Post by ashliy on Feb 3, 2017 16:24:26 GMT
What do you do if you are told you are not going to meet your target to reduce child poverty? Move the target. At least that is what a group of academics are accusing the government of doing.
Tomorrow marks the end of Iain Duncan Smith’s consultation into new ways to measure child poverty, beyond simply how much money their family earns.
A child is currently counted as living in poverty if their family income is less than 60% of the average wage. But the work and pension secretary has argued that other factors should be taken into account, including whether the parents have drug or alcohol addictions.
In a letter to The Guardian today, a group of leading academics warned that changing the way child poverty was measured would “dilute” the importance of income at “precisely the time that its policies will be reducing the real incomes of poor families”.
The academics write: “Several of us, fellows of the British Academy, with colleagues, have responded, pointing out the ways in which the proposals are confused and would meet neither the government’s objectives nor international standards.”
Professor Jonathan Bradshaw, who contributed to the Unicef’s Child Well-Being report, told The Guardian he believed that the government was “trying to move the goalposts” because child poverty was increasing.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/02/15/coalition-accused-of-moving-child-poverty-target_n_2693040.html
Tomorrow marks the end of Iain Duncan Smith’s consultation into new ways to measure child poverty, beyond simply how much money their family earns.
A child is currently counted as living in poverty if their family income is less than 60% of the average wage. But the work and pension secretary has argued that other factors should be taken into account, including whether the parents have drug or alcohol addictions.
In a letter to The Guardian today, a group of leading academics warned that changing the way child poverty was measured would “dilute” the importance of income at “precisely the time that its policies will be reducing the real incomes of poor families”.
The academics write: “Several of us, fellows of the British Academy, with colleagues, have responded, pointing out the ways in which the proposals are confused and would meet neither the government’s objectives nor international standards.”
Professor Jonathan Bradshaw, who contributed to the Unicef’s Child Well-Being report, told The Guardian he believed that the government was “trying to move the goalposts” because child poverty was increasing.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/02/15/coalition-accused-of-moving-child-poverty-target_n_2693040.html