Economic growth alone not enough to cut big child poverty rate in Yorkshire, says charity
One in three children in Yorkshire and the Humber are in poverty, a major report has found, and this figure is unlikely to come down over the Parliament unless changes are made to the benefits system.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s (JRF) annual poverty report, published today, has said that economic growth alone will not be enough to reduce the “shameful” levels of poverty.
It comes with Rachel Reeves due to make a major speech in Oxfordshire today, vowing to go “further and faster” to kick-start the economy and deliver growth.
The Chancellor is expected to say that “growth will not come without a fight, without a government that is on the side of working people”.
However, the JRF’s analysis found that under the Office for Budget Responsibility’s projections, only Scotland will see child poverty rates fall by 2029.
The report says that this demonstrates the power of social security policy in tackling poverty.
It said that Yorkshire and the Humber has the fourth-highest poverty rate by region in the UK, at 23 per cent.
Just over one in three children are in poverty, and this will remain the same until the end of this Parliament under the OBR’s growth projections.
The Leeds South, Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough and Bradford West constituencies all have over 40 per cent of children in poverty, while Bradford East, Leeds East and Rotherham have two in five youngsters trapped in poverty.
Shockingly, the number of emergency food parcels delivered by the Trussell Trust network of food banks in Yorkshire and the Humber has increased by 157 per cent since 2018-19.
The JRF said a strong economy can increase wages and employment but will not in itself reduce poverty.
Even if the UK economy grows significantly more than expected, the charity predicts that overall child poverty rates will show little change.
It called for the two-child benefit cap to be removed and the introduction of a protected minimum amount of support to Universal Credit.
Paul Kissack, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Growing levels of poverty and insecurity are acting as a tightening brake on growth and opportunity.
“We can’t expect children to be ready for school or able to learn if they’re going without the basics.
“Growing up in poverty can also lead to poor health, increasing pressure on the NHS.
“Even very strong economic growth won’t automatically change the picture.”
“At the moment that system is not only failing to do its job but, worse, actively pushing some people into deeper poverty, through cruel limits and caps.”
Labour has said that economic growth is the main way it hopes to lift people out of poverty.
Ms Reeves has repeatedly said the growth is the number one priority of the Government, and shortly after the election seven MPs were suspended from the party for voting in favour of removing the two-child cap.
The Prime Minister has said he cannot afford to get rid of the cap yet.
The Chancellor is set to give a major speech on growth today to try and reset her time in No11 Downing Street.
She will declare that Britain’s economy has “huge potential” and is at the “forefront of some of the most exciting developments in the world like artificial intelligence and life sciences”.
Ms Reeves will make a number of announcements around the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, and could back another runway at Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports.