24 Sep 2015
Senior Research Associate called to give evidence as part of Public Bill Committee
Matt Padley, Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP), provided evidence in an examination of witnesses as part of a Public Bill Committee for the Welfare Reform and Work Bill 2015/16.
The purpose of the Public Bill Committee was to hear evidence from experts and interested parties with view on a proposed legislation.
The session in which Matt gave evidence examined the amendments to the Child Poverty Act 2010. He was invited to offer his views in light of his work looking at local indicators of child poverty and the ongoing research undertaken within CRSP on minimum income standards.
The amendments to the Child Poverty Act 2010 were:
- The change of name from the Child Poverty Act to the Life Chances Act
- The removal of all income related targets and the replacement of these with new ‘measures’ focused on children living in workless households in England
- The educational attainment of children/disadvantaged children in England at the end of Key Stage 4
Matt’s evidence argued that income remains a key factor in determining life chances. He proposed that the Bill does not include any income measure through which to track the direction of travel in terms of child poverty levels.
Matt comments: “If we want fewer children to grow up in households with low incomes, then we need targets and a way of tracking progress towards these. Of the panel of witnesses I was on, three of us were in agreement about the need to continue measuring income poverty, with one contrasting view that it is more important to measure other factors.”