figures are not comparable to previous statistics.^[13] This figure decreased from 28% in 2023/24 to 24% in 2024/25.^[14]

The UK has a higher percentage of children in relative low-income households before housing costs than many comparable nations. Unicef reported that this figure was the 10th highest out of 37 high-income countries in 2023.^[15] This was higher than countries such as Ireland, France and Germany, but lower than Spain and the US.

2. Child poverty strategy

In July 2024, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced the creation of the child poverty taskforce to create and deliver a strategy to “reduce child poverty, tackle the root causes, and give every child the best start at life”.^[16] The taskforce was led by DWP and the Department for Education and supported by the Cabinet Office’s child poverty unit.

The resulting child poverty strategy was published on 5 December 2025.^[17] The strategy listed existing and newly announced policies separated into three themes: boosting family incomes, driving down the cost of essentials, and strengthening local support.

2.1 Increasing family incomes

As part of increasing family incomes, the government removed the two-child limit on 6 April 2026.^[18] Since 2017, this limit had meant that families receiving universal credit did not receive a ‘child element’ for third or subsequent children. However, this child element is still subject to the benefit cap, which limits the maximum benefits a working-age household can receive.^[19] This means the removal of the two-child limit has little to no impact on the benefits received by larger families.

Other measures intended to increase household incomes included the following:^[20]

• increasing the national living wage to £12.21 in April 2025 and to £12.71 from April 2026^[21]
• increasing basic rate of universal credit above inflation from April 2026^[22]
• expanding government funding for childcare in September 2024 and September 2025, as announced in the previous government’s 2023 spring budget^[23]
• introducing free breakfast clubs in England from April 2026, with the intention of allowing parents to work more hours^[24]

2.2 Reducing the cost of essentials

Policies aiming to reduce the cost of essentials listed in the strategy include the following:^[25]

• expanding free school meals to all children from households receiving universal credit in England from September 2026^[26]
• investing £39bn into a new 10-year social and affordable homes programme in England beginning in 2026^[27]
• committing £600mn to the holiday activity and food programme in England to fund activities and food for the poorest children during school holidays for the next three years^[28]
• introducing a limit of three branded school uniform items to reduce costs from September 2026^[29]
• expanding the warm homes discount to another 2.7 million households from October 2025^[30]

2.3 Strengthening local support

The child poverty strategy highlighted policies intended to ensure families can access local services and support, including:^[31]

• launching the pride in place programme in September 2025 to deliver funding to “the most in-need places in Great Britain”, which may be used by communities to address child poverty^[32]
• investing in the better futures fund to finance projects tackling child poverty, with the first round of bids expected in summer 2026^[33]
• establishing a new crisis and resilience fund to help local authorities assist families facing financial crises from April 2026^[34]
• establishing best start family hubs in every local authority in England to provide family services, such as parenting classes or advice on finance or housing, beginning in early 2026^[35]
• increasing the early years pupil premium by 45% from April 2025 and with a further 15% uplift for 2026/27, improving the funding available for children who are eligible for free early years entitlements^[36]

2.4 Monitoring impacts

The strategy does not include binding targets. It simply stated that the government aims to reduce child poverty as measured by relative low-income after housing costs and a new measure of material deprivation.^[37] This new measure considers families that cannot afford four out of 13 essential items, such as food, heating and housing, to be in deep material poverty.

