Understanding & Addressing Understanding & Addressing

Child Poverty Child Poverty 20 October 2009

Councillor Les LawrenceCouncillor Les Lawrence

Cabinet Member - Children, Young People & FamiliesCabinet Member - Children, Young People & Families

Tony HowellTony Howell

Strategic Director - Children, Young People & FamiliesStrategic Director - Children, Young People & Families

The National Context

• What do we know about child poverty?

• What can we do about it?

Brighter Futures Strategy

Key Building Blocks •Data - analysis - epidemiology

•Common language - the logic model:Outcomes, Activities, Investments, Outputs

•Evidence-based practice/fidelity

•Developmental approach – all children and vulnerable children

Underpinned by involvement of children, young people & parents/carers.

Child Poverty

We know an awful lot about child poverty

• What causes it - or is strongly linked

• The effects it has

• How it sustains

Child Poverty

• Definitions & indicators

• Hotspots

• We can map it!

Children in PovertyBirmingham Map

% of total families with low income

Out of work and poor

In work and poor

Total % families in poverty

Ladywood 45% + 36% = 81%

Sparkbrook/

Small Heath

41% + 38% = 79%

Hodge Hill 40% + 36% = 75%

Even in ‘best’ constituency – still 10-15% of families with low income

What causes it?

• Large families

• Living in social housing

• Intergenerational poverty

• Ethnicity

• Low pay

• Lone parents - but not family breakdown

• But no absolute causality - more likelihoods & probabilities

What effects it has

Likely effects on a child:

• less extensive vocabulary & fluency• less experience of the world around them• lower achievement in English & maths at 11• less success at secondary school• not seeing school as a solution• ending up on the fringes

For wider society:

• more spent on social care & benefits• more costs on homelessness• extra costs on social, emotional and behavioural issues• more spent on free school meals• more costs for primary health care

Action - 4 Building Blocks

• Improve the chances of high skill/high wage sustainable employment for parents

• Strengthening financial capability and support

• Improving education and personal development outcomes for children, young people and families

• Tackling deprivation and poor environments

And finally…

• Take it away from ‘an issue only for Children’s Services’

• See where we can influence incomes directly