Child poverty is a failure of the state and the economy it claims to safeguard
The government insists we cannot afford to lift children out of poverty, while those same children pay the price for political caution.
Imagine going to school with an empty stomach, struggling to concentrate while your belly rumbles. Imagine watching your loved ones skip meals so you can eat, or worrying whether there will be enough money to keep the heating on tonight. Imagine facing cold winter mornings in shoes with holes and a coat two sizes too small, because buying new clothing is simply out of reach. This is the daily reality for millions of children in the UK, a country that likes to talk about fiscal responsibility while letting its youngest citizens go without.
Westminster has been gripped by the familiar feverered talk of tough choices and book balancing, repeated by chancellors and shadow chancellors alike, as if sound management of the public finances were an end in itself, rather than a means to build a fairer, healthier country. Meanwhile, millions of children grow up hungry and cold.
This is the moral and political contradiction at the heart of British politics: a government that insists the nation cannot afford to lift children out of poverty, while those same children pay the price for political caution.
The politics of child poverty is long-standing, and many of the worst policies were introduced under successive governments, often with supposedly “sensible” fiscal rationales. The infamous two-child limit in Universal Credit, for example, was designed as a cost-cutting measure, a way to restrain the welfare bill under the guise of fairness, but it has become a blunt instrument that punishes children for the circumstances of their birth. Meanwhile, the benefits system has become more rigid, bureaucratic and cruel, detached from the realities of families’ lives, and Westminster has largely turned a blind eye.
A government that prides itself on prudence is failing to recognise the cost of this political choice. Child poverty is as much a political and economic failure as it is a moral one. Hungry children struggle to learn, sick children put pressure on public services, and families under relentless financial strain are trapped in cycles that are difficult to break. Beyond the immediate effects, we know a child’s start in life is one of the strongest predictors of their future; today’s deprivation becomes tomorrow’s lost potential.
Tackling poverty and improving living standards is not just about fairness, it’s also crucial in countering the social and political appeal of the far-right, which thrives on resentment and intergenerational inequality. This is not just a private tragedy for families; it is a failure of the state and the economy it claims to safeguard.
For Labour, the upcoming Child Poverty Strategy is less a policy moment, more a political test. Keir Starmer has pledged to “drive down poverty,” but ambition alone is not enough. Labour must confront the politics of the last decade, and we at The Lead are calling on the government to finally remove the two-child limit, ending benefit caps, and ensure a minimum floor in Universal Credit so no family falls below the essentials. These are not abstract reforms; they are a chance to reclaim Labour’s historic mission to protect the most vulnerable and invest in children’s futures.
The government has an opportunity to reset the narrative. The moral worth of public finances are often established when they add up neatly, but the true measure of a government’s morality is who it chooses to protect and who it allows to let struggle. Investing in children is not reckless or virtue-signalling, it is a foundation for a stronger, fairer, more resilient Britain. Ending child poverty will not just be a political victory: it will be a declaration that this nation values its children enough to give them a fighting chance.■
- Westminster Editor, Zoë Grünewald
Ambitions to tackle child poverty must be set higher
Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Principal Policy Adviser, Katie Schmuecker writes for The Lead.
Since Westminster’s MPs returned from summer recess, with energy and food prices on the rise again, polling from More in Common shows the cost of living remains the number one issue for voters. But more than eight in ten voters think the government is heading in the wrong direction.
Our cost-of-living tracker, which regularly surveys households in the bottom 40 per cent of incomes in the UK, found that in the month to May 2025, 5.3 million low-income families were cutting back or skipping meals, and 4.1 million families reported going hungry.
“More than 8 in 10 low-income families with children (82 per cent) were going without essentials in the six months to May 2025, seriously impacting their chances of succeeding in school and beyond.”
In this context, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Trussell came together two years ago to launch the campaign to Guarantee Our Essentials, responding to shocking levels of hunger and deprivation in one of the world’s largest economies, right here in the UK.
Our social security system should be there for all of us when we fall on hard times. But extraordinarily, Universal Credit [UC] rates aren’t based on any rational calculation of what life’s essentials cost. The basic rate for a single adult is £96 a week, meanwhile our calculated basket of goods and services that includes essentials such as food, energy, basic toiletries and cleaning products comes to £120 a week.
This leads to widespread hardship, which adds pressure to public services and weakens the foundations of our economy. It damages children’s futures too. More than 8 in 10 low-income families with children (82 per cent) were going without essentials in the six months to May 2025, seriously impacting their chances of succeeding in school and beyond.
These conditions mean that the government’s upcoming Child Poverty Strategy is crucial. When child poverty stands as it currently does – at a record 4.5 million children – this is the correct ambition.
Our analysis shows the most cost-effective way to get child poverty falling fast is to remove the two-child limit and insert a protected minimum floor into Universal Credit – a level below which financial support for recipients cannot fall as a result of policies like the benefit cap.
Together these changes would lift 500,000 children out of poverty – and reduce the depth of poverty for a further one million children by the end of this parliament.
But ambitions must ultimately be set higher, with that of a system of UC that ensures everyone can – at the very least – afford life’s basic essentials.
The government has inched in this direction, saying it will increase the basic rate of UC by £5 per week above inflation for a single adult over 25 by the end of the parliament. This will directly put cash into people's pockets – the most tangible way to ensure more people know the government understands the cost-of-living crisis they face. But it still leaves the system a long way short of covering the essentials.
At a time when concern about the cost of living is so high, the idea of a system that ensures people are supported when they hit hard times is popular with the public. It is also backed by multiple political parties and over a hundred civil society organisations.
As the government looks ahead to the autumn budget, it needs a positive narrative and policy platform on living standards, and one that is more immediate and tangible than talking about economic growth. Taking steps towards a system that guarantees people’s essentials and gives them the building blocks for a dignified life could fit that bill.■
Thanks for reading today’s newsletter – the launch of The Lead’s campaign to end child poverty now. Soon you’ll have the opportunity to sign our upcoming petition to the Chancellor, and keep reading for more of our exclusive, nuanced coverage on the issues impacting the youngest and most vulnerable members of our society.
Looking ahead to the weekend, we will be continuing to shine a light on issues impacting Black British communities today as part of our Black History Month focus. Saturday’s article uncovers the reasons why young Black women are disproportionately impacted by the UK’s STI crisis – and how a new vaccine is an opportunity to tackle this deep, historic inequality. And later this week we will be back with The Lead Untangles, so keep an eye on your inbox.
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Zoë, Ella, Luke, Ed, Padraig, Natalie and The Lead team.
I am shocked that this story failed to mention the breakfast club initiative which is being rolled out right now.