Although it does not contain binding targets, the strategy did model the predicted reductions in child poverty expected to arise from these policies.^[38] The government predicted the strategy “will lift 550,000 children out of relative low-income after housing costs by the end of this parliament”.^[39] Of these, 450,000 were attributed to removing the two-child benefit, 50,000 were attributed to the extension of free school meal eligibility and 50,000 were attributed to the remaining measures.^[40] The government also estimated that by the end of this parliament “7.2 million children will live in households that see an increase in income as a result of the modelled measures including 1.5 million children in deep material poverty”.^[41]

The government also published a monitoring and evaluation framework outlining how it intended to test if the strategy was on track.^[42] It added that the government will follow up with more detail in its baseline report in summer 2026, “reflecting the further development of these plans and including updated findings from the latest poverty statistics publications”.^[43]

3. Stakeholder responses

While the government’s child poverty strategy has been broadly welcomed by charities, think tanks and child advocacy groups, some have argued that the government needs to go further. There were concerns about an absence of binding targets and calls for further reforms to the UK’s social security system. Responses from a selection of key organisations are explored below.

3.1 Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights

The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Michael O’Flaherty, led an investigation into UK child poverty, publishing a memorandum on 26 January 2026. The commissioner “warmly welcome[d] the UK government’s decision to abolish the two-child limit on social security payments and the publication of the [child poverty] strategy”.^[44] He argued that the strategy should be a political priority and provided recommendations on how it should be implemented. For example, he recommended that the government should develop clear, measurable child poverty reduction targets and consider embedding these in legislation. He also argued for a human rights based approach; for example, using mandatory child rights impact assessments.

In addition, the commissioner recommended the following reforms to the UK’s social security system to combat child poverty:^[45]

• remove the benefit cap to ensure people receive sufficient payments to support an adequate standard of living
• adopt a human rights based approach to the review of health or disability related benefits
• carry out a comprehensive review of the ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) policy on children’s rights^[46]
• improve accessibility to the social security system

The government’s response to the commissioner addressed each recommendation in turn, and agreed with some of the proposals.^[47] For example, the government agreed on the importance of a human rights based approach and later published an assessment of the strategy’s impact on children’s rights on 13 March 2026.^[48] However, it argued that the benefit cap was required to “incentivise work and encourage personal responsibility”. It also defended the NRPF policy, which excludes those on certain visas and those in the UK without permission from some social security measures.^[49] It argued that NRPF was needed to ensure immigration “does not place excessive demands” on the UK.^[50]

3.2 Charities, think tanks and research institutes

In its response to the child poverty strategy, CPAG asserted that the key policies “will deliver transformative change”.^[51] It added that “CPAG particularly welcomes the commitment to abolish the two-child limit […] and the rollout of free school meals to families on universal credit in England”.^[52]

CPAG also called for further reforms to the social security system. It argued that the benefit cap should be scrapped, arguing that “it doesn’t incentivise people to move into work as the vast majority of capped families are lone parents with young children who experience high barriers to employment”.^[53] It also reasoned that the local housing allowance (LHA) should be increased to keep pace with rising rent prices. However, the 2025 autumn budget continued the freeze on LHA until at least 2027.^[54]

Similarly, the Resolution Foundation, an independent think tank focused on improving living standards, welcomed the strategy but called for the government to go further.^[55] It also argued against the freeze in rates of LHA, claiming that it will negatively impact the “1.7 million children living in poor households in the private rented sector”.^[56] While it predicted that the strategy will lift 300,000 children out of relative low income after housing costs by the end of this parliament, this fell short of the government’s estimate of 550,000.

The IFS expressed concern that the child poverty strategy did not set specific numerical targets.^[57] In addition, it raised “concerns on the quality of the survey-based poverty measures used by government” which “make it harder to assess precisely how large any reduction has been”.

The IFS has also previously recommended the removal of the benefit cap, arguing that this would allow the benefits of removing the two-child limit to be fully realised and “would significantly alleviate the depth of poverty faced by some of the poorest children”.^[58]

4. Read more

• House of Commons Library, ‘Poverty in the UK: Statistics’, 6 May 2026
• House of Commons Library, ‘Which children are most likely to be in poverty in the UK?’, 19 May 2026
• House of Commons Library, ‘Constituency data: Child poverty’, 27 March 2026
• Debate on ‘Child poverty strategy’, HC Hansard, 8 December 2025, cols 59–83

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