PHT June 2011_Jan 10 - UK Faculty of Public Health

SPECIAL FEATURE: EARLY INTERVENTION
DEBATE: Will the Government’s welfare reforms help early-years development?
Iain Duncan Smith says they will, while Alison Garnham warns of pain ahead
Work is key to
lifting families
out of poverty
“OUR long-term strategy for the decade
ahead is to protect the most vulnerable
and reform welfare so work pays as a
sustainable route out of poverty.
“First, we must ensure that families can
work themselves out of poverty – if they
do the right thing we will make sure the
system makes work pay. Around 55% of
children who are currently in poverty are
living in working families. By moving all
working-age benefit claimants onto the
Universal Credit from 2013-2017 we
expect to move around 600,000 adults and
350,000 children out of poverty.
“The Universal Credit will support those
who do the right thing, who take a full
time job, to have an income which lifts
them out of poverty. Our proposed design
should enable most families with children
who have a parent in full-time employment
to have an income that lifts them out of
poverty. The same should apply for lone
parents who work at least 24 hours per
week or more. What this means is that we
are creating a system which helps people
work themselves out of poverty, a fair
system that rewards responsibility, not a
hand-out culture.
“Second, we are concerned for children
growing up in households where their
parents cannot work. We will ensure the
YES
most severely disabled people with
children, those who we do not expect to
take steps to return to work, are able to
live with dignity. We will bring forward
proposals to take the next steps towards
this goal within the reforms to disability
payments. This is the hallmark of a fair and
compassionate society.
“Third, we will ensure that those not in
employment receive the support needed to
access the working environment so they
can work themselves out of poverty – first
through Jobcentre Plus, and second,
through the Work Programme.
“If their barriers to work are short term
they will find support at Jobcentre Plus. If
their barriers are medium term and more
complex they will find support through the
Work Programme. By continuing to ensure
Jobcentre Plus delivers effective support,
matched by conditionality to help people
back into work, we seek to mobilise as
many of the five million people on out-ofwork
benefits as possible – and for those
who do not find their own way into work
we will help them through our
comprehensive Work Programme.
“We recognise that some families face
complex barriers to work, many of which
cause intergenerational disadvantage. To
address the root causes of poverty we will
deliver early and effective interventions
through the Work Programme targeted at
vulnerable groups.”
Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP
Secretary of State for Work and
Pensions (in his foreword to A New
Approach to Child Poverty, April 2011)
Cuts have
already made
families poorer
DESPITE all the political rhetoric on the
early years, families with children,
particularly those with very young
children, will be the hardest hit by the
Government’s plans.
Much of the £18 billion cuts that will
precede the introduction of the
Universal Credit (UC) is being felt by
families now, such as the end of the
Health in Pregnancy Grant, the end of
the Sure Start Maternity Grant for a
second child and the loss from tax
credits of the baby and (proposed)
toddler premiums. But much more pain
is on the way, particularly through the
decision to peg benefits to the
Consumer Prices Index, eroding their
value over time.
The UC proposals promise that noone
will be a loser at the point of
change, but this is only after benefit
cuts have already taken effect. There is
no guarantee that help with childcare
costs post-UC will even match the
newly reduced level provided by tax
credits. The Social Fund, which helps
with one-off items, is to be localised
with no ring fence – so no guarantee of
help there either. And cuts in housing
allowances will hit young families
particularly hard.
Material deprivation and debt are a
likely consequence of major benefit
cuts, coming at a time of aboveinflation
price rises for basics such as
NO
clothing, food and fuel, so we should
expect greater levels of depression and
worse mental health in parents of
infants.
Early years services are also under
threat – according to the Daycare Trust,
up to 7% of Sure Start centres are
under threat of closure within a year,
while over half may have to provide a
reduced service. Frank Field, who
advised the Government on child
poverty, said: “It is inconceivable that
we can make the foundation years
effective if children’s centres all over the
place are being slaughtered.” He
recommended that Sure Start centres
should provide advice to improve takeup
of benefits.
Cuts to benefits may push parents
towards lower-quality or informal care
to save money. Poor-quality childcare
runs counter to the evidence that it is
only high-quality professional provision
that has clear developmental benefits
for children, and the effects are the
longest lasting for the most
disadvantaged children.
Despite the many positive
recommendations coming out of Frank
Field’s Foundation Years report and
Graham Allen’s Early Intervention
report, the proposals currently on the
table on welfare reform seem likely to
do far more harm than good for earlyyears
development.
Alison Garnham
Chief Executive
Child Poverty Action Group
8 PUBLIC HEALTH TODAY