Rising poverty is putting thousands more British children into care in England, according to a study published in the Lancet Public Health.
The report states that there has been a steep rise in the rate of children in state care in England, from a low of 53 per 10,000 children in 2008 (at the time of the financial crash), to 67 per 10,000 children in 2020—a rise of 26%
The report points to a rise in child poverty sending 10,000 extra children into local authority care over five years. The report says:
The recession paved the way for a vastly altered policy landscape. Child poverty targets were abandoned. Income-based child poverty data narrowly survived a move to end collection. At the same time, between 2011 and 2018, 57 separate changes and cuts to welfare benefits restricted their generosity and eligibility, disproportionately affecting families with children. These cuts were subsequently folded into Universal Credit, with its added constraints. From 2014, child poverty rates began to rise and in 2020 reached 23%; after housing costs, rates rise to 31%.
Lancet Public Health.
The study published in the Lancet Public Health, is a further condemnation, were one needed, of the carnage and human destruction brought about by greed, the race for profit and the rule of money, the capitalist system.
Poverty and destitution are inherent in this system, but with an organised working class and a labour movement freed from its ties to the misnamed Labour party, working people could push back against the interests of big business, investing in our families, communities, industries and children. Starmer isn’t going to do it, its up to us.
The Workers Party is committed to fighting for public policy measures that support families, including tax benefits for having children. Additionally our proposal to raise the threshold for personal tax threshold for the poorest paid workers would help almost all working people by removing tax from the first £21,200 of their wages. This would be a lifeline to more than two million workers who earn between £12,500 and £21,200 and who currently pay 20% tax.
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