How would you tackle child poverty and improve outcomes?

[Cindyyyy]

I would back:

• free basic school meals for all from 3 (extras can be paid for) of healthy, veg-based, minimally-processed meals
• investment into school-based pre-school, to be free for all from age 3
• increase school funding massively, pay rises for teachers and nursery staff, investment and subsidies into training
• increase number of SEN schools and in-school SEN provision, as well as PRUs
• subsidised holiday clubs for all parents working full time
• extend SureStart, increase reviews by health visitors. If a child isn’t meeting milestones, earlier intervention and increased checks
• expand apprenticeships

You?

That's depressing.

You make it sound like couples sit down and plan their divorce ahead. I was in my marriage for the long haul until it all came crashing down with no warning.

I’ve stood behind people at the dentist, having forked out over a month’s pay for a necessary (not a cosmetic), procedure and ground a bit more tooth enamel away when they got all their treatment free. No - I’m not advocating people on benefits being denied dental care - of course not. But it is galling. I don’t know what the answer is!

My point is the same as yours really - that any government needs to realise that hard-working people who have to pay for everything themselves AND fund things for others (sometimes things they don’t have) can’t be pushed infinitely.

@Goldenbear In what world are you living? So, as a state, we have all this student loan debt (£ billions) and then grads don’t need to work? They just swan around in their intellectual ivory towers for the good of us all? No, I don’t think so. Of course they should work and understand how to achieve this for society.

We are not anti intellectual as a country. We have Oxbridge and other world leading universities. We value a top education. I’m talking about the bottom 20% (ish!) that should not go to uni and some unis are far from intellectual hothouse institutions. We are surely not comparing their grads with Oxbridge? We definitely need to enable dc to study trades more easily. We need them, we don’t need intellectual work shy grads costing us even more money. It’s pay back time.

I would divert some funding away from benefits and into schools and support services. Breakfast clubs, homework or sports clubs after school to support children with their learning. Some children get to do lots of extracurriculars and parents help with their homework, some don't - so even the playing field to support, motivate, engage. The children that don't get to do it isn't always due to parents not being interested, its money and time, people working all hours to make ends meet.

And the one many others have mentioned - make absent parents pay for their children. My Mum used to joke when we were young that he was 'paying for another family' - for a bit I thought that meant he actually had another family, but they actually meant through tax. Which they found hard to take - my Dad was kicked out of home at 16 by alcoholic parents, and worked his way up through slog and integrity, so he felt others should be able to do the same. It can be quite demoralising I think for people to work their way up with no help and then have so much taken from them, and that feeling is becoming more widespread I think.

Would you just let the kids die that came into those households or raise them in care?

Cheaper child care and more availability of places, helps all parents into work and to stay in work.

Invest in NHS so shorter waiting lists, quicker treatment for health conditions so parents are more able to work/get back to work

I don't think graduates shouldn't work but I actually do think it benefits society to have as many people as possible to.pursue post 18 education, whether that be a trade or an RS degree as it is just better to have people use their brain and learn things. It helps with all sorts of things including self confidence and mental health, resilience maybe?

Contraception and vasectomies perhaps

So do parents in relationships on UC. In fact UC will pay for them to be a SAHM (or dad) long after single parents are forced back to work. It is a huge source of inequality with UC. I became a single mum when my youngest was 2 and had to keep on working to pay my mortgage, no year off for me until he was 3. Plenty of us take the same maternity leave as married/partnered mums (or less) because that is all we can manage financially.

@Goldenbear I’m with you on education post 18. We know growth depends on having an engaged and educated workforce but pretending all degrees are getting us to this goal is ludicrous. We import labour (and grads) and need to redirect labour to where we need it if we can. Not easy but more degrees in subjects that don’t get anyone anywhere isn’t the answer.

Might not be a terrible idea in some cases 🤔

Someone about mentioned ‘crappy parents’. How refreshing to hear such a frank expression!

Something which would help disadvantaged children and society as a whole would be to dump our squeamishness about judgement. I’ve always worked in education and I’ve certainly seen some crappy parenting. But you’re not allowed to make even the slightest criticism. I’ve seen colleagues bend over backwards like Olympic gymnasts to defend what is quite clearly feckless, selfish, irresponsible and anti-social behaviour with endless excuses because they’ve been brainwashed into a non-judgemental mindset. It’s not helping children!

Over half a million people have had to leave the workforce or drastically reduce hours in recent years due to long covid. That’s not going to help family finances.

Many people who work are also on UC, so either firms pay properly or stop calling it a personal benefit rather than a business one.

Surestart centres and help when it’s needed. Early intervention helps.

Childcare costs are one of the most expensive in the world here.

Invest in education, help reduce prime reason for absence (illness) by actually trying to reduce illness, not just increasing attendance when ill. The cost of presenteeism in this country is sky high - false economy which reduces productivity and increases overall long term illness and need for stronger interventions down the line

Enforce a proper CMS system.. yearly bank statements automatically for these self employed men. Its 2025! You'd think we was still in the 90s.

They won’t be spending anything on childcare or feeding their children though …

Yes, I see what you are arguing but it occurred to me, not just now, that perhaps all these degrees that people think hold no value, do benefit society as you do need to engage your brain. I'm not sure if that was a New Labour idea back in the day but I think it has some merit - possibly.
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Abstinence. But if a child is born I can't in good conscience say "let the child starve to make the parents learn fiscal responsibility"

I come from the exact opposite of a stable or privileged upbringing, and I pretty much agree with Ugg and Spotty. I could have fallen in to the same life my parents had; depression, addiction, council house, benefits, but thankfully I had enough of the shame of poverty and did everything I could to claw my way out of it.

Yes I know

but honestly some of the people are irresponsible

Totally agree.

Yes I am struggling to understand how anyone could really believe that taking state support away from parents discourages having children or decreases child poverty.

The countries with the worst child poverty and highest birth rates are those with very little social safety net to speak of.

Surely posters who suggest this as a solution must know that it will lead to more suffering?

How does universal basic income work in practice. Is an amount set, say £1000 per week for sake of arguement. I work for a private company who want to pay me £3000 per week say. Do I just get the £1k and hand over the rest to the government? (Have excluded taxation here obviously).

Does any country in the world have such a policy aside from communist countries? I imagine the likes of North Korea would implement such a policy.

Yup. I’m planning to retire early in the next 3 years. I refuse to be a cash cow for any longer than I need to be.

Is there a way to protect the child whilst punishing the parents for being fiscally irresponsible