May
13
Research carried out by the national family charity, 4Children has found that most local authorities do not have a child poverty strategy in place despite the legal obligation placed on them by the Child Poverty Act 2010. The charity’s Chief Executive Anne Longfield has urged councils to take their legal obligations seriously by building up robust strategies to tackle the deprivation and lack of opportunities faced by children living in poverty.
The research shows that of England’s 152 upper-tier local authorities, only 74 have a current child poverty strategy in place. Of the 78 local authorities who do not have a strategy, 12 have a draft strategy or an expired strategy available on their website, or have set up a commission to produce a strategy. A child poverty needs-assessment is in place in 38 councils whereas 35 councils have neither a strategy nor a needs assessment in place.
4Children has assessed the quality of the strategies which have been published giving them a “STAMP” rating.
Further information about their research is available here.